Official Rugby Thread

[ripper868]

Think that was closer than the score shows, but still the right result - frustratingly the 17 point margin is 1 better than the Wallabies, would of been nice to sit atop the table for a week. Bring on next week!

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Updated World Rankings

1 NZ
2 Ireland
3 SA

 

[James]

Happy for you @ripper868 - watching the highlights when waking up this morning and SA going 22-0 up I thought they were going to put a record score on the Wallabies.

Incredible come back - is this the Wallabies greatest performance since XXXX ? As much as I don't want the All Blacks to lose the Bledisloe, it would certainly put life back into it if the Wallabies could somehow take it back.

Hopefully Schmidt reconsiders stepping down!

 

[the big bambino]

Jeepers I tried to be gracious, but people on here are being absolute shitheads. As if Australia have won 10 matches in a row here

This was a rare win for Oz made even more special by the comeback. Maybe people are more pleased than usual but I think the reaction has been genuine pleasure and not gloating.

Congratulations to the Wallabies but we may have just caught SA on the hop here, 3 hard tests with the Lions was most likely an advantage in preparation going into this game.

 

[Burgey]

That's a heck of a comeback. I flicked it on at 22-0 and saw the Woeful's first try but thought it a non-event so turned it off.

 

[ripper868]

 

[Uppercut]

I need to stop thinking of Australia as a shambolic joke team that proper rugby nations occasionally trip up against. There's no semblance of the embarrassing 2023 team left at all now. They've been competitive for like 10 games in a row spanning almost a year but every time it happens I'm like whoaaa.

 

[ripper868]

I need to stop thinking of Australia as a shambolic joke team that proper rugby nations occasionally trip up against. There's no semblance of the embarrassing 2023 team left at all now. They've been competitive for like 10 games in a row spanning almost a year but every time it happens I'm like whoaaa.

No. We still suck, and will very much suck forever. Ignore us. We suck. Pay no attention. We suck. Focus on the others, we just suck. Leave us be, we are also rans. We are barely tier 2. Move along, no team to see here.

 

[Burgey]

This is pretty accurate tbh

CARN Apparel on Instagram: "😂 compare the pair . #rugby #rugbyleague #nrlmemes #parody #sportmeme #funnysports #carn #parodytees"

4,596 likes, 75 comments - carnapparel on August 14, 2025: "😂 compare the pair . #rugby #rugbyleague #nrlmemes #parody #sportmeme #funnysports #carn #parodytees".

www.instagram.com

 

[ripper868]

I remember that Heighington interview, great final that was. My housemate at the time was a die hard tigers guy as well, he was on cloud 9 until the next season.

 

[ashley bach]

Matty Johns with mouth open and in a state of shock.

 

[StephenZA]

The biggest thing this week reminded me of again, is how the rest of the rugby fraternity loves to hate the Springboks.

 

[ripper868]

I dont think it's so much hates the Springboks, as giving back to the Springbok fans what they've been dishing out. They are the greatest team in history after all.

 

[Molehill]

The biggest thing this week reminded me of again, is how the rest of the rugby fraternity loves to hate the Springboks.

Slightly odd take. Speaking as a neutral Englishman, I was just genuinely surprised (as I think most were) by what happened on Saturday, even more so after the first 20 mins. I don't think the Springboks are hated (apart from Erasmus maybe, but that's understandable), I've always taken bigger issue with NZ tbh.

 

[StephenZA]

I dont think it's so much hates the Springboks, as giving back to the Springbok fans what they've been dishing out. They are the greatest team in history after all.

If you think the Bok fans are the ones that started the dishing out... Mostly rugby supporters dislike SA rugby, because the media likes to play certain narratives. Most rugby supporters, consider the NZ teams the epitome of rugby; and SA teams are always classed as the bully boys, that occasionally get lucky. Thus whenever the Boks slip up (which they do), most other countries fans like to stick the boot in.

And Rassie has mostly been disliked, because he uses that very narrative from the media and supporters to motivate the team.

 

[Heboric]

SA teams are always classed as the bully boys,

This whole line really makes me angry. I have heard this a lot, yes we had some thugs. But boy we are not the only ones. The worst culprits are the Northern Hemisphere teams/supporters, complain a lot about the Boks but there players are just as dirty - shoulder charging a persons head off without the ball, kneeling on peoples necks (got made captain for that) the list can go on

 

[ripper868]

Sticking the boot in is not mutually exclusive to SA. Neither is crowing. As an Australian I've had not much to crow about for 20 years, and my ribs have been kicked in so often that they're no longer fun to kick.

Go back a few pages and you'll find myself and other ribbing Wales for their horrid run, you'll probably find me cheering an England defeat, the Argies knocking over the Lions, Scotland's use of South African/Australian imports (even though all teams do it, it's just more fun with the Scottish/Afrikaans accent).

I cheered Japans 2015 win over SA, I cheered also their wins over Scotland and Ireland 4 years later.

I've heaped praise on SFM, who I think is the Bok 10 of the next 12 years. You have forward stocks to envy, world class wingers coming out your ears and a very intelligent coach who is prone to dumb things (the deliberate scrum kickoff for example, or the midfield lineout).

The ribbing is part of it. So be part of it. I've watched my team win **** all of any meaning for 20 years, with bright spots like the 2011 Reds keeping me satiated, and flash in the pan tests giving me hope, only to be pumped by 40 a week later (fully expect that this week tbh).

Boks have 4 world cups, as any comments section on anything to do with rugby will remind you. They're the top of the tree, people are going to take note when they shell a 22 point lead and 38 straight points to the 6th ranked also-rans of the competition.

 

[StephenZA]

I don't think most of what I`m talking about comes from Australia. And it certainly not directed towards you. I was making a general comment. Its more comes out of the UK than anywhere else. Except maybe for someone like Ben Smith who loves to hate SA rugby. I agree with everything you have said, in that every team gets a ribbing and every team gets their plaudits at times.

I however do think there is narratives around the springboks that get enhanced every time they don't perform, and they are a team that has become easy to love to hate over the years. And that is a narrative I`ve lived with since SA won the WC in '95 because they poisoned the NZ team... maybe I`m just thin skinned.

 

[Molehill]

I don't think most of what I`m talking about comes from Australia. And it certainly not directed towards you. I was making a general comment. Its more comes out of the UK than anywhere else. Except maybe for someone like Ben Smith who loves to hate SA rugby. I agree with everything you have said, in that every team gets a ribbing and every team gets their plaudits at times.

I however do think there is narratives around the springboks that get enhanced every time they don't perform, and they are a team that has become easy to love to hate over the years. And that is a narrative I`ve lived with since SA won the WC in '95 because they poisoned the NZ team... maybe I`m just thin skinned.

Wasn't this simply a case of an underdog winning a match from a seemingly beaten position? That's always going to raise support and interest. (Remember how the Aussies got ribbed when they couldn't defend 430?) If you win consecutive World Cups you're obviously going to make yourself a target, and you ought to be used to that by now.

It should more pour scorn on Aussie rugby really that they've fallen so low that the English and Kiwis are showing support and sympathy for them!! Turns out that level of support is now dead as they seem to be well and truly back.

 

[BoyBrumby]

The biggest thing this week reminded me of again, is how the rest of the rugby fraternity loves to hate the Springboks.

Well they do keep winning world cups.

If the Boks stopped that annoying habit I'm sure we'll be all sweetness and light again.

Seriously though, I'd take it as a badge of honour. If the Boks were arse no-one would GAF about their modus operandi.

Schalk Burger (jr.) was a grub though. Awesome player, but too fond of the cheap shot. Yer Matfields, Bothas and Etzebeths were/are very upfront about the, um, enforcement they dished out, so no complaints here.