My vote would go to the Ellis Park test of 2013, which we ultimately lost. But three fabulous tries. One by JdV, so much better than Dud Allende. And two by Habana with brilliant offloads by Francois Louw and Vermeulen.
It’s also instructive to see what a different team NZ was with Retallik and Whitelock in their prime….and what a disaster JJ Englebrecht was.
Still a fabulous test between two evenly matched teams played with ferocity. And a laughable bit of thuggery by Ben Franks.
JJ ripped the AB centres to shreds when he first broke into the test side
But ultimately he proved a soft touch - had the swagger but lacked the hard edge - another Percy
To compare Percy and JJ is noob territory Dave,
Bullshit just watched highlights of JJ’s tries in 2013 he was very good on attack - just as good as Percy
I stand by my take on JJ, he glided, had good pace
He lacked the hard edge which is exactly what Percy lacked
He glided, lost his support….got turned over and NZ scored with seconds left in the half. Then he missed a crucial tackle for another try. The lad had no edge at all, let alone a hard edge.
Given the history of your takes on things I’ll take that with a pinch of salt
One certainty is that JJ was an athlete - silky runner with good pace and step
But to make it past a season or two you need the hard edge - he lacked that
My history of exposing the bs? Admit it Dave your JJ/Stepfontein call was remarkably wrong
Your history of bs yes. I admitted I got JJ wrong - he had plenty of attacking skill but was an incomplete package thanks to lacking the hard edge
I got nothing wrong with Serfontein, he was good for the Boks and consistently one of the best 12’s in Europe for years. The fact that he chose to leave SA so young put an end to his test career - his stupid call.
de Allende and to a lesser extent Esterhuizen were the local boys invested in, a call that proved correct given how good de Allende has been for the Boks
Serfontein is a classic case of we will never know. Play abroad and suffer the consequences.
Pierre Schoeman, Duhan vd Merwe, Paul Willemse, Serfontein, du Preez twins and currently Tyrone Green are prime examples
Out of sight out of mind
I would agree on Duhan…none of the rest. Willemse was no star for France for example.
As for Dud Allende, he has played against NZ 18 times and he appears once on the list of great Bok tries against NZ running in an overlap created by others. The man did nothing except tractor match after match….scored very few tries, and made even less try assists. Lost the 2015 semi by not stopping Nonu. Made a similar mistake against Mo’unga in the 2023 final, saved by a late TMO intervention.
Bullshit just watched highlights of JJ’s tries in 2013 he was very good on attack - just as good as Percy
3 Tries, two of which were unopposed canter-ins. There's nothing in that 2013 highlight video that even begins to compare with Percy's best in that video of him the other day, and 2013 was JJ's best. Ask Becs, she'll tell you.
Wake the fuck up Pakie I’m talking about Percy lacking a hard edge
Moz you can bang on all you like about de Allende but he has proved to be one of if not the best 12 the Boks has ever had
Your take on the players mentioned is as usual completely wrong - Schoeman, Willemse, Serfontein and the du Preez twins would all have added value to the Bok squad. For instance Willemse is twice the player powder puff has ever been.
Id much rather have seen him in the squad than that sad excuse for a lock
Here's what you said Dave:
Bullshit just watched highlights of JJ’s tries in 2013 he was very good on attack - just as good as Percy
Which is bullshit.
Well, probably the ones I watched live. The most recent one when we beat by record score at Twickenham. Dave, we both were there and we had players like Moody, Libbok, Arendse, who was the best player on the day and then the likes Andre Esterhuizen just dominate the All Blacks.
I think the other one was back in 2014 when Lambie got hit in the head by Jerome Kaino shoulder and probably the first time that the TMO came into play and the first time the home team had an influence on the game. The screen operator kept playing the head shot on Lambie over and over and over until the ref gave in. I think it was the right call and Kaino should have been banned for 2 years with that hit.
Then, Lambie in the closing minutes launched a 55 meter kick to get it over and the boks to win. It Hougaard, Serfontein etc scoring a break out try that was pure poetry in motion.
My ex at the time, who is an English fan, wanted us to leave 20 min before the end of the game, I am so glad I convinced her to stay. We came back on won the game. This also the reason why she is my ex.
Yes he was just as good as Percy in terms of gliding but the whole point of bringing Percy into it was with reference to the fact that both lacked the hard edge.
Agreed King that performance trumped any other against the AB’s
I saw that match and it reminded me of who in the Springboks side caused the loss - in order of BS it was Morne Steyn and Willem Alberts who did not know how to recover a breakdown ball with the AB Scrummie lying at his feet, while De Villiers went out of the defensive line to let Barrett rans tria ght a d ear Morne - who slapped h im on his back as if he si wis hing him well in scoing the try .
I would rather cnside the 2014 test in Johanesburg as the best tests between the two ations and even though Matfffield nearly lost the test for the Springboks when Whitelock outjumped him in a line-out 5 meters from the tryline and the AB scored a try as the result. But then a long distance pressure kick of Lambie won the test fr the Springboks.
No test in which Morne played can ever be regaded as the best test like Mzart claim in this case, Morne ws an expert in destroying backline play.
Of course that was the test Morne took on Retallik and put him on his backside….power running by the Bok 10.
Moz you make me laugh :)
What’s life without a bit of laughter Dave
Plenty of laughter is the medicine of life
Here you go Dave :)
Fucking hell how the hell did powder puff Morne manage that
Brodie must have been caught off balance as Morne could try that another 100 times and he would come off second best
Morne past pet hate - Mostert my current - both weaklings