A huge yawn greets the JJ departure

Mike,

last season (2012 ) it was JP  who held the Sharks backline together, his leadership was instrumental in creating some form of positive vibe within the team.

OOM:

Best try scoring ratio
(Only players with 10 or more tests are considered.)

 Mozart

Thanks for the stats - I think the mere fat that only 1 player made the 50% stats show that they are not top try scorers.  Based on the stats provided the percentage for the following players are as follows:-

JP Pietersen   -   48    -    15   =   31,25%  

Fourie Du Preez   51   -    15   =   29,41%

Morne Steyn        51   -     8    =   15,69%

The above figures are not really awe-inspiring and if you compare those with the backline players of New Zealand aand Australia playing in the same [positions it looks even less awe-inspring,

I am still convinced that from an attacking perspective there are serious deficiencies in the Springbok team.

The present Aussie backline had very few games but have  a look at the stats of Players like Genia, Barnes, Ashley Cooper and Folau and you will find that they have higher percentages.  However, it is mainly the AB's we should worry about - not the rather poor Walla oies - whose forwards are their Achilles heel.

I suppose those guys weren't attacking players either OOM, Mannetjies Roux is even lower down....you deserve a two egg ome lette.

Mozart

Apples with apples please - we are talking here of wings, flyhafs and scrummies.   You went back for more than half a century to get to John Gainsford to try and find a center that would make Fourie's figures look good.   Those days there were tours - strength playing strength - no minnow involved like nowadays - so the figure are not really compatible - so the figures are not really comparable.   When dealing with this type of comparison the only viable equation is how many tests have a player played against specific countries and compare those figures.   Not overall figures.   Engelbrecht and Gainsford never played againstcountries like Argentina and Italy and definitely not against Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Japan and Outer Mongolia  like the modern playes do.

Most of Fourie's  tries came from the minnow teams - you said so yourself - so there is no real comparisons like you are trying to make.   Tours were up to three months away from home with tests being interspersed with local teams - as you should know.   Please lets accept we should stick with those kind of comparisons with the professional era - not the amateur era.  

However, that kind of comparisons are odious - because there role of backline playrs are more complex than only scoring of tries - it entails how effective the backline as a whole operates and that is where the 2010 and 2011 backline came short.  The backline was not effective as a unit and the outcome was the dead backline syndrome.

The symptoms were the same as it was in 1997 - when Carel du Plessis pointed out that the Springbok backline did  not function properly and he intended to take steps to correct the imbalance.   He took the steps to correct the problem and the result was a winning streak of 16 matches - for which Mallett  got the credit - which in fact he did not deserve.   There were similar signs to correct the problem, but those have now been reversed and we are back to the 2010-11 situation.    If may not worry you - but it does worry me.