SA vs Ireland First Test 2024 - The World Champions vs The Best Team in the World

What wound me up worse about the whole Casey incident was the TV Director zooming in on a guy who looked out cold on the turf - how horrific must that have been for his family and friends watching it?

And then, during the stoppage in play you’ve that prick on the tannoy (a real bugbear of mine in SA rugby games anyway) hyping up the crowd and acting like it’s a rave while the crowd do some shite with their phones and sing.

I understand it’s a sporting event and people are there to enjoy themselves etc but even a modicum of common decency would see fans act with some solemnity as a guy is stretchered off the field while receiving oxygen.

But this is the completely classless culture down there that Rassie champions.

I still find it absolutely inappropriate that the ref gives such a severe dress down to Doris while an Irish players is lying unconcious beside them. Ref didnt even check on Casey. In fact, Casey's head nearly lands on the referees foot.

As for the tackle itself, the key thing for me is that he was driven backwards onto the turf, landing on his back and head, without any opportunity to protect his head as he landed. Its absolutely clear dangerous play, in my opinion. Its far more than just a late tackle.

You’re the one making that argument, and I don’t think it stands up to scrutiny.

It’s also worth pointing out it’s only an argument that’s popped up now that you’ve realised he has to do so intentionally for it to be a penalty, when you earlier claimed “it didn’t matter if it was unintentional”.

It’s absolutely relevant.

If his foot hits the ball as part of his natural movement when being brought to ground then there is no infringement and it’s play on.

The offence is playing the ball when off your feet. It’s not playing the ball if it’s caused by natural movement from the momentum of being brought to ground

Do you agree that Kelleher was off his feet when his foot moved causing the ball to come back on the irish side?

The best thing the ref (and other players) can do in the Casey situation I stay out of the way and let the professionals deal with it. Or....

Pearce : you ok mate?

Casey : yeah I'm great. Got knocked out cold and now theres 4 paramedics here strapping me to a stretcher and hooking me up to an oxygen kit. But otherwise I'm great. Thanks for checking, that was all I needed.

On the Casey incident. I didn't think it looked that bad in real time but looking at it again it does look bad. High fives? Not a good look.

Snyman never looked or sounded the smartest guy in the world. I listened to the Rugby Pod some time back where the 'hilarious' antics of this 7 foot guy going around ripping shirts off his teammates showed how 'funny' he is. In any other environment he'd probably have been fired.

He was also one of the Mensa candidates that tried to blow themselves up at a BBQ wasn't he?

I groaned when Leinster signed him. If that's his measure he'll be binned more times than not. If he stays fit....which our Munster brethren know, is a big if.

Hopefully Casey is ok. Farrell was so annoyed it must have been a fairly bad concussion...not that any of them are nice.

The backs have lost JGP, Sexton, Hansen, Ringrose and Keenan from the team in last 12 months, of course Ringrose could come back in

But that’s some loss of attacking flair to replace

The officials are nearly always doing their best. We’re lucky to still have such people willing to do this crazy job at every level of rugby.

Mustve been very intimidating for the Irish team when singing the anthems and the last part of the SA anthem the singer stopped and theres a nearly 50 000 crowd singing all around you. That was a great sporting moment. I see the SA fans arent much loved in these parts, but they backed their team 100% on saturday.

How was it a jab? it's a song written by a famous person from Limerick. She died and Munster fans sung the song, then it went onto the national team because she was famous in Ireland. It was also a famous song in a very bad time in Ireland.

Like the national team with it's constant chatter in the media, both the team and the fans seem determined to say they are disliked. If you read this forum Rassie has a strong following of Irish people, not sure why after he dumped Munster at the drop of a hat.

The Irish fans are one group which wanted SA teams into the URC to make it better, other countries not so much

Honestly I think, like a lot of countries, Ireland was great when they lost all the time in rugby. Now they can beat SA the SA fans can't really deal with little old Ireland winning, hence why we see this constant chatter and even finding offence to a song from Irish fans which has nothing to do with SA in the slighest. Could be wrong of course

I did see someone sat that Bok fans got upset after the WC game because they felt the song was a slight on them and hence why they took it. THe reason it annoys people is because of the history or the song and what it is about. People died during the troubles, I lived in the middle of it and now it seems SA and their fans are making a joke of it to some people. I don't but that it how some people are seeing it.

Did the Bok team go overboard? why was Eben in the press? or DDA after he played in Ireland? you can't complain about SA media when the Bok team is feeding it

I don't like Rassie, for the carry on during the Lions tour, before that I did. Honestly his carry on shoudl of got a ban out of rugby altogether. When you have a coach like that creating fake accounts, abusing refs etc, why would you think the fans won't replicate that?

After that I couldn't really care less about SA rugby, they certainly have added some spice to the URC and made it more competitive which the competition needed, but the fans are too much online and prefer to stay a million miles away from them.

In terms of bad feeling towards Ireland, well that's been led by the SA rugby team, if the fans follow that I don't blame them. You need to look at the carry on of the coachs and the national team first, then look at the online following. If the plan is to get upset with an entire country because of what a podcast said, I think SA rugby team is going to spend a lot of time upset and doing a lot of interviews making up reasons why they are upset

but anyway, the last game was a good game. Certainly showed both team seem to be ahead of the rest of the teams playing on Saturday. Hopefully another good game at weekend and we can send off the Bok team/Rassie etc and hopefully not hear from them for a long time 😂

I’ve been down to SA for 3 Munster games in the last year .

It’s a fantastic positive country in the main. The knowledge of their rugby fans is second to none, and their enthusiasm for the game is brilliant to see .

They have made the URC relevant and more enjoyable for everyone

All they wanted to talk to me about when I was there in April was the upcoming test series and how did I think it would go. They really respected the Irish players and people.

Rugby means a lot to South Africa and its people , not so much the general populace in Ireland .
Long may the healthy rivalry continue between both teams

Jacovs, Don’t take this message board as being representative of the way Irish rugby fans perceive South Africa and its rugby teams or supporters , it can get a bit hysterical at times when the pearls are being clutched

Kelleher's leg movement was more likely caused by Kolbe latching on to that leg than trying to play the ball, when someone pulls at your leg in a ruck the natural reflex is to pull it the opposite direction.He had no clue where the ball was at that point

Kelleher knows what he's doing, nowadays it's part of entering a ruck, spoil the ball at whatever cost, he can't have anything to be surprised at being penalised

The only issue is that he was being held around the neck and when the officials were reviewing Kelleher's action they missed the neck roll but we often see something similar with no arm tackles on would be try scorers being pushed into touch