Willemse and Wiese win big in Wellington, Bok Women win hearts, France take a bite off Wafer

Shaun and Thala review the weekend’s rugby, which saw South Africa men inflict a record defeat on New Zealand and the South African women be competitive against the world champion Black Ferns in their World Cup quarterfinal.

We start in Wellington where the Springboks ran riot in the last 20 minutes to run in 6 tries against the All Blacks. Jasper Wiese impressed in his comeback from suspension and Damian Willemse roared back to form with a Player of the Match game. We discussed what was different between this game and previous Bok games, why this means for selections and where the All Blacks go from here.

At the Rugby Word Cup quarterfinals, the Springbok Women impressed after staying level with the Black Ferns at halftime, but the Black Ferns ran away with the game in the 2nd half. We discussed the innovative game plan that the Boks played, the mauls from scrums and 15 player lineouts and the significance of this performance for the future of rugby in South Africa.

In other quarterfinals, we saw a game of the year as France steal the game against Ireland. It was a game that had everything - from worldie tries, big performances from Aofie Wafer and Charlotte Escuerdo and biting allegations. We look forward to the semi finals that see New Zealand play Canada and England face France.

Finally, we look at Australia falling short against Argentina, the Lions and Griquas winning the Currie Cup and we reflect on the death of former Springbok Bevan Fortuin.