If you read the stars, then they are aligned for the Springboks. At least, that’s my reading of it, writes Mark_Keohane. RugbyChampionship Springboks IOLsport
The All Blacks’ greatest ever player Richie McCaw played in all three of those losing Tests. To give context to 2009 is to know McCaw’s Test record: he lost just 15 times in 148 Tests in 15 years of international rugby.
Which makes the 2009 Brisbane horror result stand out even more. Nothing in the build-up suggested the Wallabies had a chance, and when one compares the two match-day line-ups very few of those Wallabies would have been preferred ahead of those starting for the Springboks. ALSO READ: Duane Vermeulen, Faf de Klerk return for Springboks’ Rugby Championship Test against Australia
Yet despite everything favouring the Lions, I was consistent in maintaining the view that the Boks would win the series because, as players and coaches, they were too good to lose. It wouldn’t be easy but winning the biggest matches should never be easy. Those two Tests against the All Blacks will also be the 100th and 101st time world rugby’s greatest rivals meet and the centurion Test comes 100 years after the teams first played each other in 1921.But I can’t say the same thing for so many Springboks supporters who seem to struggle with the concept of the Springboks being the favourites and being expected to win against inferior opposition.
But it’s been 29 years since both those teams humiliated the Springboks on their return to international rugby.
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