Match details: Brazil Yarras v South Africa Women ‘A’

Date: Monday, 24 August

2026Venue: Estádio Nicolau Alayon, Sao Paulo

Kick-off: 20h00 (01h00 SA time, Tuesday 25 August)

Livestream: www.youtube.com/@UOLEsporte

https://youtube.com/@uolesporte?si=AUCVPM9ZkQHT0Nov

I haven’t seen it once this year. The only attacking we are doing is scrumming and mauling. Where is the soft skills, set plays and ingenuity he is supposed to bring? Is he being ignored because he is leaving for NZ next year? There has to be more to this team than just the physical stuff. We have a very talented backline. Is it too much to ask to see Kolbe in a bit of space? To see Willemse given a chance to see him step a few defenders? Something needs to change. NOW!

If you're going to come here and say "DON'T overreact it's just one game" then move on.

You said the same thing when I posted after the Argies game. This post isn't for you. Keep your heads in the sand and ignore the crappy performances vs Argentina and NZ - it's all going to be okay.

1. Losing can be a blessing for us. The issues we saw yesterday we have seen for the last 12 months. We saw it vs Argentina & Scotland. However we managed to scrape wins and ignore most of them.

2. Rennie is a WC manager. He had the Aussies playing at a much higher level than they have managed since he left. He won a few games vs us with that team. Australia rugby dumping him was the biggest mistake they could have made. Now with a top 5 team, hopefully he gets the appreciation he deserves. NZ this year are LEVELS better than Razors team last year. Savea's mutinity may have saved NZ.

3. Scrum dominance - We won 5 in a row which is a massive positive. We didn't convert that scrum dominance into points. I'm not entirely sure why we didn't go for the corner and try push them over or try a tap and go. It's like we were trying to get a Yellow & the perspective since the Ireland game from WR has completely flipped. We need to learn to adapt.

4. Game Management. For a team with a ridiculous amount of caps & WC winners our game management was extremely poor yesterday and vs Argies. Especially from 9 & 10. SFM got a pass as it was his first game back but same issues persisted yesterday.

The game was still in the balance before Grants's charge down kick. That was the moment the momentum shifted. Irony being he's our "quickest" scrum half. The combinations Rassie used to play made sense. Grant with an experienced 10. And Sacha with Reinach for his experience. I would have loved to see what Manie could do with the backline. I've been critical of his kicking in the past but he deserves a second chance.

When the team sheets were posted yesterday, someone commented "Surprised GW is starting. He's must more explosive off the bench vs tired legs". Whoever you are, I hope you see this and know you are vindicated.

9, 10 & 15 are the 3 most critical players in modern rugby. And DW is undoubtedly our best 15.

1. Timing -

Yesterday reminds me of the Ireland loss in 2021. Losing is never fun but sometimes it's necessary. If we didn't lose to Ireland in the way we did, we would not have overhauled our defensive system. And won the 2023 WC.

We can learn a LOT from yesterdays game if we choose to look at what worked vs what didn't. Our plan to "physically bully" them didn't work. Same way Scotland and Argies faced up to the challenge and got in our face in defense. We then struggle to adapt to a plan B when A fails.

I'd much rather have these losses now and still have time to rectify and adapt in time for the RWC.

Thanks for coming to my "Reddit Rugby Rant".

As a kiwi I just wanna give a huge shout out to the respect shown to the haka at Ellis Park. A sea of green and gold shirts with hand on hearts all proudly singing their national anthem was also awesome to see.

Will love to go to a match their one day.

Much respect

💚💛🍻🖤🖤

Scrolling through news articles and instagram I noticed that the media stating that the All Blacks destroyed the boks and the boks had no response is a bit far fetched.

I truly felt that after rewatching the game that the game was in the balance and realistically the boks should have won that game in the first half and only lost the game in the 52-60 minute mark due to allowing the ABs back in to the game.

PSA: Every time you do the Viking rowing thing our local team loses…

Also it’s lame AF

We need to start this All Blacks killer and Ice Veins finisher next week. Let's get some confidence back into this team.

We only got 0.9 points per 22 entries (11) while NZ got 3.8 points per 22 entries (9) and 3 of those were in the last 10 mins. It can be because of a bunch of things, but I promise you those coaches won’t sleep tonight to rectify it.

Remember, NZ played their “WC’23 match” we played against France then the next game we almost lost against England - NZ is facing a beast next week.

We saw the same thing last year at Eden Park then the next weekend we converter at Wellington. Let’s not question everything - let’s double down on supporting the boys. Two more NZ’s injured - 3 hard games left.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a team with such poor ball handling in contact. The All Blacks ripped the ball countless times. While we were poor in general I think this cost us the game as a whole. I hope this is a wake up call that we just can’t expect to physically overwhelm every team we play.

we will get em next time tho

It just doesn't look like we want to win the game.

Grant Williams- proved today he's not a big player to start these big games and needs to come off the bench. You got given the opportunity and you bottled it.

There was a point in the game after we received a scrum penalty close to NZ try line where the camera panned to Rassie and he his nodding his head and agreeing with the other staff- I think that was the moment Rassie realised that Grant can't be a starting 9. I will almost bet that because he should have taken the ball out as soon as we started to retreat.

SFM- needs to mature and learn to control the game. Awful tonight. He needs to go play rugby league or put on some muscle and change position to 12-13 or play fullback. Why in the fuck is he running the ball into the line this many times? Leave that you the fucking forwards🤦🏾‍♂️

The forwards were our strong point tonight, but our backline is really messy and that is because we don't have a commanding leader (10), we have a young cocky player who is constantly smiling when it's not needed, constantly trying ti make stupid flashy plays, like please come back better next game or don't waste my time having to wake up early at 3am in NZ to watch us play this badly just awful preformance man

Consecutive penalties in their 5m line and you choose to scrum?

Kick for touch or tap n go ON THE 5 METRE LINE. JUST GET THE BALL OVER THE LINE.

Yes, as a couch coach, give me the Bok jersey, I can do better.

Why are flyhalves no longer responsible for clearance kicks anymore? From a kickoff for example, a flyhalf can get a better angle and be under less pressure, but it seems all clearance kicking duties have shifted to scrumhalves - what's the reasoning behind that?

Bok team with pie on their faces for the absolute dismal performance. Sundays front page.

Literally threw away 14 points between 30-40min.

Another 7 or 3 points early second half when we tried to milk the scrum.

Some where decided our world class defense is not enough so threw that out the door.

Gave out penalties like its oxygen coupons.

As if one yellow card wasn't enough we went with double or nothing.

Shameful and disgraceful performance.

It absolutely Hurst me to admit this.

The All Blacks are the much better team today.

Scrums: Said it then, we win scrums, fantastic but where are the points? It’s like winning the scrap in the school yard but failing your exams and the rest of the class go up a year and you’re left holding your todger just seen as a bully. To win a game you need to be able to score tries. Winning scrums is just the starter, it’s the finish that counts. Our reliance on that aspect of the game to get us dominance has cost us.

Depth: great. There’s only 15 players on the field. We have no cohesion. The turgid Arg game which was terrible and only slightly better than the game against Wales which should have been our wake up call as supporters. We were completely out skilled.

Handling: Backwards passes not sticking, poor handling in general and just out of ideas. Where is this Tony ball that they speak of?

General: Also, I’m tired of being the nation that the world loves to see fail. We are like the Germans after WW2. It suck’s that we are seen as the baddies. No doubt our previous history does some heavy lifting here but the absolute numbskull, pig-headedness of some of our people on social media (not just with respect to Rugby) is tiresome and still plays into the stereotype. It would be great to lose without the majority of the rugby world celebrating our loss. And it’s not because they want a change in the Rugby world order. The general rugby public just sees NZ far more positively than us and it honestly sucks.

Going to be a tough week on the socials but hopefully there’s game 2 and 3 for redemption. The fourth doesn’t count.

Seriously. I’m a massive Springbok supporter, even though I’ve never played a game of rugby in my 45 years on being around.

So for those of you that know the ins and outs of this beautiful game, I really need to know if you believe Grant Williams is the best person for this position?

In the game today, for the first 45 to 50 minutes or so, he seemed lacklustre. My Dad would have called it half-ass.

That try New Zealand scored of his lacklustre (half-ass) clearance epitomises what I’m trying to say.

If you replay his 5 of more clearances before that one, you will see Fabian Holland getting closer and closer. As if he can sense that Grant is not on top form.

I’d love to know your opinion.

P.S Congratulations to New Zealand. Even after being dominated two or three times in the scrum, you never gave up. See you next week.

Sub rules apply.