With Rugby being ruled out because of the coronavirus DSTV is showing past matches and yesterday was the four games SA played against New Zealand and Australia in 2009.
I thought most of the players people admired on this site were playing in 2009. So what did I see from the six games played. Si what did I notice:-
Error-ridden games
All four games played was influenced by the number of errors made by all three sides involved. Lets look s the scores again:-
SA vs New Zealand
First game score - 28 - 19
Of the 47 points scored 17 points came from tries and coversions resulting from tries. There were two tries scored by the Springboks (Ruan Pienaar, Jacque Fourie) and 1 by the All Blacks (Conrad Smith)
The other 30 [points came from penalty conversions, There were in fact 18 pemalties conceded of which 7 was by the Springboks and 11 by the All Blacks. The All Blacks gained 12 points from penalties and the Springboks 18.
The above indicates poor discipline - especially on the part of the All Blacks.
The handling errors by both teams were numerous and the result often was possession handovers or scrums. An interesting game to watch - but way too much handling and disciplinary problems.
Second game score - 31 - 19Of the 50 points scored 17 points came from tries and conversions resulting from tries. There was 1 try scored by the Springboks (Morne Steyn) and 1 by the All Blacks (Isaac Ross).
The rest of the points came from 8 penalties converted by Morne Steyn for the Springboks and 4 penalty conversions by the All Blacks. In the game there were 22 penalties conceded - 8 by the Springboks and 14 by the All Blacks/
The discipline of both sides was poor - especially the All Blacks were way below par. Handling errors were again way too often in the game,
Third game score - 29 - 32
Of the 61 points scored 28 points came from tries and conversions resulting from tries. There was 2 tries scored by the Springboks (Fourie du Preez, Jean de Villiers) and 2 by the All Blacks (Sitiveni Sivivalu, Richie McCaw).
The rest of the points came from 5 penalties converted by Morne Steyn for the Springboks and 4 penalty conversions by Dan Carter. Each of Steyn and Carter added a dropped goal to the score as well. This time around there were 20 penalties conceded - 8 by the All Blacks and 12 by the Springboks.
The discipline of both sides was poor - especially the Springboks were way below par. The same problem with handling errors persisted on both sides.
SA vs Australia
First Game score - 29 - 17
Of the 46 points scored 19 points came from tries and conversions resulting from tries. There was 1 try scored by the Springboks (Victor Matfield) and 2 by the Wallabies (Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper).
The rest of the points came from 7 penalties converted by Morne Steyn for the Springboks by Morne Steyn. Each of Steyn and Giteau added a dropped goal to the score as well. This time around there were 22 penalties conceded - 8 by the Springboks and 14 by the Wallabies.
The discipline of both sides was poor - especially the Wallabies were way below par. The same problem with handling errors persisted in both sides.
Second Game score - 25 - 32
This test was a try-scoring feast with the Aussies scoring 3 tries (Matt Giteau 2 and Lachie Turner 1) while the Springboks scored 4 tries (Fourie du Preez. Jacque Fourie, Bryan Habana 2) Of those 7 tries 5 were converted - one each was missed by Giteau and Steyn. Of the 57 points scored in this match 45 came from tries and conversions, the other all came from penalty conversions by Giteau (2) and Steyn (2)
Unlike the other games played this was a case where there were somewhat less errors than in the other games, Discipline on the Aussie side was top class on the Springboks side it was definitely not hot.
Third game score - 21 - 6
From an SA perspective the less being said about the Springboks performance in this game the better, Two tries were scored by the Aussies (James O'Connor and Adam Ashley-Cooper) None by SA,
Maybe by then the Springboks won the Tri-Nations Trophy and they just tuned out - adf tuned out they did,
Morne Steyn at flyhalf
This was Morne's glory year - so something needs to be said about his performance in the 6 games,played, The fact is that Morne in one test collected all the points scored - his goal kicking as excellent and he even scored a gift try - there was no defenders that was in any position to defend the AB tryline in this rehatd,
However, it was the rest of his game that requires scrutiny, He did not start in the first test against the AB's and came from he bench when Ruan Pienaar was injured. In the time that Pienaar was on the field the backline represented a strong attacking unit - when Steyn came on the backline performances went south. The rest of the tests - bar the second test against Australia they remained south. His out-of-hand kicking game was too often inaccurate and a forecast of what followed in the years following.
How would the 2009 players have fared in the 2019 WC squad
There were in fact two of the player who played in 2009 who were in the 2019 WC squad and there is no discussion necessary as to those two bar to say that Beast was just starting his rtest career and was not really effective in scrumming in 2009 - but very much the top scrummer in the WC in 2019. Steyn played at full back in 2009 and was hampered by lack of speed them and was a dirt tracker in the WC squad,
So if theoretically possible which of the 2009 players could have been in the Springboks squad for the 2019 WC, A few maybe - but not many so lets have a look at the potential "candidates":-
Props
John Smit
- definitely not he was a poor scrummagerBismarck du Plessis - he was one that would have been a strong candidateBakkies Botha - potentially to an extent yes, but he was not better than Etzebeth
Matfield - definitely not a consideration - his lineout work was good the rest a joke in bad taste
Smith - no chance of being anywhere near the necessary class to feature,
Brussow - no chance even though he made turnovers - but his discipline was below par,
Fourie du Preez - his box kicking was better than the scrummies in 2019 , but for the rest he was not.
Morne Steyn - the farce would have been tremendous -- definitely not a candidate,
Jean de Villiers - probably ahead of Francois Steyn, but very average crashballer,
Jacque Fourie - No doubt would have been a candidate,
Bryan Habana - would have been a candidate.
JP Pietersen - not a chance at all to be in the WC squad,
So the candidates would have been limited to - '
certain selections - Bismarck du Plessis, Jacque Fourie, Bryan Habana
* potential candidates - Bakkies Botha, Jean de Villiers.
