Now that the Super 15 is done and dusted one has to look at performances this year of the SA players in Super 15 and see what we got out of the competition that can impact on our chances this year in the RC and the WC, bearing in mind that some of the regular Springboks of the apst has been a serious embarrassment insofar as performances are concerned:-
Backline Players
The top performers
I would rate the following abckline players as top performers:-
Top performers
1 Damian de Allende
He played in all- but one of the Stormers games and in 9 of the 16 games played he was selected as the best no 12 in the whole competition. Definitely a serious threat in attacking play - with a minor problem that needs to be sorted out in defense.
2 Harold Vorster
This guy came in for his first match in Super 15 in Round 3 and looked decidedly out of depth - was dropped in the next match - and then came back to show real class as a center. Matter of fact he was in performance the best 13 center of any franchise in SA. His attacking play was spectacular and defense reasonable. One to watch for the future.
3 Jesse Kriel
He did very well as a full back for the Bulls and his attacking play was good - while his defense was fine. One to watch for the future.
4 Ruan Combrinck
Really showed some class on the wing both in attack and defensive play and is a good long distance goal kicker as well. Very promising performance.
5 Faf de klerk
Faf - together with Vorster - was probably the find of the season as a scrummie. Small physically, but with real ball sense and an excellent service, Needs to improve his kicking ability. One to watch for in future.
6 Lionel Mapoe
Played on the wing and at 13 this competition and showed some real class. He is physically too small to play at center - would prefer him on the wing.
7 Francois Venter
He showed some real class in attacking play and missed very few tackles. Very promising center performance.
Inconsistent Performers
Here we have a case where there was a variation of performances or no real consistency in performance or where the performances were affected by injuries causing substantial loss of playing time. In this category I include the following players:-
Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Patrick Lambie, Willie le Roux, Francois van Wyk, Francois Hougaard, Jan Serfontein
Poor Performances
This is where I looked at performances of existing Springboks specifically and in this category is included the following based on both deficient attacking and defensive play:-
JJ Engelbrecht, JP Pietersen, Francois Steyn, Juan de Jongh
Forwards
This is a tough category to assess and one has to look at the real performances this year.
Top class performances
Duane Vermeulen, Warren Whiteley, Jaco Kriel, Marcel Coetzee, Eben Etzebeth, Jacques du Plessis, Frans Malherbe, Stephen Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Tendai Mtawarire, Bismarck du Plessis
Promising youngsters coming through:-
Armand van der Merwe, Thomas du Toit, Franco Mostert, Steven Lewies
Inconsistent Performances
There are some players whose performances can be classed as top class - but who was affected by injuries during the season:-
Pieter-Steph du Toit, Coenie Oosthuizen,
In the inconsistent category falls the following players:-
Marcel van der Merwe, Adriaan Strauss, Arno Botha, Lappies Labuschagne
Deficient Performances
This is basically based on deficient contribution to Tight 5 play and general under-performance by Springbok players:
Willem Alberts, Jannie du Plessis, Victor Matfield, Jane Spies
There may be changes required to the above and I would gladly make adjustments where properly motivated - so please make inputs.
