{"id":341311,"date":"2023-10-24T04:45:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T04:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=341311"},"modified":"2023-10-24T06:01:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T06:01:22","slug":"fears-for-emotionally-drained-springboks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=341311","title":{"rendered":"Fears for 'emotionally-drained' Springboks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Australian international James Horwill has the Springboks<\/a> as slim favourites against the All Blacks<\/a> but worries they are "emotionally drained" ahead of the Rugby World Cup<\/a> final.<\/p>\n

South Africa has had back-to-back one-point wins in the quarter- and semi-finals, beating France 29-28<\/a> and England 16-15<\/a> in two thrillers.<\/p>\n

New Zealand narrowly beat Ireland 28-24<\/a> but smashed Argentina 44-6<\/a> in a match where they were able to make early substitutions.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Such was their dominance that they didn't even bother to bring back Scott Barrett from a yellow card in the final few minutes despite his time in the sin bin being up.<\/p>\n

\"Pieter-Steph<\/p>\n

"I tipped, at the start of the tournament, the Springboks \u2013 and I'm going to stick with them," Horwill said on Stan Sport's RWC Central<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I don't know whether it's my head or my heart. I'm not sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Till we meet again': Aussie cricketer's son dies<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cricket world in mourning after passing of Indian legend<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Formidable': World in awe of history-making minnows<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"The thing that could go against them; they looked emotionally drained after that game and the All Blacks looked like they were in a canter coming in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Whether they can get themselves back up for a third time for a third week is a challenge."<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

Horwill has no doubt the Springboks are blessed with depth on the bench.<\/p>\n

That was evident in their win over England, in which the likes of Handre Pollard, Kwagga Smith, and Ox Nche made an immediate impact to get South Africa back in the match.<\/p>\n

"It might not be physically, because they've got a really good balance. It's the emotional energy that looked like they put into both those games," Horwill said of South Africa's two most recent matches.<\/p>\n

"I just wonder if that pays a toll come the 60-minute mark as they're chasing guys like Will Jordan and Aaron Smith around the pitch. I'm gonna say the Springboks but I'm not hugely confident on it."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1716673369414762770<\/a><\/p>\n

Tim Horan, another ex-Wallaby, has maintained the All Blacks are favourites to win the Webb Ellis Cup for a fourth time.<\/p>\n

One of the two teams will become four-time winners of the Rugby World Cup \u2013 the most of any nation.<\/p>\n

"I picked the All Blacks a year ago, I picked them six months ago," said Horan.<\/p>\n

"I was a bit nervous a few months ago when they lost to the Springboks and then to France in the opening game (of the Rugby World Cup), which was the best atmosphere I've been part of. I'm going to stay with the All Blacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"How good would it be if we (the Wallabies) played them in the Rugby Championship in about 10 months' time if one of these sides will be the world champions."\u00a0<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Michael Atkinson, Sam Worthington and Tom Decent deliver the latest on Eddie Jones and his coaching future<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/rugby-world-cup-inside-line\/is-eddie-heading-for-a-big-payout\/embed?in_playlist=podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rugby World Cup final gets underway at 6am AEDT on Sunday. Coverage is live and ad-free on Stan Sport from 5am with Nine carrying live free-to-air coverage too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Australian international James Horwill has the Springboks as slim favourites against the All Blacks but worries they are "emotionally drained" ahead of the Rugby […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":341314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341311"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341317,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341311\/revisions\/341317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/341314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=341311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=341311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}