Typical scratchy performance by the ABs in their first hit out for the year vs a spirited French B team. Was really worried until I saw the 2nd half of the Boks game! That settled my nerves a bit…
ABs also achieved the milestone of being the first team in history to attain 500 test wins.
Well done boys!!
Indeed, Moola
Rassie's comments after the game were that he's not sure some of his stalwarts are the best in position players.
There are very few of us that are actually sure who he thinks his best players are.
At least you guys have far more clarity in that regard.
EG we don't know who our best 9, 10, 12 or 13 are. We're not sure he prefers Fassi over Willemse at 15 either.
In the pack we know that Marx, Eben, Ox and Jasper are our best.
So, we're still unsure as to more than half of our players.
And it's al thanks to perpetual musical chairs. Everybody seems to praise it but I have feeling that the house of cards is gonna come crumbling down this year.
It's by design Plum...
Plum, has Rassie simply tried too many players in the last year and invited far too many to their camps? The Boks seem to have clouded their own situation in my opinion getting far too many involved. Naming 54 to go into a camp is plain ridiculous! Surely 35 is heaps giving you a full test squad plus 12 reserves to tinker with.
Exactly, Moola. It was musical chairs all of last year, and I bet his plan is the same for this year.
You look at the ABs in Carter's era. They played their best team against everybody all the time and when there was an injury they replaced the injured guy. Simple.
They knew who their best side was and they played that side as much as possible.
In the two games the Boks have played this year it's been two very different teams already and I bet that come the weekend it'll be yet a different side again.
For me, cohesion beats depth nine times out of ten. It doesn't help having a massive squad but you never really get them firing because nobody knows who'll be playing from week to week.
Last year, the Boks very nearly lost to the ABs, at home, for exactly that reason. This is supposedly the best Bok side in decades, and ABs were at a low, yet we just scraped past you guys. Oh the super dooper best Bok side in yonks lost to Argentina. The same side that just got thumped by England.
Take Moodie as an example. He came into the side, never missed a beat and took to test rugby easily. Now he's there, but so is Kriel who is for some crazy reason the captain. And then he brings Hooker in too. Excellent, we now have 3 x 13s with Am to come back as well. What's is the point?
Ou but Hooker can play wing. Okay, perfect...so is Hooker gonna get selected ahead of Mapimpi if Cheslin or Arendse go down? Of course not. So Hooker is basically there in as back up for back for up for back up for back for back up.
Oh but wait, Hooker will get a run against Georgia. But guess what, it's doesn't matter if Hooker scores twenty tries against Georgia because that won't change his place in the pecking order. SO WHY EVEN PLAY HIM THEN? He gains nothing from a single Bok practice match in an entire year. And also what a shit thing to do because his first cap is a nothing game against nobodies and he knows that he won't catch a sniff of any important minutes the rest of the year. It's a piss take. Same as he's been taking the piss out of Andre Esterhuizen for years now. Playing him against Portugal and pals but never ever playing him when it actually matters.
And all of this is why the Bok backs can't get the ball through the hands. They don't have the cohesion required at test level. Instead of picking his best side now and playing that side in these easy games, so they when the most difficult games come next month, the teams is firing. No, mix and match all the way to the last minute, because you don't intend on using the backs much anyway, and then smash and bash and hope to out muscle the ABs, France and Ireland.
So while Draad talks about all of this being by design, I can't see what the design is and I won't bother asking because I'll only get vague answers that don't nearly suffice.
I'm glad we have those two away fixtures against the ABs this year and then France and Ireland games after that. It's gonna be a massive wake-up call and I very much doubt we'll win any of those games unless we start picking our actual best side from now on and stop with the messing around.
TLDR: For heaven's sake, can we just pick our best team and play that team. If someone is injured or underperforms, be a man and replace them with the player you think is next in line and move the hell on.