Dixon dominates Portugal, Sacha v Libbok and the Bento hype train

RugbyBits

Kooks, Shaun and Thala look back on the weekend’s test matches, focusing on South Africa’s victory over Portugal in Bloemfontein.

Shaun as the leader of the Ben Jason Dixon fan club raved about his impressive performance as he filled the big boots of his hyphen brother Pieter-Steph du Toit. We talk about other new Boks that possibly played themselves into the Rugby Championship squad, including Johan Grobelaar and Aphelele Fassi.

Kooks reminds us to get excited and to hype up Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, but Shaun and Thala debate about where this leaves Manie Libbok after another unimpressive outing with the kicking tee. We discuss whether the Boks need Ruan Nortje to run their lineouts, the value of Salmaan Moerat and whether Jan-Hendrik Wessels needs to move to another franchise to get game time.

On the Portugal side, Simao Bento has gained fans for life and we talk about how this young Portuguese side will continue to grow in the years to come.

We then look back on a great weekend of Tier 1 v Tier 2 test matches, with Australia v Georgia and Akaki Tabusadze’s 100 meter try being the pick of the bunch. We question how the All Blacks look after their victory over Fiji, are surprised by big wins for Italy and Argentina and look at Warren Gatland’s most erecent attempt to get fired.