Akker and Marx

Both should be starting for the Boks. 

Marx was originally an 8...Not sure how long ago.

We have problems with consistency at 8. Duane being hot and cold. Whitley being "too small". Du Preez being exactly the 8 we need but apparently, according to some,  just not being good enough.

How about Marx at 8 and Akker at 2? 

Biggest down side would be some scrum strength lost. 

I think Marx may have been a loosie on school level - he never was one in the Under 20 and all other categories of Junior teams.

I personally do have a problem with our approach to loosie play - they are normally pace-deficient with very limited in what is called ball sense.   I am afraid that Marx does not have the pace needed as a loosie.   Neither is as a matter of fact both Vermeulen and Kolisi.   

Vermeulen was tried at 7 on Saturday - problem is he did  one of the requirements by covering position kicked balls and carried them forward, but his defense ordered on the non-existent and his penalty count showed up badly.

Last year Vermeulen showed up well in two tests and then went sour in the rest after skipping the Rugby Championship.   Personally despite the screams by some members that he will continue to come short in the Super Rugby series and that remains a problem in teams selection.

However, I differ from you about Marx - he should stay at hooker and his back-up should be Akker.     

Plum ... I am sure you'll get a great big thumbs up from Moffie as he wanted Marx at 7 awhile back. Then again, he went all moist at the thought of Alberts at 6 a few years back too.

Is this to allow Bongi into the mix?

You wanted Pollard in at 12 too. right ? ... so that Jantjies could come in at 10, didn't you?

Why keep playing all our best players out of position? Play them where they are comfortable ... where they can the most good for the team and leave the quotas out of it altogether.

Marx is the best hooker on the planet ... and right along side him is Akker. They should both be in the Bok squad with Bongi back home watching their magic from the comfort of his coach.

Just as I would not select Pollard at 12, neither would I move Marx anywhere.

We keep wanting to move best out of the way so that we can make place for the useless..

Madness.

No ... leave him where is ... at 2. That's where he belongs.

Vermeulen has been out of sorts for a few years now. He should never have been brought back into the mix.

It's week 2 of Super Rugby and already we see him floundering.

He was great in his day ... in his day ... in his day ... not any more ... but just as Kolisi and Bongi will make the WC squad, so too will the elderly Vermeulen.

CC & Mike, I'm just trying get Akker into the team. 

Bongi/Quota is blocking him right now.k

Akk er is a game changing X factor player that gives nothing away. He's got test level smarts.

Akker is a class act ... has been for many moons now ... and should be brought in to challenge Marx for the Bok 2 jersey.

I rate him as the better of the two.

The Boks biggest issue has always been that for any given match they field at least half a team that is not BIP.

There's no talent problem. There's a brain problem.

Swys will likely take over from Rassie after the WC and I think Akkerman will join him. Hopefully that is the case and our national side will at least a few years of decent coaching.

Big props to Rassie for bringing Swys into the mix and for thinking past the WC.

Yes, I think you may be right about Swys replacing Rassie ... and to bring Ackermann in as his assistant would certain bode well for players like Jaco Kriel and Janse van Rensburg.

Still, they would have to agree to 50% black representation and that in istelf binds their hands making them mere puppets to this racist regime.

Will Ackermann go along with it.

We'll see.    

CC

To be quite frank I think the situation with Erasmus is not correct.   Erasmus was appointed as SARU Director of Rugby and was up to the WC the stand-in coach,   In the coaching position a new appointee will be made to handle the Coaching functions  on a permanent basis by the end of this year.   It was too near to the WC when Coetzee was fired and it would have been unfair to appoint  new  coach then.

I would think that either Ackerman or Swys would be the new coach, especially the latter since he is already part of the coaching set-up anyway and as such would have more experience than Ackerman on international level by the end of this year.   Also organizationally - the Chief Coach falls under the Director of Rugby so a close working relationship would be an advantage.

Yes I know, Mike ... Rassie stepped in and agreed to coach the Boks till after the WC.

However ... would that have changed had he made a success story of his temporary stay? I think so. He certainly enjoyed all the backslapping he got for naming the quota Bok captain ... how much more would he have enjoyed being called the saviour of SA rugby if he had finished last season with say a 90% win ratio ... especially after adding an All Blacks scalp to his first season ?

But alas ... his first and only season as Bok coach was a failure ... he's experienced first hand what comes with quotas and losing matches ... and so he steps down after the WC ... eagerly I might add.

He's done nothing to improve SA rugby.

The next coach will be forced to adhere to the racist policies in place. My question is ... will Ackrmann agree to those terms?

I have my doubts. 

CC

I don't entirely agree with you on the issue of Erasmus performances.   He inherited what can at best be a shambles from Coetzee and a lot of experimentation with players were necessary and in some cases matches were lost as a result -  eg the Washington test against Wales, the third English test in June, the November test against England etc.  There may even be others.   

I do  think that in general the Springboks put up better performances against the AB's - but was poor when they played Argentina away and the same with Australia.   

As to the quota story there was some subtle bag-pedaling lately - the quotas previously called as total has recently become "targets".   So if the better quota players get injured or lose in performance  the arguments for their replacement by other quota players will not be total and paramount.

This may even become more lenient after the upcoming general election when hopefully the constant attacks on Whites may be less than they are now.  

You do have a point, Mike ... Coetzee left the Boks in complete shambles and it was always going to take more than a single season to fix his mess.  

Rassie had no choice with the experiments and in the end the Boks are actually better off for it ... there is still a long way to go and only merit selection will bring us back as a rugby power.

I hope your feelings on the enforced quotas are right ... I haven't seen anything substantiating it though.

They have now scrapped the 30 test ruling and so we may be in for additional changes. Let us see what happens.

Your never say die attitude is unfounded ... but refreshing.

Rassie inherited a stable core of players he hasn't added much to. As you said, André and Snyman were failures. This would mean his biggest successes were black. How hilarious.

Which tests were lost as a result of trailing new players? Robert du Preez lost the Welsh test, but the Boks were the dominant team. Another whitey losing a game, but this new team performed well. What next? 

Rassie was out coached numerous times and botched the home All Black test. Which was quite a foul up given it was the best Bok performance of the year.

Without the players Rassie inherited from Coetzee and Meyer, he'd have had nothing. 

Silly Billy

My nice name for you - is it not time that you start thinking before continuing  writing total BS on site?

Shezza

I have no problem with Vermeulen - but one should evaluate his presen t performance and not his reputation as a basis for his retention at 8.

So far Vermeulen had a good game in Round 1 and a near to disaster one in Round 2.   Patience please and see what happens in the tournament.as a whole.  

Duane is not up to n extended run at test level ... he can hardly manage a full 80 in Super Rugby and we've just complete week two.

Time to move on from this hasbeen.

Why are we still talking about this chump?

Poepol ... talking about being out coached ... would you say it was on the same level as when Meyer was out coached by Eddie Jones against Japan?

Yeah ... I didn't think so.

How many times did Meyer beat the All Blacks in his first year as Bok coach ... how about during his entire 4 year stint?

Has Rassie lost with record scores to the All Blacks yet ... or was that under anothr's watch ... ?

Has Rasie lost to Japan or Italy yet?

This core of players that you speak of ... why would Rassie have ignored them? They pick themselves ... surely? Any moron can see that Marx and Akker are our best hookers ... that Eben, PSDT and Lood are our best locks ... that Pollard is our best 10 when on form ... and yet Meyer chose Bakkies and Victor over them ... he even had Gurtho and Jaque Fourie brought back from the dead.

Rassie tested a lot of players last year. Your favourite was one of them ... you know, the man that's so vastly superior to Richie McCaw ... and then he quickly discarded the useless quota.

Morne was completely ignored and rightly so ... the same Morne that helped the All Blacks beat us with the worse hiding in our entire history.

Kirschner was also ignored ... you know, that man that's so much better at 15 than Folau ... yeah him!!

Which black players have been made a success story under Rassie?

Nkosi ... Dyantyi?

How about Coetzee and Meyer ... which black players did they make into superstars ... permanent features in the Bok run on side? A single name would suffice.

My feeling is that Du Preez is our best 8.

But he's too skillful and too much of  warrior for us Bok fans.

Who said Marx is slow? He's faster than Whitley and Duane. He also looks to be our best fetcher by some distance. 

Shouldn't we free him up to do more of what he's the best at?

Aside from saying that he is a 2 and that is where he should stay, IE "because", is there something else that means he won't excel at 8?

Genuine question.

A fetching hooker is not uncommon. I don't think we need to change his position to free him up. If we were to move him, that would mean Kolisi at 7 and Marx at 6. I can't imagine any scenario where Marx becomes an 8. I also don't think he is slow either. In fact, he keeps up very well with our backs. 

Duane isn't the force he was in 2013, but he as still very important last year. There was a lot of grunt work in those tests some said he vanished in. They overlooked a lot of detail. On the basis of the Super rugby games I have seen, I am reluctant to deviate very much from the loose trio combinations we've already seen under Rassie. The games have been quite soft, and error-strewn. I know Moz has objections to him, but I would still be willing to include Jean-Luc.  

Aug 

I like the idea of Akker and Marx on the same field. 

Between the two of them they'd hassle the opposition non stop. 

Still, you didn't answer the question. 

What about Marx says he can't/shouldn't play 8?

He could potentially play 8, but I don't see that happening. 

Oh dear ... a little grumpy this morning are we ... the constitution acting up a bit, huh? ... well, I hope you're not going to disappoint the younguns with a no show this morning. You know how they love pooping with grampa ...

It seems that playing a 10 at 12 ... a 15 at 13 ... a 7 at 6 ... is all ok with you lot ... so why not a 2 at 8.

Earlier we were even talking about playing Kwagga at 13.

I wonder if we can get Jaco Kriel in at 9, cause as far as I've heard he was a nifty little scrummie in grade 2.  

It sounds like a plan ...

No ... it doesn't suggest that at all.

I can see your backrow, Faggot ...

6. Louw, 7. Marx, 8. Vermeulen ... with Alberts as cover

Marx doesn't have an equal in the Bok setup.

He is our best forward and the pack should be built around him.

Eben was supposed to be that guy but Marx's rep is already well beyond his.

If one had to build a pack with maximising Marx's effectiveness in mind, how would it look?

Kwagga was blown away by Wales. That when the Boks were physically over powering the Welsh. That's cause for concern. Marx at 6 would be a return to the Brussow blueprint. This could definitely work. He is very similar. Both gorillas at the breakdown.