Sacha's Ankle Test: Where Does Rassie See Him Best, Argentina or the Stormers? | Weekend Wrap

Welcome back to the Monday edition of It's the Weekend, it's a wrap, wrap, weekend wrap. Bit of a tongue twister. Ari, welcome back. What a weekend of rugby. Too much, I suppose.

You can't watch rugby 24 hours a day, two days, every day of the week, but it was exciting. Yeah, it's exciting. Yes, when you read the reports and listen to all the pundits, so to speak, they'll talk about takeaways. Now, also, we as Afrikaans-speaking people think a takeaway is kos wat je gaan koop. It's like food or something, but apparently it's takeaways is what to remember.

So there's lots of takeaways. So there's another angle for the takeaways. There's lots of takeaways from the weekend. All Blacks seem to be, they took the step. They made the impressions clear.

I think it was Marshall as well on the final whistle on the commentary. He said, watch out South Africa. The All Blacks are ready for this. So that's nice. So there's a little bit of spice, but that's going to be a massive few games coming up, a tour coming up for the All Blacks.

So they were impressive beating Ireland. We can talk about things we saw there. There's a few things that Ireland definitely could have done differently or better. And then a good defensive effort from the Springboks. Remember, we talked about our last talk about the Springboks was that defensive blunders against Scotland that didn't look great.

And so we said, as we're speaking, probably Jerry Flannery was with the whistle on the training field. And he definitely made sure that it's always good to see the zero. We joked about it earlier, a nil is by a min. So it's in two games, unwritten 16-0, 73-0, 43-0. So it's big scores against Wales.

but it's always impressive, I think, just to conclude on that, when you can say that you've kept them to nil. International team, obviously, they went for the corners quite a few times, so take into consideration they could have had a few penalties, but we held them out, so it was impressive. The nil was good. But then again, New Zealand was also very impressive. All right, in this episode, we're going to be talking about this nation championship, look at the big three games, like I said.

Then we'll look at the junior spimox a little bit, a bit of a nail-biter there. And then lastly, we'll look at the Curry Cup, the first round of the Curry Cup. Yeah, a couple of clear signs that we're going to be seeing a couple of the bigger names struggle a little bit again with cohesion. That's a team that seems to be running, I think, through this season of rugby for me. But let's talk about the Nations Champions quickly.

You mentioned All Blacks versus Ireland. Harry invented a new stat called CPR carries passes and rocks. It's on the Lack of Rugby Pot episode of Sunday. I'll put the link down in the description. It's quite clear what's happening in New Zealand with the All Blacks.

They're running. They're not kicking a lot at all. And then the Springboks are doing the exact opposite. They kick everything, basically. And that seems to be very divergent styles.

And they're moving further away from each other as they are pulling away from the other team. So, like you just said, it sets it up very nicely. For me, the disappointment was the fact that I don't think Ireland even pitched up. They were never in that game. They were completely outclassed, outgunned.

I don't know, that was a bit of a disappointment. I expected much more of it. Yeah, there were a few soft tries given to New Zealand, but New Zealand played well. They put pressure on them. I think Ireland didn't play the game that you need to play against New Zealand.

They gave them space. They gave them opportunity. They made mistakes. They gave them ball. So that's what the screen box, in the success that the screen box did have against them, was to deny them that, to deny them the space, keep them to the set pieces, keep them in their own half.

That's why they criticise Africa for kicking a bit more, kicking a lot more against New Zealand. But that's just, you don't kick into, kick for them to play into space. And you must also not play too much. You want to play, you don't want to just not play. Like, almost like Argentina in the World Cup final against Spain.

Argentina, Ari. Somebody pointed out it's Argentina, not Argentina. Argentina. Okay. Latina.

Argentina. But South Africa know how to avoid them from opportunities. So that island gave them plenty of opportunities. So it was with mistakes, handling mistakes. The one try was really just from a kickoff, just passing behind a player, just giving them seven points on a plate.

So those are critical things. But it's going to be two different styles that meet on the 22nd of August, that first test, two different styles, meaning the All Blacks clearly like you say from that stats, that they want to keep it more ball in hand. That's their strength as well. They've got excellent players. They've known that in the past that we were quite envious that they tied five and lose forwards and even the props can catch and play.

Their handling apologies seem to be a lot better than any other team. South Africa did catch up with that a lot. I know that Tony Brown, ironically, a New Zealander, has been working with all the players quite a bit with handling skills and their ability to offload, etc. So, I think South Africa did catch up a little bit there, quite a bit. But it's going to be a different style.

They're not going to get the same kind of game that they got that's now New Zealand, that they got against Ireland when they played the Springboks, 22nd of August. That thing was just known. It's going to be an arm wrestle, it's going to be a grind, there's going to be pressure, there's going to be line speed on defence, there's going to be more physicality, there's going to be more pressure in the scrums, there's going to be a different crowd. So I've got a bit of a theory just briefly on that, on Eden Park. I think in the one side, it's a big plus for them, Eden Park.

This, I think, is 52, 53 games now, going back to 1994. So it's a big component in their success in playing in New Zealand is just continuing with that momentum. So they seem to mentally, I think it becomes a little bit of a mental thing for them. And I'll say why. I've got two examples for you.

The one example is quite recent, when the Spinbox played there last year. We lost at Eden Park, and then the next week, the Spinbox just beat them convincingly in Wellington 43-10 or something. There's another example, 2022, when Ireland played a three-test series there fairly recently. Exactly the same happened what happened to Ireland now on Saturday. The score is actually within a point or two exactly the same.

The score Saturday was 40-21. The score in 2022 was 42-19 for the All Blacks at Eden Park. What happened after that test? Ireland won the next two tests. They won in Dunedin 23-12 and they won in Wellington 32-22.

They won the Series 2-1. So there's something to maybe argue that Eden Park is a bigger component in their successes than we maybe realise. So I know it can be mental. It is mental as well, the mental approach to that as well. But it seems like they're doing better there, obviously, when they play there.

But now they're going to play at Ellis Park the next one, 22nd of August. So it's not going to be Eden Park. Different type of style they're going to meet. Different players, different pressures. So good to see that they've won.

But I still think that they're going to experience different pressure when they play in South Africa. Well, talking about the Springboks, we'll talk about the game against Wales just now. But you mentioned the 22nd of August. But before then, they have to play against the four franchises. and lots of question marks about who's going to be allowed to play for the local franchise, which of the Spleenbach players.

And Rasi said last week, you allow the players who need time to play, to play for the franchises. Most notably, I suppose, Sasha, Feinberg and Gomezulu. And you sent us a very telling little video over the weekend. Yes, I was Friday at the game when the Stormers 23 played against Grykwuz. And after the game, all the Stormers, let's say the biggest squad, all the other players that didn't play was there.

and Sasha was there as well. And then on the field, it was kind of curious to see. And I saw him walking around and jumping around and I started videoing it. And I just saw him showing one of the players that he can jump on his left ankle and move around easily. So the player obviously asked him about that.

So he's ready. And I think Rossi also said that he'll be included probably in the Argentina group and to play against Argentina. So it seems like he's ready. If he plays against Argentina, I think they're going to probably not play for the Stormers. Argentina.

When they play against Argentina, they will probably not play them against the All Blacks. Then they need not play them there. But just on that, I looked at that schedule, Envia. I think the Bulls and the Stormers are going to be the two teams that's going to catch their first team both those opportunities. Because what's happening, for those that haven't looked at it like that, the 7th of August, Friday, they play the Stormers in Cape Town.

Then on Tuesday, that coming Tuesday, the 11th, so it's just a few days, they play against the Sharks in Durban. So that will be their midweek team. So they'll probably play close to their full strength against the Stormers. Midweek against the Sharks, 11th. Then on Saturday, the 15th, they play the Bulls at Loftus.

Again, a full strength team probably because then on the next Saturday, the 22nd, they play the Springboks. So for the Stormers and the Bulls, they need to be waky, but it's also a good opportunity to put pressure on them. But yes, it's a pity that there's going to be key players missing. For the Stormers, it's difficult to say. And Chouna, for instance, the loose head prop, he will probably be not a starter for the Springboks, but he will be in the mix for the Springboks and won't play.

There will be players like that. Ben Jason Dixon won't be playing and De Villiers probably will be. there's going to be, you can name quite a few all of a sudden that Andrej Ugefent as well. So all of those that play Springbok now, they'll probably, and the same with the Bulls. You'll see almost the whole front row, you'll see Koubis Wieser not playing and maybe Irp Low as well and Hanecombe, who knows.

So it depends a lot on selections and what Rossi allow. So that's a pity. So you want them to play against almost like the strongest Bulls and the strongest Stormers, but it's not going to happen. But we have to manage that So there opportunities for others I actually briefly spoke with Ruane Ackerman at that game and he was quite keen and looking forward to the All Blacks So there some players coming through and coming back that will be in the mix that will be happy to play the All Blacks. So exciting to see them going to play in that type of series.

But there's lots of midweek games. So I think that it's not as stretched out as we think. So their first choice will probably just play weekend to weekend. Stormers, Bulls, and then the three tests, four tests. You know, the thing is, they might be playing the Bulls.

The Bulls and Stormers are probably the same. They started their pre-season last week. So it's a bit of an interruption. I know I spoke to you, Akraman, about this. It's becoming an inconvenient time, let's call it that.

Just getting up, then having to play, and then going back. Because you can't play the team that you will be playing in the URC, but you might be playing them because they might not be in the Springbok side, but they might be in the Springbok side. It's all up in the air. Rasta said he did communicate with the franchise last week, but we don't know what the story is. But I can still imagine talking about the Bulls losing against the Borland.

We talked about that just now. That wasn't the second choice team. That was a proper team. Let's talk about that just in a little bit. The Springboks against Wales, for me, was unconvincing.

A 43-0 victory was fine. Keeping Wales out like you said, our defence was good enough to keep them out. But it's Wales. And you, Griffin, warned us that supposedly resurgent Wales is not really that resurgent. They're basically staggering along.

And for me, the springboard performance was not convincing. It was one or two big players putting their hands up, showing their star power. But the cohesion is a problem. And I don't want to harp on it too much, but I'm worried about that. That's what we saw against Scotland, where you mentioned it earlier, where the defence lapsed.

But we saw it against Wales. It just didn't click. You would have expected South Africa to score many more points, especially if you take into consideration Wales had a yellow card, because there were 14 men on the field for a bit. And yet they couldn't just complete it. And I know it's the third and fourth team.

And I know we're going to be told we know nothing, but that worries me a little bit. The first time we're going to be playing together as a team is probably going to be, I mean, the first choice team is going to be against the All Blacks. And that worries me. What's your thoughts on that? Yeah, I also heard Rossi say the first time actually using those words in the media conference and saying that we haven't played our 23 together yet they've played their strongest 15 together against england that that was as strong as the 15 it can be but the the full 23 was not as strong so that that will maybe be okay it it interesting to see who he who he will take to argentina and and and and play there um he needs to take Sia, Colise, Lode, Jager, Yibben, Etzebet and Franco Mostat for instance, those four, we need them on the 22nd of August, all four I just mentioned.

So, and they haven't played for quite a long time, so they need to go to Argentina and hopefully play well enough to be in consideration there. As we discussed earlier, you've got Roan Orkia, that's almost the only given that you can You can say that he's going to be one of the locks, but you need either Lourdes or Irwin to be fit and healthy to be the number four lock in that scrum. So just looking at the past weekend, Envy, I think the humidity was a big issue. I think the handling was difficult. We've seen it many, many times in Curry Cup and Super Rugby games that you get those Durban afternoons or sunset times when it's just difficult to handle the ball because of the humidity.

So that was an issue. I think that was the takeaways, as I said tongue-in-cheek earlier in it, the takeaways in this game was definitely defence for us, so that's a tick. The scrums, physicality, the tick, line speed on defence, all of those are in place and they did well. What wasn't good is just the cohesion, keeping the ball, putting phases together, playing them wide when they can. Too many kicks maybe again as well.

there was probably a good opportunity to try and play them a bit more but maybe it was to do with the handling and with humidity and the ball being difficult to handle and that was one of the first things that came out in the interviews as well from Paul de Villiers as well he said it was quite difficult to handle the ball you saw players like Peter Steff de Tour just drop straight forward passes etc so that was an issue and that adds up a little bit that's maybe 20 points floating there on another day when it's sunshine and dry. Then we end up 43 to not 43, 63, and then it looks a little bit better. So I won't be too concerned about the handling maybe. I think they will work on that. It's something they'll identify, but they did as well as they could.

I'm more concerned about playing together. So what we did say about the All Blacks, they've played three tests now basically just trying their best 23. So they've had time to play together. I'm not sure what they're going to do when we play Argentina that weekend, but probably go strong again. And then we'll see what they do against the Storms on the 7th.

So that's one advantage we have. And the one advantage that Rossi will have a massive advantage is having a look at them 7-11 and 15 August. So Rossi will be able to look at how they play, what combinations they use. It's a little bit of a British Norris Lions feel, and it's exactly the same kind of sequence as well. I remember in those tours as well that the coaches looked at that.

And I remember there was a game in Durban that I think the Sharks played against the Springboks. And I remember Peter de Villiers and Dick Muir and Gary Gold, they were talking and I remember hearing them say that they're playing like Ireland. They're playing an Ireland game. I remember that very well. So they picked up in the way they play and they kind of could emulate preparing in the way that Ireland play.

But we know that All Blacks are going to play like the All Blacks play, so we can already see how they play. But playing against the Bulls, the Stormers, and the Sharks will help Rossi quite a bit. And the Lions. Yeah. And?

And the Lions. And the Lions, yeah. The Lions are just after the first test. So I mean, leading up to the first test, they're going to play all three of the other ones. Yeah, yeah, sure.

But just that Tuesday after the 22nd, they play the Lions. I was wondering, before we continue, Ari, you talked about Gary Gold and Dick Muir and Peter de Villiers. Just for those people who don't know, you were actually involved with the Springboks on that Lion Tour. Just briefly tell us what that was about. Yes, media, mediation.

So helping with media, but also doing the chaplaincy side. So that was quite a privilege to be involved with that. And so that was the chaplaincy side was kind of unofficial. It was more official in the 2020, 2011 World Cup in New Zealand. That was maybe an official or more official.

But with Levine's media liaison, so that's quite nice. So you need to be close to the action and you need to hear what they're saying and be close to what's happening. And so that was quite nice. A few interesting things that happened when Scott Berger and Pakis Boerter was in trouble after the second test at Loftus. It was interesting to see how they go through the process to look at the disciplinary process.

It was a retired lawyer from Canada that was also a referee at one stage. It was an old man that came there and he was trying to adjudicate that. So that's quite interesting to see it like that. But it's, yeah, the All Blacks coming is definitely got a Lions Tour feel to it. And I think as we go into it, we'll see that it will feel for all of us like a Lions Tour, playing the franchises, playing the test, playing many tests.

There's actually an extra one in America as well, the fourth test. So there's lots of rugby coming up. But it's going to be massive. I think it was New Zealand that made a statement this past weekend. I think they made a statement and said, look, we're ready for this tour.

So it's going to be extremely competitive coming up. But yeah, we need everybody, all hands on deck, and we need a few crucial experienced players to be healthy. Let's talk about the England-Argentina game, the handbags game. Seven yellow cards, four for England, three for the Argentinians. I mean, and then Felipe Conteponia storming out in half and a puff because the England team was celebrating too much.

I mean, they can't help the fact that the dressing room is right next to the media centre. What are they supposed to do? Keep quiet until everybody's done? I saw it laughter. I mean, you sit in that media center and you hear people moving tables and scraping and singing, and you can't help it.

It's just, I think, maybe a bit of an overreaction, maybe a bit of a feeling of disappointment because Argentina lost two of their three games and they were all at home. They've never lost at this stadium before. You know, it was down to the last minute. TMO again. We'll talk about the TMO just now when we get to the Junior Springboks.

For me, probably the disappointment of this opening round of the Dacians' Championship. Argentina not shaping up. I mean, I never saw that coming. Yeah, that was a difficult one. I think the England players and management probably saw that that change room is quite right next to the media liaison, media place, and sang a few extra songs.

That's possible. But I think there was lots of off-the-field stuff that was pulled into this one, MVA. They had the soccer game that they played between England and Argentina that kind of spiced it up between the two countries. They had the Falkland War being kind of brought back into it with banners on the field by the soccer players. And all of a sudden, you've got England flying over, being there just a few days later playing this rugby game.

And then it's different to rugby. There can be a lot more physical and things can happen. So there was lots of needle in it. I think the disappointment for Argentina sprawled over in the last minutes. There were like 10 minutes they tried to scrum and it took long and then in the end they scored in the corner and it was looked at and it wasn't given and then all the things happened so um lots of frustration but um i i agree it it argentina must just be careful for picking up a bit of a reputation for going overboard And in soccer we see it quite a lot People or the players involving the referees on a very close quarters and shouting at them etc In rugby, that's at least not happening.

They were touching and kind of confronting the referee after the final whistle. But those things happen. And I don't want to be kind of take the moral high ground because in previous times, South Africa and other teams maybe handled it a bit better. But, you know, pressure on England as well. You know, Don Iriseau with a tackle on Kato or whatever on that World Cup.

There was that try of Jacques Ferry in the corner against the Lions. That was also almost like a similar thing to the Saturday. It was given that one. We've had Bryce Lawrence in New Zealand against South Africa, Australia. I mention all these examples because it's tough when it happens, and then everybody had all that reason to act in a similar way if you want to kind of say that you can act in a similar way, but you can't.

So there were situations where other teams handled it better. That's actually what I'm saying. And Argentina didn't handle it good. So I know they're known in the Latin blood, whatever, in those countries that they're known for the short fuse. but um if i can say that now we can't so so and then so you need to handle it and and so it comes uh comes with the pressure etc but it it wasn't handled well and then conteponi also stormed out of the media conference he had enough with all the singing next to him so so all the things adding up but i think it was soccer that started at falklands law falklands island whatever the war and and then losing in the last minute with a call that goes well at best they could have made it uh um a draw but um even to keep that conversion still but um so yeah it's frustrating but they they're picking up a bit of a reputation worldwide as it is the soccer gave them a bad reputation they didn't come out of the soccer world cup with a good reputation in terms of their conduct so uh you didn't help to see the rugby players do the same yeah we saw after the match the world cup finals They went at each other physically, you know, went against the Spanish players.

Yeah, they stood soccer. Yeah, but I'm not going to harp on that too much. We're not a soccer channel. Thank goodness for that. Let's talk about the junior springboks.

I mean, I was, you know, luckily it was postponed a bit because of Lightning because it was overlapped with the springboks game against Wales. So that allowed us to watch most of the games started slightly later, you know, a bit of an overlap still, but not that much. And the biggest thing for me was Leon Gilomir not being picked for the team. sort of Kevin Foote being forced into a corner with the delay in the outcome of the disciplinary hearing and he had to announce his team. You could have picked him still, but he decided not to.

What was his thinking behind that? I mean, for Gillum here, it's a once-in-a-lifetime. Next year is probably going to be too old. Yet again, Felix maybe was picked and it would have been unfair to drop him. What was the thinking behind that?

Yeah, the only thing is that they were probably forced to name their squad at a certain time and the disciplinary was on that Thursday. So you would think that they could pick the team on Thursday when they play on the Saturday. So I haven't seen anything that confirms what happened there. But in that situation, you normally try and wait and see if there's a disciplinary on the way and there's a good chance that he could get a yellow. Then he's available.

He's a key player as well because he can play 10 as well. So he can play 15 and 10. Felix actually did well. He's a different player, but under circumstances, he actually did very well. But it's denying that opportunity.

So that was a harsh one. I would think that they could have delayed their naming to the Thursday after the hearing but for some reason they didn't. I can only think that the rules of that competition had forced him to announce his team earlier and then he had no choice. Also, he wouldn't have practiced with the team. That's what I saw.

Because they were waiting and they couldn't take the risk of making him practice for the team that as if he was available as a red card, if he wasn't available, they would have been caught short in their preparation. So it makes sense to me. But talk about the game. And once again, the TMO basically tried to steal the show. I mean, how many TMO stoppages were there?

And despite that, the screen box managed to, you know, still win it. But it felt a little overbearing and it was too much of it, you know. It's like the TMO wanted to take center stage kind of a thing. It reminds me of someone else who wanted to take center stage this weekend, but that's a story for another day. Yeah.

I think there was some unprofessionalism as well from the TMO as well. At one stage, there was one incident. He said he wants to show the referee something. So his words he used were, I want to show you a definite knock. So if you tell the referee, I'm going to show you a definite knock, and then it's like three replays later, then we're not sure if it is a knock.

That was when Badenor scored that try that wasn't allowed. and it was kind of the players going out, hands in the air, and it looked like it came off him, but it wasn't that obvious. But anyway, I think that Ahmed's try under the post when he dived over the player or accused to dive, but the defender went in low. In the end, he said his two feet were together and he jumped. So I didn't see that at one stage as well.

But anyway, so if that was a World Cup final in the 79th minute, I don't wish it on any TMO to make that decision then. So it is tough. But I think they try their best. And the interpretation is that probably at the football, they have three VAR people together there. And the impression you get is that it becomes a discussion and it's two against one or three against three.

So just to make sure that they talk about it. So I know then VAR, they've got the VAR assistant and then another with a second assistant VA. So they always have three kind of talking it through. So it's better that it's an uneven number that two against one opinions would go the one way and the other way. So the referees, yeah, they're under pressure, so they rely on that.

So they look at it at big screens from a distance and the TMO has got the screen here close to him. So hopefully they need to make the right calls. I just fear that it's going to come into rugby quite a bit more, especially with head contact. We saw it against New Zealand, a red card not being given. So other days you see direct contact on the face, it's a red card.

Now it's direct shoulder on the face, yellow card. A trading hand, his hand got stuck, oh, come on. And that other yellow card, it wasn't given for the deliberate knockdown. I can't believe how many people New Zealanders said on our comments, No, no, he definitely was going to catch that ball. I mean, your guy was flat-out horizontal.

There's no way he's going to get that ball back. But anyway, I'm not going to hop on that a little bit. Just talk to me about what you see of the junior springboks. I suppose lots of them will not be able to play again next year in terms of the age groups and the likes. Gevin Furt making a huge difference, and things are starting to work out well for the springboks.

Double back-to-back world champions, defending the United Nations champions, the unbeaten on the alternate nations last year, the sevens champions again for the change, and now obviously the junior championship back-to-back as well. And the Springbok women starting to look a little bit better. I mean, they blew the USA away the first half in that first test, got a bit of a comeuppance in the second one. But all of our teams starting to fire, but it seems to be, if Dave Hesel's there and everything else, things are a bit better aligned, better planned. It's all coming together.

Yeah, I think the turnaround came from a few years ago, the World Cup in South Africa when they didn't get past the group stages. And it was a kind of a rainy, wet tournament in Cape Town. All the values were still kept in. Yeah. And so that was not a good tournament.

And I know that I've spoken to one or two of other people involved there, and they said that SRR had quite a few meetings regarding that. But we need out on the 20s to do better. we've got an excellent school system feeding into this under 20s and they should do better so a few things that they did better is is that european teams often came better prepared playing the six nations under 20 and playing each other quite a few times and then the commentators talked about it quite a bit about talking about the french powerhouse that the european french being the european powerhouse they say that because they won the six nations that this french under 20 team So they did well in that competition against England, Ireland and Scotland. It's a great competition. Italy also there.

So it's a good preparation. But we've got tournaments as well that we play here. So we've got Argentina and other teams that come. France was here as well. I can't remember now.

But they play. They've got the... And the Roku Championship. Yeah. So that helps.

But it's a lot more professional, I think. And it's well coached. And there's great players coming through. So I think there's some of those players that you know, many of those players that we've seen on Saturday that will play URC next year and the year after that. So they're as good as that.

And some have played already. So, yeah, players like Helomir and Marcus Miller, I think he will still play on the 20s next year. But Oliver Reed, for instance, already played for the Stormers. So he's a loose head. So there's some of them coming through already.

And Jooste, we know, played quite a few games for the Bulls. So there's quite a few that will make it into it. I think Ahmed, the fly-off as well, I don't know where he's going to find a spot to play in Cape Town, but there's a few fly-offs in Cape Town that it's going to be difficult to lift maybe, but he's coming through strong as well. So there's lots of good talent coming through. And Gilimi are going to the Bulls, for example.

All right. Yes. Yeah, one of the, I think, finds almost, we all knew about him, but his name just kept popping up. He's such a good record player. And I'm very happy that he's coming to the rules, by the way, Ari.

Thank you But anyway let keep on talking Happy export from Cape Town Let move on to the cup quickly first round happening you mentioned you were at the game stormers taking on the greek was um i don know what did you think of that game it was close towards the end and uh greek was the defending champions come to think of it and uh the stormers xxii the storm is 23 talk about a clumsy name but now i suppose you have to differentiate a lot of them somehow why don't you just call them a 23 yeah anyway what did you think of that game I quite like the 23 I was thinking about that because the Bulls is just a 15 so I like it when the name's got all 23 not the 15 but anyway it looks a bit clumsy because it's two X's and then three I think it's I's two X three I's and then that's the 23 but yes it was for the first time in the Curry Cup and I spoke with in the media afterwards with John Duplessis as well. For him, and he's older, he still talked about the curry cup. And because he grew up in that house with Cardo Duplessis being his dad, and he was a mascot in 2001 when they beat the Sharks, when Cardo Duplessis was still the coach of the Western province. So he's still on that team photo as a little boy. But he said afterwards, he said, I thank the players in the change room.

The Curry Cup means a lot to me. So all of a sudden, there's something bubbling with what the Curry Cup means for these players, coming from a little bit of an older player being the captain. But yes, Griequois settled team. They did well in the first half. I think they had an opportunity in the second half to win it on the goal line of the Stormers, close to actually being awarded a penalty try even.

But then there was one of the Griequois players that flipped one of the Stormers over and it was a penalty against them. And that kind of changed it. And the Stormers came back and then scored in the end. So, yes, lots of penalties also in the game, lots of penalties in the first half, but it was competitive. It's not just lots of penalties.

You mentioned to me how many penalties did the Stormers concede in the first half. Yeah, it was the first half only. There were 13 penalties against the Stormers and just two for the Griequois. So that was quite a one-way. In the second half, it was a bit more 50-50.

It was eight penalties in the first 17 minutes against the Stormers. So it was just repetitive. But often you get it when one team is really stronger than the other one and you dominate and you get lots of penalties. It was kind of the feel you got in that game was the two teams matching. So that's when it's a bit strange when you have two teams matching and you have a 13-2.

Anyway, but it's possible they need to work on the discipline. So that made it difficult. It made it difficult for the Bulls as well in Wellington against the Boerland as well. There were also lots of penalties in the first half against the Bulls in that game. But just on the Griequois and the Stormers, I think what I did see is from previous games that the Stormers were a lot more competitive in the tight phases.

Because in previous seasons, you had the settled older team with Curry Cup players and older players. And the Bulls and the Sharks also battled with that in previous seasons. And that's why you saw the Pumas, the Greekos, really kind of, and the Cheetahs as well in the Curry Cup, muscle the other teams that had these more settled, older players, stronger players. But for the first time, it felt like they had Oli Kable there briefly as well. And he was sent off with a strange decision as well after 20 minutes from a shoulder knock that the thought was a head knock.

The doctor just pulled him. Anyway, so he was the big key player in the last team, but the Stormers matched the physicality, and so that was a big difference I saw. There's still very young players in both sides, but interesting Curry Cup because it's interesting because the Sharks also beat the Pumas, and then so that was probably the Pumas maybe expected to win that one on previous seasons, what they did, and then the Boland beat the Bulls. So, yeah, it's an interesting season coming up. Now the Stormers go to Wellington this coming Sunday.

Poland love to play on the Sunday. They've got good success playing on Sunday. And so that will be a big Cape derby on Sunday. And that it was, yeah, it was a good first performance by the Stormers. Some good youthful players and then some experienced players mixed in between.

Just briefly talk to me about Tom Dawson's Squibb, the new coach of Stormers 23. He used to be an IKs coach, but interestingly enough, he was also the head coach. By head coach, I mean mind coach. His motivation coach, whatever, in the previous World Cup. He knows how to work with players and work with their minds and their psychology and everything else.

What are you seeing there? Is it a bit of a different approach? Never mind the older players, but just the way they approach it, making sure that it does count and the likes. What's different there? I think it helps when he knows the psychology that well.

I think that's going to be an area that will be a little bit more in place. I think he talked about that. He said that Friday before the game, they had a walkthrough session or simulation session. And I think all the teams do that. But I think maybe they have more emphasis on that, looking at probabilities in the game, looking at situations, look at this, how do we handle it if this happens, how do we handle it, et cetera.

So that helped because in the end, they had to adjust with cards as well. There was quite a few cards as well. But I think the psychology, he will be strong at. I think he knows Cape Town rugby. He's been the UCT coach for quite a bit.

So he knows quite some of the players. He knows Dobson quite well. He knows all the coaching team quite well. So I think it's pulling somebody into the system that knows Western Province and Stormers rugby, but also knows the way Cape Town plays with the UCT, from UCT. and he's a good coach.

He had success. I think he was a coach in that Vasti Cup win for UCT against, I think, against Potjewström, against the Puka, when they scored like three tries in the last six minutes or seven minutes. I think he was a coach in that game. I think so. But he's had success.

So it's a new coach and nothing better than to win the first game. So there was lots of pressure on that. But I can see he's got a good interaction with John-Luc Duplessis in the media. So that was good. And I think there's lots of involvement from all the coaches.

There's other younger coaches coming through as well. Brock Arrow is doing good things in the scrums. And then Dalmut Leeman is the forward coach and the line-out coach that's been with Battle Gymnasium. He was with the schools team. Great success in building by province from there.

He also played for Marties. So a good player as well. Apologies. So they've got a good coaching system there. Pine Pinar, that you know quite well from Pretoria, that also he's been brought in to help with the defence.

So they've got experienced coaches there. So I think that all adds up to a good campaign for them. Okay, just in closing, let's talk about the Bulls a little bit. A proper team, that. The tight head, number three from the Sharks, Mduanda, making his debut, having a bit of a chat, or chat back at the referee, maybe not the best approach to it.

I was surprised that Borland beat them that easily it wasn't a pretty game or anything but it was not the best conditions but 24-10 is not a good score what does it say about the Borland and what does it say about the Bulls? I think the Borland and it was Peter Berg actually from the Greek was in his media after the Storms game talked about and Squib also talked about that that the Buller team is well drilled and he's very disciplined and they're very organised and Javi's really doing a great job there and he's been there for a few years now. So he's got good players, he's got a stronger squad as well, some experienced players as well. So they're well coached and they can play well. They played well in the Curry Cup last year as well and so I think the game was suited the Bulls in a way as well.

That is what the captain of the Lomarj of the Buelan said afterwards, because it was drizzle. It was a rainy, drizzly day, so it was more wet and more forward focused. So they did battle a little bit there to keep the Bulls forwards out, but they managed to find a way in the end. So I think they have a good team. So I think for the Bulls, maybe unlucky here and there.

Also battled in the beginning of the game, also like the Stormers with lots of penalties against them. Also, Kaur, Jan Svarezberg was sent off at one stage as well, so playing with less players. But lots of penalties in the beginning and early on, the Buland could get ahead and stayed ahead. So I don't think the Bulls played that bad. I think there's small things they can adjust.

It is an away game and Buland will probably be better in the competition, better than we think, I suggests. So it will be interesting to see. They have a tough game now. The Bulls go to Kimberley now. The Bulls play in Kimberley against the Griequois now, next.

And the Stormers, also a tough game. They need to go now to Wellington this coming Sunday. So tough games for them coming up. Alright, we'll talk about the other teams a bit more next week. We're running out of time here, Ari.

Thank you so much for that. I appreciate it. It's always fun to talk to you. We'll do this again on Friday when we have a bit of a preview, like you just mentioned. Basically, Exist only curry cup this weekend coming.

No springboks, no internationals, you know, whatever we're going to be talking about. But anyway, thanks, Ari. Appreciate it. We'll find something. We can talk about Argentina again.

Argentina. Argentina. Argentina. There we go. Thank you for the comment who pointed it out.

The error of our ways. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thanks, Ari. Talk to you soon.

Bye-bye.

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