Rugby Champs Review of 2016 thread

[Spy]

The All Blacks were brilliant this year. An interesting change in defensive systems has been effective, and they've dealt with the loss of a large handful of all-timers remarkably well.

I think the jury's out on how Australia's year will be judged. They'll probably lose to NZ on Saturday, which means two 3-0 series defeats in a season, one inflicted at home by England, who Australians HATE losing to. But if they have a creditable NH tour, which is almost unprecedentedly tough, then they'd probably figure that in the washup it went OK. Australians don't need much success to regain confidence.

South Africa were woeful.

I liked Argentina. Really ambitious, which ultimately didn't quite come off for them, but I thought they came closer to looking like a top-level team than they ever have. They've got the players to play this kind of style now. I hope they persist with it.

[canta_brian]

Agree with Spy re Argentina. They are trying to play an all court game like the ABs but as Cas said they don't have the skills. In many ways it is good that they have decided that rather than doing a SA they have been prepared to stick at it. They may improve and quickly become a real contender. Also the ABs are pretty good at dealing with a kicking game so they are not likely to beat us with that type of play, so maybe loosing a few along the way with a dropped ball or three is worth it in the long run.

[Mikey Brown]

To be fair, feveloping a wide game that can even remotely contend with the All Blacks is going to put them in a pretty good place facing a lot of the NH teams. The general tactic of 'move the big Argie pack around enough to knacker them out and get on top in the last 20' has often been enough for some not-so-impressive NH sides, it'll be interesting to see if that's still the case.

I really don't know what to expect from the Bokkes in the Autumn.