IF WE don’t have hope, then we have nothing. All week, the question has been: "Can the Boks win?" My response: "They simply have to."The day I bet against the Boks, playing Australia at Loftus Versfeld, is the day we’ve become the Scotland of rugby — always brave, but also battered.The Springboks have been a mess all season. They were awful against a severely depleted Irish team. They lost at Newlands against Ireland, who for 50 minutes played with 14 men.They were a Faf de Klerk intercept away from losing in Port Elizabeth and losing the series. As it stood, Ireland had created history by winning for the first time in SA.Then came the Pumas and it needed a try a minute from the end to beat them. Then it all came unstuck away from home and more unwanted history — beaten in Salto, beaten in Brisbane and hammered in Christchurch.Never before had a Springbok team lost three successive away matches in the Rugby Championship. This has been a history-making debut season for Bok coach Alli...
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