South African Backline Depth Venn Diagram 🇿🇦 Versatility has become an expectation in modern rugby.

Guys Gary Neville and Roy Keane were cooking us on English television at HT 😭 And now Sithole sees RED 🟥 A game to forget for him…

Jacques Nienaber’s scrum and Jacques Nienaber’s lineout will need to be at their best against a strong Stormers set-piece. Jacques Nienaber’s attack and Jacques Nienaber’s kicking game will also need to be on point 🔵

That Sharks backline has an average age of 22 years old! 👀 Incredibly exciting players. Big futures.

The irony of rugby is that if this action takes place anywhere else on the rugby pitch it is refereed as a penalty (Law: 13.4). However, we frequently see the same action take place in-goal and refereed very differently. Everyone does it, and always have (quite sure my dad has complained about it in every rugby match I have ever watched with him). The solution? Simple. As soon as a player is on the ground in-goal, the only contact you can make with that player is on the ball or with that players arms. Tackles that began before the in-goal area would of course be exempt. Failure to comply? Example 1: Ball is grounded and you dive onto a player = You concede the try (obviously), and concede a penalty on the halfway line to restart play. Example 2: Ball is not grounded, but not due to defending player halting the ball from being grounded, but rather from the action of diving onto a players back = Penalty Try. Final Result: CONGRATS WORLD RUGBY, you made rugby safer and more consistent to the law's that already exist. Next job, scrum feeds actually being straight.

✍️Rugby players being tested in unfamiliar positions is a top 5 viewing pleasure for me. Although Willemse will be wearing the #14 jersey, I don't expect him to operate as a conventional winger. So why isn't Ruhan Nel at wing instead? Willemse’s aerial ability and kicking game make him far better suited to the modern winger role, essentially an auxiliary fullback and contestable kick threat. Asking Nel to do that would be a net negative, especially given how well he fits the defensive and structural demands at 13. I’d expect Willemse to step into the 12 channel off attacking set-pieces, allowing Dan du Plessis and Nel to shift one wider. As good a finisher as Willemse is, his real value lies in his ability to attract defenders (creating space) and executing actions on that space to create opportunities. Subsequently, Du Plessis and Nel's attacking attributes can become additionally impactful when carrying into the wider, less congested channels. Rugby is evolving. The number on a shirt does not entirely define the role.

Carlu Sadie (28) and JJ van der Mescht (26) added to Springbok Alignment squad. Two areas that needed a slightly younger profile than the incumbents to be adding to the competition for places. Positive news 🇿🇦

Always fun to chat Rugby with Harry, not sure it’ll ever be boring

A game plan for England to upset France: thanks to sport analyst @AnalystGus on the @LekkerRugbyPod right here: youtu.be/alzK4dTjjg8

Derbies hurting the Stormers ❓ The SA URC Shield table is almost a complete flip of the SA teams table vs foreign opposition. Pictured - SA vs SA teams table vs SA Teams vs foreign teams: 1. STORMERS ⛈️ - PTS 27 2. BULLS 🐂 - PTS 18 3. LIONS 🦁 - PTS 14 4. SHARKS 🦈 - PTS 8

Spot on ✅ For all the jokes about Jasper Wiese’s temperament, he really doesn’t give away many penalties around the park - and that’s at international level. At the top level, giving away silly penalty infringements can literally be the difference between winning and losing.

Gelant does have a load of turnovers. However, in rugby data, “turnovers” = turnovers conceded (bad). So this is not a compliment. The metric you’d like him to be highest in is “turnovers won”, which he has just 1. For all Gelant’s flair, he does cost a lot of turnovers…