OPINION: Farrell is right – world rugby is in a good place when Tests are so close

The beauty, and attraction, of sport is that it is so unpredictable and can leave one feeling on top of the world, but also down in the dumps, depending on who you support and who wins.

It is even better when you just never know who is going to win, and right now in world rugby there is so little separating the top teams.

I said it during and after the Springboks’ match at Loftus Versfeld that there was nothing between the two sides and that whoever had won would have felt it was deserved, and the other side would have felt disappointed, and that is the case again today, following the second Test between the teams in Durban.

The margins between winning and losing at the top of the game are so small and that’s why I agreed with Ireland boss Andy Farrell when he said: “I honestly do not care who the best team in the world is. You would not want to separate these teams and there are probably three or four other countries who come into that conversation.

“World rugby is in a good state when we have this sort of competition.”

Exactly!

Boks against Portugal

The Boks won by seven in Pretoria, Ireland won by one in Durban, Ireland won by five at the World Cup last year … and the Boks won by one against France, England and New Zealand respectively at the World Cup.

As Bok supporters we love the fact we are world champions, and are ranked number one, and we believe we are the best in the business, but it’s important to stay humble and realise things can change quickly and that staying on top is harder than getting there.

There is precious little to choose from between the game’s top teams, and even some of the so-called smaller sides are starting to catch up. Who would have thought Portugal, the Boks’ opponents in Bloemfontein this weekend, would ever beat Namibia. Well, they did, 37-22 in Windhoek on Saturday.

And you can be sure they’ll back themselves to push what is likely to be a weakened Bok team all the way this Saturday.

Test rugby is fabulous … and we’ve still got the Rugby Championship to come!