Given Kolbe's performance or lack there of, I would drop him. I never once saw him on the pitch in yesterdays test.
Given Kolbe's performance or lack there of, I would drop him. I never once saw him on the pitch in yesterdays test.
Who is your suggeste change? Should we not play hat guy hendrikse of e Shrks - a very good kicker at goal as well?
I never once saw him on the pitch in yesterdays test.
Yes Kolbe was one of the invisibles. I can't remember him doing anything. At all.
Edwill VD Merwe can be tried on wing if his fit, Ethan hooker can also play Wing? Don’t think Rassie will add guys now maybe for the end of the year tour.
Now everyone wants to run back to the old guys. Don’t right off the Young guys like Ben J Dixon after tough matches . They build character.
A loose trio of Hanekom, louw and Roos when his fit. But for now Wiese or Dixon should be tried together with Hanekom and Louw. Kollisi will most probably play at home.
Eben and Pieter should be our locks they perform well together.
I would also like to see more TH back up besides Tank. Wilco and Sadie should be involved. Frans is still good, but the Back up wont hurt.
Team selection for home game won’t yield much surprises and Pollard will be our 10 again. A person Can play Jordan Hendrikse there again, but my bet it will be a tight affair with Forwards and controlling the game from there.
The real question is more about who I wouldn't play, and then selecting the team from the remaining players.
Here are the players I have concerns about:
Fassi: His positional play on defence is a concern. Additionally, he doesn't cut the backline effectively on attack compared to Willie Le Roux.
Mapimpi: Concerns with his positional play on defence remain.
Am: Is he suited to inside centre, or is he still capable of playing test-level rugby? It's been a long time since we've seen him in good form.
Pollard: Known as a wet-weather rugby specialist, but does he still have the athleticism to play a more expansive, running game?
Reinach: At his age, it's time to rebuild for the next World Cup by giving the next generation more game time.
Moerat: Is he up to the standard required for test rugby?
BJ Dixon: Similarly, does he meet the test-match standard?
Libbok: His goal-kicking will never be test-standard. Besides missing a match-winning kick from right in front of the posts, he also mishandled a penalty that was meant to set up a crucial Bok lineout, overkicking it behind the try line. He single-handedly lost two match-winning chances at the end.
Like I say Ben J should not be discarded just because he was quiet in this one.
Why not play AE together with DDA ? IT’s either pollie or Jordan and I think Rassie will go with pollard again.
Is Willemse not ready yet? Willie is inconsistent at best, but he has the ability to read play.
Mapimpi, s defence is not the best but our back 3 is not completely solid in defence. That includes Willie.
SB
Maybe Wilill pay on Saturday - but e all know he is near to ending his playing career and we need to look alsewhere for somebody to be used and he immediate amnswer to my mind would be Willemse. He promoted try scoring opportuities and he scored tries himself.
My problem is that Pollard lost pace and he reles totally on De Allende to cover both his defensive lines ad the one of De Allende himself. It would help if he had a bloke like Roos - and is beyond the capacity of Wiese and Van Staden.
Maybe using Du Toit - who have great ball sense to play at lock - the guy is indispnable or Springbok rugby and as long as he maintain his top class performances he is one of the few players to go hrough to 2027. Maybe they should play Hooper on the wing id of he flawed two playing at preent, or use him as a replacement center. Until ere is a real successor ro De Allend en place he wil be in the 2027 squad as well.
By he way i cannot see Pollard lasting hrough to 2027 anyway so wher do we find replacement flyhalfs? Maybe there is anofher Shaca coming through from Junior ranks - at the moment we are in deep shit otherwise.
. . . .
Manpower
F orgwet bout Esterhuizen he is not an anweswer to naything at all and I do not see him back in any future Spring bok squads. He si totally pace-deficint and poor in dfense anyway. Tha si why he never scored a try in the 18 tsts he payed in - the one opportunity he had he knoceked ona ball wt an open tryline in front of him.
Like Libbok fails at flyhalf - fr much of the same reason Engebrecht fails at center, The younsters may come right - at 30 years of age tere is no chance tha Esterhuizen wll improve in performances at all. He is no future investment player anyway. I would raher like seeing either Willemse or Hooker at 12 than Esterhuizzzzen, .
No disaster. We didn't lose a tournament and no-one died.
What happened last night is what happens when you have the best player in the world and you don't play him. The Springboks without Pieter-Steph du Toit lacked that hard winning edge we've become used to.
PSdT will be back on Saturday and the Springboks will win the 2024 Rugby Championship.
No disaster . . . and as a consolation we learned which passengers we can dump from the squad.
So Rasmus can’t win without just one player, Dud Toit. Interesting….so much for the genius coach. The WC was all just Dud Toit.
Or gosh could it be the absence of Mostert's accurate visionary defense and brilliant lineout management that we missed.
That is a big statement Rooi ….if this is the case About Pieter, what will we do if he is not there anymore??
Although I Rate PSDT high, I don’t think thats the reason why we lost. Our biggest downfall yet again, is turning our possession into points.
It is absolute sacrilege the way we throw away our chances to score points. Even in the games we do win, so many points gets left out there it’s absurd.
So maybe if we can just manage to materialise 10% more of our opportunities, we will never loose.
Hang on oaks you arecritucusing so many players but according to ou Mozzietard the reason Rassie wins is be cause the exceptional quality he has at his disposal.
Surely ou mozzietard can't be wrong (sarc).
It's very clear Rassie will play what he thinks is his best match 23. You will see a very motivated Bok side.
How many toothless up and unders did Fassi launch yesterday. Why? Because it’s a safe play….a mindless play. Why doesn’t a talented runner like Fassi try to find a gap, breach and offload? Because he has been coached to be conservative,
That’s why Sacha is such a breath of fresh air.. he is willing to try things, some of which came off brilliantly like the try against Ireland.
He may not have made a difference to the result and I know he’s injured, but the player I missed yesterday was Sacha.
I have seen Fassi run devastating lines for the sharks already. And with great success.
So the part of being coached to be conservative, is plausible. So it’s sometimes easy to say the player is shit, but they were playing as instructed according to a plan.
The input of Brown should be increasing the skill level of all Backline players. So playmaking shouldn’t be left up to one player. Ther Other guys should also be willing to try more.
Zgree with you about Shaca - but Pollrd was sub-standard and so was Libbok. You ave yeet to realze the top players set an example for other players to emulatein their efforts and that was totally absent yesterday. That is why D u Toit are there and same with De Allence. iro of te backline - theys e he example and the other players folo them in the example they set. With Polard being sub-standard and Libbok a disaster the bckliee was effecively leaderless.\\
The reason for yesterdays loss was a mistake of Meyer to pick the cluless Moerat a captain. He set no example and contributed nearly zero to the team/ I fact Mozart gambled witha number of players and the gamble failed, I think Meyer thought the RC was already won and ambled that the player he chose would be enough to win the trophy,
. .
Ou Maaik, we don’t always agree, but it’s great to see you on here in your eighties posting with passion. We are on the same page about Moerat, if not HM’s role in selecting him.
It’s obvious the side will be
15. Willie
14. Arendse
13. Kriel
12. de Allende
11. Kolbe
10. Pollard
9. Reinach
1. Ox
2. Bongi
3. Malherbe
4. Eben
5. Nortje
6. Kolisi
7. PSDT
8. Wiese
16. Marx 17. Steenkamp 18. Koch 19. Moerat 20. Elrigh Louw 21. Kwagga 22. Jayden Hendrikse 23. Jordan Hendrikse
clevermike
Hall Of Fame
52849 posts
I think that Ersmus will gie players like Fassi, Arendse and Kolbe another chance - but his problem is there is need for another flyhalf - especialy since Pollard was luke-warm and Libbok failed badly, while Shaca would be out of rugby till November,
So the team could b as follows:-
15 Willemse
14 Arendse
13 Amm
12 De Allende
11 Kolbe
10 Not a clue - but pleae no Libbok and with Pollard being a dubious performng player on Saturday
9 Hendriks
8 For heavens sake bring back Roos - he is miles better than dumb muscle Wiese
7 Du Toit
6 Kolisi or Hanekom - Van Staden si anothe dumb muscle case
5 SA have some vey ggod locks not sed thus far - my choise would be Schickerling or Van Heerden
4 Etzebeth
3 Malherbe
2 Wessels
1 Nche
16 Marx
17 Steenekamp
18 Du Toit
19 Nortje - if not injured - Otherwise Dixon.
20 Smith
21 Hanekom
22 Williams
23 Definitely not Libbok
Any reasonable suggestions please.