He was a great player when he was in his prime and rendered top class performances forr the Springboks - so we must be thankful for the contrbutions he made in the two RWC; and th othr testshe played in.
The Sharks badly needs a quality flyhalf and there may be some around from the Varsit Cup teams after the sdents complete heir studies and should be recruitable to replace AM.
There surely would be a duplicare of Matthee of the Stormers floating around to recruit, .
Am is a real class player - the best of the 4 by some distance - by 4 I mean him, AE, DA and Jessie
Am had the touch and rugby IQ that set him apart
I find it strange how post an injury, Jessie has leapfrogged him in the pecking order when clearly Am was the favoured choice pre the injury
I get the feeling Am has just not been given a good opportunity to reclaim his rightful spot as our best 13 - yes he has not set the world alight since his return but then again nor has Jessie.
I would have liked to have seen more investment in Am over Kriel post his injury as he is the far better player
The exact same applies to Reinach over Faf - makes absolutely no sense at all
Nortje over RG and Lood is another
At least we have seen Koch replaced by Thomas and Wilco - which is the correct call
Am has not done anything in a single game since his return and last tests that even hinted at him being good enough to be a test player again. He looks well and truly past it and he's had some terrible URC outings.
Can’t say I agree and nor has Jessie set the world alight at test level of late
His injury has clearly made him less of a player than he was, Dave. It would be great if he can regain his former swagger, but at the moment he just seems to be struggling to find any kind of form. We won't see 2019 Am ever again.
On another note, have you ever wondered what the oke chews for 80 minutes in a game?
he never stops chewing. Surely it isn’t gum?
Much of what we see is a product of playing in a poor Sharks sides so it’s difficult to judge
Ive seen glimpses but equally nothing that has been decidedly poor
And as I say Kriel is hardly setting the world alight at 13 - I just get the feeling Am has been short changed here - much like Faf has vs Reinach
My point is more about Kriel vs Am
Personally I’d be sticking with Moodie at 13 and Willemse at 12
It’s biltong, Chippo ( or Roadkill to give it the correct name ) ;)
There is one item that you people ignore and that is the issue of aging f players, The older players (especially those over 30 years of age) take progressively longer to recover from injuries. What is even worse is that older injured players struggle with recovering of form.
That wisdom came from Jean de Villiers,
What was clear in the URC matches is that Am was not the player he used to be,
One issue must also be borne in mind that the Sharks contracting of players are being reviewed and Am and he is by far not the only player that would become unemployed, I would not be surprised if Am was told to try to find other employment opportunities, .