Willemse Was Brilliant. Now Rassie Rings the Changes for Scotland. | Weekend Rugby Wrap

Welcome back. Thank you for rugby. I'm still on holiday, so Ari and I will still be talking to each other in English to save time and save, you know, save my marriage almost, if I could call it that. Ari, welcome back, and thank you again for making time for me to speak to me in English, and I think on Friday we did pretty well. We've got a good reception there.

Yes, hi, Enver. Yes, nice weekend of sport. Spinbox off to a winning start, so that's good. They won against the Barbarians, but in this competition context, it was a bit of a slippery one for them. England is not a bad team and they came off a lot of defeats so now they've got 5 in a row actually 6 if you count in the Barbarians as well so I was a bit nervous before the England game but mission accomplished there were moments that they let them into the game a little bit but it was impressive so I also need to listen to all the reports from England etc and the so-called neutrals from Ireland and New Zealand So all of them were quite impressed So it's a big winning score I know that last minute with the 13 players Maybe it's a bit easier to score But a good start If we talk about that A very good start, 17-0 Let them back again from the 25th minute Let them back in again And then the impressive thing for me was Just after half-time That was the moment that they had to stand up Which was comparable to the Australia one That we all know That we've seen that one before and so they rectified that and did well in the start of the second half and so it was good.

There was disruptions, we know about that, with Eben and Sia players coming in. So I think there's some good. The good for me was the start and after halftime. The bad was for me from 25 to the 40th minute. We can talk about that.

There were one or two specific things that happened there that we let them back in and that they must learn from. I think they will. but in all it's about 8.5 out of 10 I would say. 8 out of 10 probably.

So there's things to work on but mission accomplished to beat England, get your bonus points and then you move on. So well done. Talking of bonus points, Rasi Erasmus said initially that he's not too excited about this nation championship and they will take it game by game and they're not used to playing with bonus points. I think you're immediately forgetting about the World Cup but in his interview before the game he said no he's not getting excited. He's been watching the Australia game, Ireland game and the likes.

He learned a couple of things there. Now he's getting a bit more excited. We saw we scored the bonus point. Do you think that maybe Rossi has now seen the light or was he interested in any way from the beginning? I think it was just lots of pressure to win against England.

Anytime you play against England, although they're coming off like five games in a row, four games in a row that they've lost, I think you just want to win. So I don't think he didn't get his mind to on thinking about bonus points, just win the game first. So, but he saw, he said he saw in the previous games, actually, obviously before we all did it in the same sequence. We watched the nine o'clock and the 12 o'clock, et cetera. And he saw that it was close.

It was 33, 31 and 34, 32 and stuff like that. And earning bonus points for scoring four tries, two bonus points for losing, et cetera. So if you, in November, want to play in that so-called final at Twickingham, you need to beat New Zealand to that post. It seems like Australia losing now to Ireland, you can't lose at home. That's going to make it difficult for them.

So it's going to be between the Spinbox and New Zealand. I don't want to look at November, but South Africa's got two very difficult games in November. We need to play France away, Ireland away in November before we can even think about so-called final in London. so the All Blacks also need to play England away we don't know how they're going to be by then but yes, a bonus point is important so it's clear that will make a difference in the end as normally it's small margins like in the URC then you're kind of wishing for one or two points more in the end of the season but yeah, it's a mission accomplished I think winning first that's maybe making it a little bit more interesting I had a friend that asked me why don't they just have the two best players with points, play against others. But the problem is then it's just going to be another World Cup.

So they needed to split it up between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere to have that interest. Otherwise, you're just going to play a World Cup every time because it's more or less the same teams, the stronger teams. So, yeah, I think he would look at Scotland and now all of a sudden think, OK, now we need to beat Scotland, but OK, we also need to score four tries. And so the focus changes a little bit. We'll get to the Scotland team just now.

We've got it in front of us. But Hugh Griffin pointed out something to us over the weekend that now suddenly Wales on top of the Northern MSP points table. That means that all the Northern supporters will support the Southern teams, except their own team and the other way around, because we want our team to end on top. So I don't think they saw this coming. So now all the Wales teams are supporting South Africa to beat England so that Wales can be on top.

not really what you wanted because you're not really a northern hemisphere kind of a thing you're just you're still these old arch rivals wales don't like england and the other way around but now they're supposedly you know on the same side that's that that's a bit artificial but we'll get to that just now just talk about that game quickly um you mentioned after the 25th minute it went a bit awry and i think a big part of that was the fact that kirkley arlinson got a yellow card which he almost got away with and i thought he got away with it but no so he had to go off again and then for those 10 minutes we were on the back foot a bit. What worried me a little bit is we were caught a bit on the back foot, a little bit of sleep almost. There was a try that was scored that was disallowed, rightly so. But the other two tries that they scored, Alice Gaineson and Bartlett's try, I think they caught us napping almost. That's not on.

No, no. Apologies. And it didn't look good. I don't like it when England players bump off big South African defenders. So that didn't look great with Genge bumping off Datoui and then also Martin bumping off Visa.

So that happens. That's world rugby. That's international rugby. So it was good tries. They scored in the end.

So good to them. I think I agree with you that 25th minute is the key. Those that watch the game and watching now will remember Damon Willems kicking that great kick from his own 22 that ended up in a 50-22 line out just inside the 22. So it's 25th minute. We're up 17-0 our line out.

And that is where it all went wrong, just from there. They called a very deep throw in right at the back. It was skew. Norkia couldn't get it where the throw was not good. Scrum to them.

They kick up and under. They catch the ball. And from that move, it went out where Kirtley Arnse got the card. So it all kind of went wrong. So I think they will look at that and say, how do we look at a situation 25th minute?

We've got them 17-0. We've got a throw in their 22. We must keep the pressure. We must score next. So that's something to learn.

And that just changed the momentum totally. From in their half, 17-0 up, about to go up 24 or something, you're back in your own half with 14 men. So it's small margins, but it's things that you can control. controllables is especially that line out that that call was i know there's lots of reward if you get if you get the deep ball i i get that but it's a big risk as well so maybe on another day it will be a different call but they learned from that and then the unfortunate thing of kirtley aren't so that did make a difference so um but it was good i think the the within the the challenge i think the big challenge that was good for me that they overcame was that they had to go into the shed they're like the new zealanders say um with that mindset that negative mindset we just conceded that try we let them back in again is this australian all over again and the way they came out in the second half was impressive so obviously it was tactical it seemed like russia talked about uh stalker he calls the stick stalker he talked about stalker and tony brown that had good input some of the players also said the coaches gave us a good plan So I think other times, you know, that's what impresses me about the change room. You know, other coaches go into the change room, especially the French, and they will give you the blower.

They will give you a Ferguson in Manchester United days And that maybe kind of wakes up some players but for some players it difficult So, yes, we know what went wrong, but it seemed like they focused quite a bit on, OK, let's fix this. This is how we fix it. And they came out with a plan. They were controlled. They didn't panic and they scored two tries when it really mattered.

So that was impressive for me. So I think that was good for me, those components. And then in the end they finished over. I liked the way it was just incredible for me incredible for me to see Jan Hendrik Vessels and Zachary Portham, the physical impact they had in the end of the game. Those are players that are going to play for us for the next five, six, seven years.

That's important players. And just their physical presence. Now they ran over some of the players. And so that was impressive to see that pressure coming on, young props coming through. So yeah, there were lots of positive things to work at, but we'll take the win.

Now it's off off to Loftus for Scotland. So that's something else. Well, talking of Loftus and talking of changes at halftime, after halftime, we saw Ben Jason coming onto the field at four lock. We just have to move him back to seven that he's actually been playing at a bit. And then things just sort of stabilized.

We dropped off so many tackles at one stage. I think I already said we dropped. We didn't miss those tackles, but we dropped off those tackles, 21 of them. And I mean, we lost count at one stage. Like you just said, that's not really Sprembach defense kind of a thing.

So now I'm wondering, you talk about Loftus, Cameron Hanukom having to start at seven, not really a position that he's comfortable at. I actually asked him straight out what does he prefer, and he does prefer eight. And he did specifically tell me that the Springboks and the Bulls play different, have different approaches with their sixes and sevens, and eights for that matter. Yeah, but you know, to put a young player in the second test and make him start all of a sudden at a position that he's not used to, I think that was a little, maybe a little bit unfair. I'm not saying that as a Blue Bull supporter.

I'm just saying that Cameron, obviously, I would have said, start Ben Jason Dixon at four, start Peter Stefft-Toye at seven, and then bring Cameron on maybe as eight or something later on in the game. Peter De Valle, or Paul De Valle, yes, Peter De Valle. Paul De Valle is a six for the Stormers, he's a six at the Springboks. But again, a huge difference in the type of game that that number six is supposed to play. You mentioned to me before, he was now suddenly supposed to play like Sierra Policia, taking up the ball in the likes, not just being a pilferer and a jackal, but more physical game.

And I'm wondering whether he's really cut out for that. Yeah, it's different. Like you mentioned, the Sixers play a little bit different to the Stormers at the Springboks. So Paul de Villiers will mostly take maybe have Ruiz taking the ball more up for the Stormers. And he needed to take it up a little bit more for the Springboks.

But sometimes your versatility in the case of Hanecombe, sometimes your strength becomes a challenge as well. because the benefit is that he's versatile. So that is something that Rossi obviously saw in him. And I think he was quite keen to test him out at seven as well. Now he can play eight.

I think it's good for him to know that he can also play seven. But there's obviously things that he needs to adjust there, small things, but he didn't do bad. But I think Rossi, quote, unquote, said both of the Valiers and Hanukom that they were not brilliant, but they looked like they belonged there. So it's kind of two ways you can take that. But I think you can rather more focus on they belong there.

And so it's tough for them to come in. I think the reality is that we all know that, and we saw it before the kickoff, that if you lose test caps 244 between Sia and Iben, and then you have two players coming in that between them, they only have Hanukom's cap. I mean, poor old Peter, I also now said Peter de Valiers, poor old Paul de Valiers. he's not even on the team photo so hopefully they took a photo in the change room because he was not even on the team photo that was released on Friday so he came from right outside but yeah it is for Hanecom it's a challenge to come in that seven they shoveled it around now for Loftus as well I think it would have been good to give him a run at Loftus again but now you have Peter Steff the tour that can play seven again and they tried a different eight now. We can talk about the team now.

So that is unfortunate, but I think he will continue to be in the mix. I think they know he can play eight, they know he can play seven now as well. Going back to this thing about Rossi that he said earlier, years ago, that if you can't practice on Monday, you can't play on Saturday. But now both Iben and Sia were left to the last minute to see whether they can make it or not. And that's not normally what Rossi would do.

So I'm going to be a bit of a conspiracy theorist here and say I smell a bit of a rat here. Because England also had a last minute change, but that was actually enforced because of endocytus. They've been going to have these appendix removed. But the point is just, you know, England announced the team very early and then changed it to the last moment. You know, what are you reading into that or am I reading too much into it?

Yeah, I think SIA's injury seems like a legitimate injury, like hamstring. and it is too important not to play games with him. What might be, what I found kind of curious as well, was that he said that even Etzebet's knock was on the Tuesday or the Wednesday, so it was quite early in the week. So if there's a concern about a knock and it's a head knock, you make that assessment quite quickly. You can maybe give him 24 hours at the most, but if it's even the Wednesday, by the Thursday, you will know.

And the doctor will say, you know, if he's still in doubt by Friday, or he's still in doubt by Thursday, showing symptoms, all those things, then you need to pull him. So they need to do all the checks if there's a head knock. It needs to be similar to what they do if there's a head knock on the field. He needs to do the HIA. He needs to go through all the protocols.

So they definitely needed to do that with him on the Wednesday or the Tuesday. So that's a bit of a funny one for me. If he took that knock that early in the week, I think that assessment would have been made earlier. earlier. So that might be something that held back a little bit.

But then it's also unfair to the other two players. But I don't know, it's speculation. Maybe I'm just missing something from the protocols of a head knock. And maybe he was cleared and maybe it was okay. Maybe symptoms came back on the Friday.

So that's also possible that he was okay and then kind of doubted it again on Friday, on Saturday. But anyway, but that that's that's just the way it played out but um with russi um obviously in the past he's he was successful in in doing a few things that was out of the ordinary let's just call him that and uh so there's yeah so there's there's probably always first suspicion even from the south africans so that it might be a bit more but anyway it played out as it needed to be i mean reality is that um he was talking about eight locks and i tried to count where did he get the eighth one and I forgot about Ruan Fenter, actually, it's also that he wanted to play lock. So that is reality that we really do have eight locks that would have been available that's not available. So it's a huge amount of players that's not available. So to even still beat England convincingly with that scenario is quite impressive.

Yeah. Well, two things left to talk about on that game. Firstly, no game would be complete without giving praise to you where praise is due and Damien Willemsar. an absolute blinder. Probably the player of the entire Saturday, I would suppose, across all these, you know, northern-southern hemisphere games.

What game did he have? And then by accident not being awarded the man of the match. Shame, man. Yeah, they did too many Damians on the field and at Gilead was lost in translation. So Damian Dalenda could practice his English.

but yeah it's a pity because he deserved to be in front of the cameras after that game specifically after his 50th but you know at times you have 15s that you kind of we talked about it in a cricket sense that's good wicket keepers like they clean at the back and they kick it back and they have the right decisions so he had a difficult role because there were lots of kicks that he had to field and lots of them man on and his decision making was brilliant in his distribution. He knew when to attack, when to kick it up. He was safe. He kicked well. So I can remember one or two There maybe one or two of those kicks that went to England Apologies but mostly he fielded everything So yeah he a good player and he can play everywhere We're going to talk about the team now.

Rusty now shifted him into the midfield. So that's another challenge now for him. His versatility is going to be under pressure there again, but he's good enough to play there. But to have him as a fifth team is very valuable. So he's defensively good.

He's big enough. He takes the ball. He kicks well. And I think the big benefit for him, Envy, is that he understands 10 and he understands 12. So I think some of the best fullbacks are the ones that have played in other positions as well, and he understands what other 10 think because he's up against what 10s and 15s on the other side do in terms of tactical and kicking and field position, et cetera.

So I think he's figuring them out and he did well on a difficult field because the ball flies a bit further there. He's used to playing in Cape Town where it's not like that and that'll spark the ball, maybe bounces a little bit more as well. So he did well. He did well. He actually did more than well.

He was brilliant. Let's venture into talking about Marnie Lubbock. I'm not going to get crucified for not being positive enough or not being negative enough or something because you can never win with Marnie. I mentioned that I thought Marnie looked quite positive for me and I was told in no uncertain terms that Marnie always looks positive what am I smoking just on your impressions of his game I thought he had a very good game clearly it depends on how you watch the game some people thought he had a terrible game some people thought he had an excellent game I myself felt he had a very, very good game just a sublime distributor of the ball little passes here and there I thought he did well what were your thoughts? I think he did well and he had a clean game, if you can call it that.

And he didn't have the pressure of kicking, so he wasn't so visible. And sometimes if you're not that visible, then you had a good game. Normally we remember all the names and all the players that made mistakes and didn't have a good game. So you kind of have to think, okay, how was Marnie's game? And the reason for that is he didn't do many spectacular things, didn't have clean breaks, et cetera.

But he was tactically good, made good decisions. He did what he needed to do. and he was actually a mature flyer for me in a sense. There were seasons one or two or three ago that he was maybe too brave and maybe too attacking and doing the funny things, what they call the chicken bones and all those little pastas and things. Chicken wings.

Yeah, but I think he cleaned up that. So he showed that he can be a really, let's say, a 10 that takes control. And that is said before the interviews before the game on Thursday, Wednesday, when he was on media. He said that it is his responsibility to take ownership and move the team where they need to be on the field. And he took that responsibility.

So that was good to see. So, yep, it's a different fly off now this week. But it's good to know that he can play both games. And so what we do know is when you give him front football and give him space and he will play you all the time. And when you have a nine that's asking the questions as well.

That's what I like about you can see the nines that's playing well just on that because the nine, why I mentioned the nine because the nine is a lot of influence on what the ten do. So if you have like Williams that's asking the questions, you see that in Roygaard as well for the All Blacks. And you see it in Gibson Park as well. those nines that ask questions around the ruck and play you at times. They don't always just link.

They create space for the 10. So what happens in the game as the game develops, those fringes need to come in a bit tighter because they need to look out for the nine a bit more than normal. And that creates space for the 10. So with Williams asking those questions, I think that makes a big difference. It frees up a little bit of Manny Le Boeck as well.

But he had a good game. It's a bit of a pity that he didn't kick to the goals. I like it for 10 to kick the goals. I understand that Colby did well in Japan. He did excellently in the game.

He kicked those penalties. But I would still think, I don't know if they had trials in the training or what they did in the week and saw who was kicking best. But I still would have given the kicks to Mane, just saying, you know, you're a 10, kick it. But he handled that fine. Even in the interviews in the media, he said that he think he's going to kick, but he didn't.

but that's part of the game, at least we know that Colby can also kick them if needed Alright, now let's move on to Loftus Flash our team just announced that you talked about a fly-off that can control the game and you know, historically but not recently Andre Pollard is exactly that kind of fly-off and you mentioned to me when we looked at this team, it's kind of a Blue Bull flavor a Bulls flavor here you know, the half-backs and the likes Mane, not there Andre and Ambrose being back since 2018 talk to me about that team, what are you seeing here? It's a great team and he mixed it up a bit I counted when I went through the 23, I wanted to give 10 of the players to the Bulls because we all know that Jesse Kruller is not playing there anymore but he feels like a Blue Bulls player but it's not all about that I don't think he's looking at just including Bulls for the sake of playing at Loftus But it does help. But it just happened to be, it's almost like a pack that is a Bulls tight five and the Stormers lose two. It's that combination. But I like the 9-10.

So for those that didn't see the team, maybe we can go through that. But the back line, you've got Fassi at the back. And so with Ed Wolfen and Mervyn Kane and Moody. So that's nice and attacking. And at Loftus, they will get good ball.

And so they've got attacking threat. And then Damien Willemse goes to 12 with Jesse Creel. so Damien Delende he's rested so we know Volimsa can play 12 he played lots of 12 for the Stormers he played there for the box as well but it is different but it's also about versatility as well so then Andre Pollard and Ambrose Papier so that's nice to see so that's maybe where the Bulls argument comes into it a little bit more it's the 9 and 10 that's settled knows Loftus Fashfield knows the angles knows how the Bull bounces there so that's quite good and then up front you have Buan Fenter that starts at Luzet, Wolkow-Low and Johan Grobelar. And then Kubis Vise and Ruan Norquia, the locks. So that's all tight five that know each other from the Bulls with Buan Fenter there.

And then Paul De Villiers, Peter Stefft, and Evan Ruiz. He's playing eight. So that's a starting 2015 to talk about that. But a strong team, I think. He's mixing it up.

We know that we've got depth. So there's experience in there. So obviously the concern that everybody wondered about Yirvan Ezebet, maybe that knock is more serious. It would be more serious. So protocols being followed, if Yirvan was ready, he would have played, I would think.

So maybe then that knock was, it wasn't games that was played. So it was more serious. Maybe games was maybe just to delay it in terms of when announcing it. So still a challenge at luck, but still you have Kubis-Visa there at number four. The only challenge maybe is that we're again a bit thin on the reserve bank in terms of locks.

So you've got Ben Jason Dixon that played about 95% of his rugby for the Stormers at seven. He's going to be the replacement lock. Vincent Tetsuka probably also can, I think, can also play there. But yeah, so a bit thin on the lock still we need. But I would think that Ljørderjager and Mostert was quote-unquote being, they said that they're quite close to being back.

So I think for Wales, Mostert, Ljørderjager and Eben, all three of them will be back probably. Yeah, you talk about all those locks not being available. And then Kürbis Wisser, one of your old iron men kind of a lock at four. I'm glad he's getting a chance at lock. Because last year, I remember he played at eight.

Not really his position. And his brother is an eight. he didn't shoot the lights out. I'm excited. I think this is one of those games where when there's a bit of a problem, there's a bit of an injury crisis, you can stake your claim Maybe put your name forward and stay there Kubis is a very physical player I like that Wilkulot like you said that front row Buonfenta they probably going to give him a hard time against Scotland Beat Argentina this weekend, surprisingly so.

So they're not to be underestimated, but I suppose still this team should probably beat them quite comfortably, especially at altitude. And also, Scotland had to travel all the way from Argentina back to Joburg. I mean, that must be a factor to keep in mind. Yeah, that's going to challenge them and it's like they're at a good win. So that will wake up the Springboks as well.

So the benefit of that is that we say, all right, it's a bit more in it. There's a bit more in the game. If they've lost to Argentina, we're going to kind of have the biggest problem, that big problem again to say, but, you know, will they be good enough to beat the Springboks or that now all of a sudden you say, listen, if they can beat Argentina, we know a Springboks it's tough to beat them there. And so it's a good win. So Scotland will, and they did well in the scrums.

The rugby I did see, they did well in the scrums. So that's going to be their challenge, how well they're going to do here. Buon Fenton knows Scottish rugby. So obviously playing for their franchises. So that's good.

But what I like about this setup as well is you have got Johan Grobler as the hooker. So he's going to be throwing to Wieser and to Norkia as well, mostly. And then in the second half, you have Jan-Hendrik Vessels, that's definitely going to be the reserve hooker, because two, as Lucet and Zachary Portham, is not going to play hooker, and there's no van Staden. So that's one given that he's definitely going to get his minutes as a hooker. And also Rossi said that he wanted to play him against England as a hooker, so he had to change things around a little bit with Ox going off earlier, etc.

So he wants to test him as hooker as well. So he knows the locks as well. And it will be just a little bit of an adjustment to know how to throw to Peter Stefft. And they've done that a lot in training. So that's settled.

So that's good. It's a scrum that will be settled. They know each other. And then 9 and 10 know each other quite well as well. So, yeah, it's good to see.

I think it's nice to see Ntunu also on in Lucette. He played well for the Stormers. so he's quite strong. I haven't heard new information about the knee of Oxen-Cher. Hopefully it's not long-term.

We need him for the All Blacks, definitely. But we'll see how that develops. Yeah, Alrich Lo back on the bench, but, you know, wasn't even a gamble last week this time, so happy to see that he's back. I think he also brings a bit of versatility at 7 and 8, which I think is a different kind of an animal. Tutsuko, I think, is probably going to also be able to play lock, like you just said.

I know Alred doesn't like playing locker. I'm not sure if he's going to move in there. Yeah, I'm quite happy with this team. 6-2 bench for this time. And I suppose Kuhn Horn will be either 10 or 15.

But now we know why he was given a run earlier on. But, you know, in terms of the approach to the England game and now the approach to the Scotland game, what is this team telling you? Where are things going to be different? More up and unders, more contestables, more long-range kicking? What are we doing out here?

I think we're also expecting a little bit of a challenge up front from them, maybe. The 6-2 maybe gives that away a little bit. Or we understand that we can pressure them there, so it can go both ways. I think we must also look at the way the USC went with the African teams playing against the Glasgow Warriors in Edinburgh, etc. Glasgow Warriors are always quite competitive up front, and we battled to beat them.

The Stormers had a big win against them in Cape Town, but that That was kind of catching them on a travelling sequence as well. But, yeah, I think always when you see a 6-2, you think it's going to be a bit more pressure up front. You do take a risk, but I think we can grind them up front. We've got the scrum to take them on, and we also have the back line. So there's no Colby, but we're not losing much.

Well, nobody can be exactly Colby, but Edpo van der Merwe is going to enjoy playing at Loftus. Fassi is very attacking. So we've got attacking centres as well. So if we get good ball, then we'll play them as well. And Papiris is also quite attacking.

So I think we will make sure that we put them in the right side of the field. We're probably going to see more drives, maybe a bit more set pieces, try and get into the 22. And that's with a 6-2. So the 6-2 is going to give you a little bit of a pressure as well. If there's an injury, you only have Grant Williams and Quinn Horn.

so you can move players around a little bit but if you do have two injuries then you're going to end up with Paul de Villiers on the wing or something like that but that's the best you can do if that happens but otherwise Williams can play on the wing we've seen Papir can go through the 80 minutes if needed so you've got a plan B if there's lots of injuries or niggles then you need to make a few plans but we haven't seen much of that even in 6-2s. But I think we're going to grind them. I think it's going to be a physical challenge on Scotland on Saturday, looking at that. And we've got the players to do that as well. Like Visa, they're at number four.

So we're back again to a bit of a Bucky's Boota kind of role for him. And he can definitely do that. But Kane and Moody at 11 tells me something. He's probably the best player, was one of the best players of the ball in the air. I suppose that tells you something.

and also the fact that he's been picked at wing and not at number 13, like he actually prefers to play, like he's been playing at the Bulls for a bit, you know, occasionally, seems to me that tells me something, that he's not playing 13, but Jesse clearly is, but he's actually on the wing, you know, tall, rangy player, good in the air. And I think that's what we're going to be seeing, lots of those contestables, especially with Andre and Ambrose being in charge of, you know, the kicking duties. Yeah, that's true. And we're missing Gertle, Aronsa and Colby. But if you look at who we have, again, that's the good thing about South African rugby at the moment.

You look at Ed Wolf and Emerva and Ken Moody and say, well, just in terms of finishing and attacking, that's what they offer quite a bit. Moody, I've always said we've talked a lot about when the Bulls played and he's playing at 13. I think, you know, there's always a temptation to kind of in the game, in defensive kicks coming your way to move him to 14. but now he's on the 11 or moving to 11 or 14 but now he's on the wing anyway. Fassi is a taller fullback as well.

Gwynhorn is also good under the high ball. He's a bit shorter but I think that will be covered. I think we will see quite a bit of that from Scotland as well. I don't think we must just think that we're just going to overpower Scotland and just dominate. I think we have to earn it and they don't have a bad team for sure.

It's going to be a big challenge and we must just make sure that we don't slip this one. So because it's the team, the 15 that was announced for England, if you look at that 15, you just kind of looked at it and said, but that is as strong as you can get. That was your number one right through from one to 15, almost available. Now, you know that it's mixing and matching a little bit. You know, if it was a World Cup final, you won't see Damien Willemse at centre.

If it was a World Cup final, you'll see Colby and Gert Lee in the mix. You'll see Damien at 15. might see a different nine you'll see different loose two as well but so Gullisi and Eben taking a further rest so that's maybe well earned after we'll see how serious Gullisi's hamstring is but so yes it's good we've got the depth but we must just understand this is still a bit of a mix and match giving players a chance as well and so we must just be wary we mustn't underestimate Scotland we're not underestimating them but we need to earn what we get. Okay, Ari, you and I will be talking to each other in English again on Friday, doing a bit of a preview. We know what the teams look like, the Scottish team looks like.

And I also want to talk to you about the All Blacks a little bit. I think they just, you know, they scraped through against a pretty much B team France, although that's still a pretty good team. Any team of Luku and Jollibear in it is a very good team, but we're running out of time here. But we're definitely going to be taking a bit more time to talk about what to expect over the weekend like we will be doing in the future as well on Fridays. Looking forward to it.

But thank you for making time for me. I appreciate it. And talk to you soon. Yes, great. It was great talking.

Talk again Friday. Bye-bye. Thanks, Arie.

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