At age 38 Thorn makes the 365 TOW

This guy who is routinely and stupidly underrated by Bok fans, continues to ply his trade succesfully. Add to that O Driscoll, at 34,  being selected to captain the Lions in their next match. As South African fans clamour for youth, it's apparent that guys who take care of themselves can play top rugby into their middle 30s. We will see Bakkies before the year is out.

A Lot of the negative comments come from 38 year olds who already have a boep and are sitting on the stoep.  A good player is a good player never mind the country he comes from.

Interesting Moz. Bakkies before the year is out? Will it take an injury to current locks to precipitate that or do you think he is chosen on merit?

thorn was great against the blues, and if the kings/stormers match hadnt put me in a coma, i would have been able to accurately say that he was in my team of the week too, but i didnt watch all of that snore fest so i cant say yay or nay, b ut based on the other 4 games, team of the week easy peasy.

i was surprised about how much thorn wasnt rated, but in NZ the views about bakkies are exactly the same, so a level of one eyed biasedness is a huge influence on those views.
thorns a great player, but i wouldnt want him in the All blacks, even if he played all year like he did last saturday.
then again, thrush did make the All Blacks squad and i would definately rather have thorn over thrush any day, hell i would rather have ian jones over thrush.

Sas - I would also have thought that Luatua would be a possible option at lock? especially if one of Retallick or Romano goes down? 

Nonsence

This harking back to the past is craziness/  Thorne brought very little to the 2011 WC and O'Driscoll was really no factor in the 6-Nations.   Playing on reputation is a bad thing for any team. 

@oimatey,

given the depth the All Blacks have in the loose forwards, luatua as cover in the locks is a very strong possibility.

it would be a waste IMO, reports have it that luatuas acceleration makes him one of the fastest loosies in spXV in terms of off the mark, but after seeing thrush act like a pussy and shy away from all the tight stuff all season while playing for the hurricanes, luatua is by far a better option.

i dont know why they didnt consider callum retallick or jared hoeata, both are in great nick in 2013.

@mikey,
i disagree, thron was awesome for the All blacks in the RWC, :o)

Luatua best NZ loose forward prospect in years in my book. Speed, size, great hands, high workrate. Seems really humble.

Allow me to be more explicit about this aspect when I say this hollering after Bakkies is crazy,   .  There is one absolute in the history of Mankind and that is HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.      

Allow me to be more explicit about this aspect when I say this hollering after Bakkies is crazy,   .  There is one absolute in the history of Mankind and that is HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF - in other words history repeats itself amd the crazy actions of the past is repeated.

Old President Kruger must have reached the same conclusion when he made to very pertinent observations - 

*   Take whatever was good from the past and build thereon your future; and

*   All people - irrespective of race should have equal rights once they have become Christians - you shall not discriminate against God's children.

It is indeed a disgrace that the latter advice was never followed by our ancestors and in many ways by us - maybe it was the influence of the English on us that was counter-productive in that case.

Now lets get back to a rugby sitioation insofar as World Cups are concerned,   The winning of the WC was never repeated by any country and the main reason was the fact that there was minimal team renewals in the teams of winning countries.  

The same applies to the 2011 WC with an over-aged SA  team of porkers and slobs and the result was inevitable.   After the 2005 WC win the team performances started to deteriorate - but we basically kept the same team in place. 

Bakkies and as a matter of fact many other members of the 2011 WC team went to play rugby in Europe and Japan and some flopped - others were more successful.    Since then really only one his retruned to SA to play locally - Francois Steyn - and he failed dismally.   Meyer used another one - Steenkamp last year and he was not a succes story either,   Based on what do people believe  that Bakkies will be any different?   Is it just hearkening back to the past -then it is wrong - end of story   

Having watched the game, there is no way in hell Thorn was the best 4 of the weekend. Can't say I noticed him at all

Saffex

You can never say anythkmg negative about Thorne - you eill run into a steam train because he is a New Zealand IDOL.   However, I agree with you on Saturday he was relatively IDLE,

Matey, my guess is an Etzebeth/Botha combination could dominate any other pair on the planet. Etzebeths outstanding game at 5 makes this combination much more conceivable. I would the follow with 25 minutes of Steph energy replacing Botha. Bakkies is probably a better lock today than he was three years ago.

Mozart

"Bakkies is probably a better lock today than he was three years ago."   Is that another of your wild statements - or do you have any real evidence for it.   I saw a few ganes he played in for Toulon and he was not really all that impressive - other to be carded  and conceeding a penalty.

Personally I think he is not anymore what he used to be 3 years ago and we need him like another hole in the head.  We have seen other French club players making a mess when they play for the Springboks  - do we need another one?      

 Oom you really are quite an attack dog.  And like most attack dogs your bile exceeds your judgement. In short you are a bit of a joke

Moz I  have not seen Bakkies play but from what accounts I have heard he is doing well in France.

Who would you have playing for the Boks this year Juandre or Bakkies? Bakkies and Etzebeth with Du Toit off the bench is a great possibility.

I would also, like you I think, want to take it easy with Du Toit this year.  Play him off the bench and maybe start him against second tier teams etc.  By 2014 he will be fully ready. 

Mozart

Now back to the Team of the Week story - here is Thorne Stats for that game:-

I also added Etzebeth's stats just to clarify issues_

How anybody can make Thorn part of the TOW just beats me hollow.  He took exactly 1 line out throughout the game - missed 24% of attempte tackles amd made 1,9 meters per carry when he had the ball in hand.  That does ot impress  me at all  I di not check the stats of other players - since it was evident that the selection was farcical in the first instance