If you don’t count yourself among the Loftus faithful, the northern fortress can be inhospitable venue at the best of times. Get caught in the wrong team’s colours and it can turn downright hostile. The same apparently applies when rain is bucketing down on the stadium.
You may have come across this statement a number of times over the weekend but it bears repeating, the cameras did not do this first (chilly) shower of Spring any justice. It was miserable out there and ended up fouling the crowd’s mood to point of constant jeering at each mistake any of the Bok team made. Ruan Pienaar’s early try, promised a game that could ultimately not be delivered. Not even Creedence Clearwater Revival’s catchy tune played at full blast could soften up the audience who were obviously disappointed, probably hoping for a performance reminiscent of last year’s comprehensive victory over Argentina at FNB Stadium.
This piece no doubt has the ring of excuse to it. Far from it, one need only remind yourself that our opposition played in the exact same conditions and properly bossed us in the scrums and successfully disrupted the majority of our first-half lineouts. What I would however like to point out is that extenuating circumstances should not be disregarded in any conclusions you personally draw regarding the game. The weather was absolutely foul, the stadium atmosphere not much better, and neither were conducive to the kind of rugby Bok supporters were hoping for.
Let’s hear your thoughts.
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Honestly is was pretty damn boring to watch. I understand that we had to kick so much because of the weather, but it did let up for most of the second half and we still kicked the crap out of it. The argies had a real go in the second half which was nice to see, but we didn’t even try.
and how badly did those two annoying young men butcher our lovely anthem?
Bryan Habana also got a little frustrated at some point when the ball was kicked and he had no defenders in front of him.
The other two had similar conditions,and what a game
I think our main play maker had one if his worst games in a long time. I can’t recall anything Willie did actually working out.
@Letgo (Comment 3) : I also saw one of his signature soccer dives when chasing a kicked ball, and he was brushed by an Argie player….
@PTAShark (Comment 1) : What I was happy to see was the fact that our defense held up well despite a resolute Puma team and a few of our players caught napping on occasion.
@robdylan (Comment 2) : The crowd loved them though which is not unexpected 😀
@Letgo (Comment 3) : Saw that too.
@Bokhoring (Comment 5) : Not sure why people were raving about his play…between his tantrums and kicking on opposition players, it was hard to decide which annoyed me most.
@benji (Comment 4) : Have to be honest, apart from the brave defense and the All Blacks getting pinged for their usual tricks, I didn’t enjoy the other game that much.
Anyone else suspect that Beast might not have been ready for this game? I’m unsure whether it was physical or psychological but he did not look comfortable at scrum time at all.
@vanmartin (Comment 7) : maybe it’s just me (and a topic I should really touch on here) but I have a MAJOR, MAJOR problem with Bok van Blerk having the gumption to stand up and sing the post-unification anthem.
@robdylan (Comment 11) : Had the exact same thought during the anthem. I’m still at a loss as to how to reconcile that. I’ve always been told I misinterpret the intention of his signature song (which I highly doubt) but if it’s so misleading at face value then it should never have been released in my opinion. But ja, probably a topic best avoided on here.
@vanmartin (Comment 12) : let’s close off by saying you and I are 1000% in agreement on that point.