Now that the November tours have been completed, it's time to name a 2013 World XV . . .
15 Israel Folau (AUS)
14 Charles Piutau (NZ)
13 Ben Smith (NZ)
12 Jean de Villiers (SA)
11 Julian Savea (NZ)
10 Quade Cooper (AUS)
9. Aaron Smith (NZ)
8. Kieran Read (NZ)
7. Sean O'Brien (IRE)
6. Willem Alberts (SA)
5. Eben Etzebeth (SA)
4. B rodie Retallick (NZ)
3. Dan Cole (ENG)
2. Bismarck du Plessis (SA)
1. Tony Woodcock (NZ)
I do not look at individual matches to determine the true value of players - I look at a series and then comes up with the list. Based on that there are several players who should be disqualified from the list of top players.
The disqualification players playing for the Springboks are Fourie, Morne Steyn - Willem Alberts - Jannie du Plessis. In the case of the New Zealanders I would say it is Dagg, Nonu, Woodcock and Franks (both brothers).
Bearing in mind the actual performances of players in a series of games, I would say the following lists are candidates for the various positions - but in some positions there are in fact no outstanding players (like 13) - so we have a problem in those positions:-
15 Israel Folau, Brown, Leigh Halfpenny, Ben Smith, Willie le Roux (the latter 2 were also good as wings)
14/11 Ben Smith, Bryan Habana, Julian Savea, Willie le Roux, JP Pietersen, George North
13 Davies - the rest all have question marks and was not really outstanding
12 Jean de Villiers
10 Dan Carter
9 Very problematic - Aaron Smith (?), Fourie du Preez (?), Will Genia (???)
8 Kieran Read, Duane Vermeulen
7 Opensiders - Hooper, McCaw (?), Cane
6 Blindsiders - Messam, Luatua
5 Whitelock, Van der Merwe (?)
4 Etzebeth
3 All problematic
2 Du Plessis, Strauss
1 Beast, Corbisiero (?) - the latter had a very few recent games
Some players had very few games/series to judge the upcoming younger players and some have shown real talent in parts of the games - but nothing in others. Some for instance looks good in attack and produce nothing in defence - some are penalty machines because they try to get the better of opposition by illegal means, etc.
This was November 2013, at the close of the test season. Cooper and Folau had very patchy to poor tests. Duane was playing his best rugby, arguably better than Read that year.
When you say "over played" ... do you mean back to back weekends? ... cause that's all it takes to tucker the old man out these days ...