Aplon slices the Lions apart

Gio produced one of the great tries of the year to secure a place in the CC final. Getting in at the corner after being slowed by the ankle tap seemed unlikely. What a player.

For WP Vermeulen and Etzebeth were huge. Fourie made some crucial turnovers. Cat was solid and de Allende was strong in midfield. Oddly I thought Kitshoff looked off again in the scrums and Malherbe added some grunt...the opposite of last week

For the Lions,Minnie did some good things.....but he gave away so many penalties. That was probably the biggest factor in the Lions loss....they'd build pressure and then release it with an unnecessary penalty. I also thought they looked more incisive when Boshoff replaced the fluttering Jantjies. With Jantjies it's so much of a game of the clever pass..and most teams have that sussed out.

Congratulations to both teams.....next week will be harder.

Aplon is already 31 years of age.   He had his chances in test rugby - but never really made the step up from Super  Rugby to test rugby.   There are a few problems under high balls and his defence is always suspect - see his defence stats for Super 15 this year as proof of this statement.

Aplon is a very good player and has done extremely well in some matches for the Stormers - for instance in Super 15 this year he scored four tries for them.   That is probably the highest level he can be successful in.  He is equally good on CC level for WP.

In view of his age and his limitations there is no future in trying to select him - since it would be short-sighted.  

And with minimal effort any CC full back is better than Kirchner.

Denny

Kirchner's selection by Meyer was a joke in bad taste - Aplon is a much better proposition.   However, that does not make Aplon a real alternative - since he  was given some opportunities at test level and did not gra b those with both hands.