André Esterhuizen (2018)

Thanks for this Auge. Many hours spent I'm sure.

This will be heavily discussed in a few months time, so best to get it out there now. I had intended to upload these in early December, but rugby fatigue had set in. I've watched all of those games at least four times. 

Aug

Man! Thanks so much for this. 

I don't know if you'll get the gratitude you deserve here but from me it's 100% appreciation.

Just thanks. Big thanks.

Andre is clearly superior to DDA. A 12 that appears to be able to time his passes. Practically a bloody unicorn.

Esterrhuizen for years had butter-fingers and his defense was dubious at best.   Why is it that rugby experts rates De Allende higher than him?

Sorry - but this kind of nonsense is due in the main to prejudice.  

Yes ... a lot of time indeed, spent on showing us that Estrhuizer is as useless as De Allende ... and truly not worthy of his Bok call up. They should ask him to return his Bok colours. 

Sadly it proves nothing other than we have to look elsewhere for an inside center. Both these players of yours are not test match material.

Totally toothless ... ineffective ... useless.

Serfontein and Janse van Rensburg look to be our best options. It's so sad to see these two chumps brought forward under the guise of being our best. Suddenly one appreciates guys like Jean De Villiers. 

No thanks ... lets keep looking ...     

In essence I actually favour Serfontein because Van Rensburgh had very little rugby in the past year - he was constantly injured.

However, I also believe that Erasmus knows more about rugby than our local site experts and I would rather go with his selections than with our local "experts".  

These videos (thanks Auge) show two clear divides between DA and Andre: 

1. Andre offloads better (DA not at all)

2. Andre is a more proactive defender (in terms of shooting up to smother the attack) and a more aggressive tackler

But yes, neither sets the world alight and both are pretty slow.

CC and Pal

Agreed.

Let's not go totally overboard, Losser ... Jean was good in his day but nothing like you want us to believe. He had the intercept down pat, but other than that was never anything like a Mortlock or O'Driscoll.

I was calling for Vorster till Saturday was I ... lol ... that pesky Alzheimer's befuddling your decaying brain again ... ?

Either way ... he is a definite improvement on both Poepol's choices.

Now before you forget, Faggot ... you have a poop appointment with the young'uns ... ok ... enjoy 

Pakie ... still totally ineffective and not suited to test match rugby ...

Mozart

The return of De Villiers had no benefits for the Springboks at all.   Meyer thought it may help an d never did anything to deal with building a squad for the WC and that is why he ahd to implement emergency measures - with the center pairing had only being paired for three matches before the WC.

Anyway the 2013 year was not really a prime year of De Villiers performance-wise and even though he was showing increasing signs of being ready for retirement.   Fact is it again showed no forward planning by Meyer.  

Just for interest, check the RPI rankings comparison between DA, Andre and Jan.

Jan scores high on the break but low on influence. Andre is pretty solid throughout and is the highest ranked inside center from South Africa at #16 in the world. Jan is at #29 and DA at #31.

Incidentally Am is the highest ranked outside center from SA at #15.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaaa ... so I guess we had better select our two best then, huh?

Esterhuizer and Am ... we sure are going to rip the world a new one with these tw o world beaters ...

2013 was Jean's most dynamic year for the Boks. I had castigated his poor distribution and linear style in prior years, but in 2013 he was a big part of the successful attacking game of the Boks. Losing Jean changed how we defended and what we could do on attack. We couldn't exert pressure anymore. Whether or not Jean was in his prime in 2015 is irrelevant, as he was simply the best we had Frans aside. He played a great game at 13 against Samoa by the way. 

Meyer did everything to build a squad. I have already dealt with this months ago. Meyer gave many players an opportunity. Most failed to deliver. However, he left behind many tools Rassie benefits from today. 

@Pakie: I'm not surprised to hear that. Am and Andrè were better than Kriel and Damian last year as well, at all levels. 

What I like about Andrè is his calm demeanour. He doesn't panic, and has a good feel for where the pressure is coming from when on attack. He is incredibly strong. Stopping a crash all from George North dead in its tracks is no triviality. He has a better skill set overall. He isn't very fast, but I'd say he is deceptively fast. Acceleration is his weak spot, but as we saw against Australia, he can chase after kicks and close you down quickly. He allows us to play on the front foot and apply pressure. It's just disappointing that Rassie didn't open up the game for him like he did Damian. Damian was allowed to run endlessly at the passive defence of Australia and England and floundered. Andrè is still young, but is showing that he can learn and improve. I think he'll fit the Bok WC blueprint well. His partnership with Am, Nkosi and Mapimpi is another tick in his column. Synergy. We need that desperately. 

CC, no need to get hysterical. It's just an interesting reference to a ranking system that actually tries to evaluate a player's performance based on their influence and involvement in winning moments in the game.

"Dealt with" ... meaning what?

Listen you ignorant twat ... your assessment means nothing to me ... it's filled with statements like the ones you fed us about Mohoje and McCaw .. Morne and Carter ... Folau and that quota idiot you so admire.

Esterhuizer is nothing other than a crash baller and we have better stocks available. I watched the first 10 minutes of your silly contribution and saw that he tended to get in the way of his own players ... falling over his own feet ...  and contributing nothing of substance to his outside team mates. He's more a liability than anything else. He has absolutely no idea how to create anything. The Boks would have done a lot better had he been left back in the change room.

It doesn't matter how many fancy descriptive words you put together to paint him as a super human ...

"incredibly strong" that's a laugh ...

"deceptively fast" ... haaaahahahahahahahaaaaa yeah right,

"play on the front foot and apply pressure" ... only in your deluded min, Poeps ... 

Synergy ... yeah, with the other quotas as he's on the same level of play as they are ... and so is able to tick the boxes ...

... when we finally comb through all your dramatic fabricated nonsense, all that's left is an average Joe who didn't deserve his call up ... much like Mohoje and Kirschner.

He wouldn't even make the Italian team.

Now I know that you expected a better reaction from us for the Esterhuizer clip you posted ... but sadly it didn't go down well at all ... not even with all your mates. They also think he's useless. Even Pakie Poef wouldn't save the day.

Time to face reality. You are as ignorant as your McCaw, Carter, Folau comments showed earlier.

Well, Pakie ... don't go do a 180 on us now ... you used it to prove a point ... or at least you tried to ... and it didn't pan out quite like you had hoped, did it now?

Feeling a little stupid now?

Try using your head next time before passing something over as fact ... dumbass!!

Dumb Dumber or Rude Ruder?

Look Herr Draht, look at the desperation in their glazed eyes. They can't talk rugby, so they become enraged. Put an entire season's body of work on the table and they still fire blanks. 

2CC, what comments about Morné and Carter? The last I spoke of Carter, in fact the only time I have spoken about him, was in relation to Barrett. I declared Carter the greatest flyhalf of all time. See? This is what happens when you become a hyper-emotional wreck. In the video, we see André doing far more than falling over his feet. If you think I am wrong, go prove it. No matter how many malformed syllables trickle out of your mouth, like drunks being kicked out of a pub, you will still be wrong. You have always been wrong, and have yet to hold your own in any debate with me. 

This is where you slam your keyboard against the wall and storm off, looking for a kid to fight to reassure yourself that you're still die Baas. 

Well, Pakie ... don't go do a 180 on us now ... you used it to prove a point ... or at least you tried to ... and it didn't pan out quite like you had hoped, did it now?

Feeling a little stupid now?

I'm sorry, I don't know how to deal with these hysterical responses in a simple discussion. Are you sure the missus isn't using your computer?

I started the post referring to the ranking system with "Just for interest...", which denotes that it is an interesting reference, not some kind of set in stone fact. 

I'm not sure what didn't pan out quite like I hoped or when exactly it stopped panning out. If you're going to have these outbursts, please be more specific about what exactly you're bursting out about.

Silly Billy

False claims as to the Carter and Morne Steyn comparison does not help - you did compare the two and claimed Morne was better than Carter.  Same as that Kirchner was a better player than Folau,

Better not show your ignorance again and again.     

I said Kirchner was better than Folau in the 2013 RC. He was. So much so, that the Aussie media were questioning his move from RL. As per Carter and Morné? I have never rated Morné a better flyhalf than Carter. I haven't even rated Larkham better than Carter. In fact, I have stated at least twice that Butch is the best Bok flyhalf of the last thirty years. That has long been my stance. Silly Billy would be punting Lambie over Pollard. I saw you attacked Pollard numerous times, and attempted to make him the scapegoat for the 2015 Aussie test Damian lost! Silly Billy is also, several times, blaming Morné for a loss in a game he never played in. There is so much more. 

"Better not show your ignorance again and again."

Good advice. You should take it.