Unpacking The NZ Tour

Kooks and Thala review week 5 of the URC and the Springbok squad for the Autumn Nations Series. Kooks and Thala discuss the return of Damian Willemse in the squad and Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw and Jan-Hendrik Wessels staying in the squad. Then we discuss if we might have made a mistake placing Ulster at the bottom of our tiers list last week. We break down impressive wins for the Stormers and the Sharks, a gritty defensive win for the Lions. We discuss why the Bulls can’t play in second halves and why Munster’s lineout is faltering. We then look at some of the rugby news around the world, including why behind the back passes are apparently bad, whether Japan has any chance to knock over New Zealand and Kooks has a rant for all the different kickoff times for the Autumn Nations Series.

Kooks and Thala rank the URC into tiers after 4 rounds of the URC. We divide the teams into four different tiers: Championship Contenders, Playoff Locks, Dark Horses and Basement Dwellers. Find out where we rank the South African teams. Why we think it’s the year for the Lions to make some playoff noise, why the Bulls are still championship contenders, why Stormers fans shouldn’t be too concerned (yet) and what exactly are the Sharks cooking. We also won’t be tricked by Munster, still need to be convinced by the Wales teams, Kooks challenges Benetton and impressed with the defending champions Glasgow. We also discuss why Squidge Rugby seems to have lost the South African Twitter streets, Siya Kolisi advocating for women’s rugby and which award has Faf de Klerk been nominated for alongside Antoine Dupont and Pieter-Steph du Toit.

Jared and Shaun go over the weekends result that saw the Springboks secure their first ’real’ Rugby Championship title since 2009. We discuss the performances from Saturday and look at the Bledisloe Cup plus how the two sides will fare in the future. We take a look at the Springbok midfield and how the future looks

Kooks and Sharky chat about how upsetting the Springbok loss was. We look into a brilliant Los Pumas performance and where it went wrong for the Springboks.  We take a look at the new Springbok match day 23 and have a bit of a wobble at the end leaving Sharky to sign off

Thala and Shaun have a look at the Springboks squad that Rassie Erasmus named ahead of the opening Los Pumas test.  We look into each position and highlight the inexperience of the pack and Shaun makes a call on how Manie Libbok will be introduced. We look at how Scott Robertson is on a razor’s edge with his job and talk loose trio’s Bledisloe Cup results and more. Lastly we look at the Currie Cup and make some bold URC predictions