Boks Loose Forwards Combination- Against AUS and All blacks

Our loose forwards, traditionally our strongest area suddenly does not look that great. Especially with Schalk out for the Year. Schalk is a good fetcher and carrier as he started out as a number 6, but can play in any position in the backrow- like Mccaw.

So putting together a combination at present is tough. One thing is clear- we need a fetcher as the clumsiness at the rucks is killing us.

It seems that Cotzee is more of a carier than a fetcher, so the best 3 fetchers we have at present-

1. Brussouw(allmost back from injury)

2. Kolisi or Keegan Daniels. Both have played most of the Super15 at 6, so we need more specialists

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6. Brussouw-  or Kolisi

Apparenlty he will play against the Sharks next weekend. I think if he plays well he should be fast tracked back into the team. Otherwise it is Cotzee.

 7. Alberts (He is a ball carrier only)

8. Vermuelen or Keegan Daniels (or Cotzee if Brussouw is available).

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or

6. Keegan Daniels or Kolisi

7. Cotzee

8. Vermuelen

------------------ With Alberts on the bench

As for Coenie and Goosen, as soon as they are in form they need to be called up. 

The Beast is no longer and now is Beauty. We need Coenie in his place.

The Free State Cheetahs are hopeful of seeing big guns Heinrich Brussow, Coenie Oosthuizen and Johan Goosen return from injury in the next two weeks.

All three players are in the final stages of recovery from injury, and have a good chance of being included in the team to face the Sharks next weekend.

Young flyhalf Goosen suffered a serious shoulder injury in the process of scoring a memorable try against the Highlanders in May which saw him miss out on selection for the IRB Junior World Championships in June.

Prop Oosthuizen injured his neck on his Test debut against England at Kings Park in June and flank Brussow was sidelined with a knee injury in the Cheetahs' last Super Rugby game against the Sharks, so their return will be eagerly anticipated in Bloemfontein.

Cheetahs assistant coach Hawies Fourie revealed to this website that Goosen may be fit to play against the Griquas in Kimberley this weekend, while Brussow and Oosthuizen could find themselves back in action against the Sharks.

"Coenie and Heinrich might be able to play 40 minutes next weekend against the Sharks.

"Johan Goosen will see a specialist this afternoon [Tuesday] and he might be available this weekend, otherwise he will definitely play next weekend," said Fourie.

This will come as a major boost for the Bloemfontein outfit who lost both utility back Riaan Smit and scrumhalf Piet van Zyl to season-ending injuries last week.

The versatile Smit turned in a flawless goal-kicking performance playing on the wing in the victory over the Blue Bulls last week, and Van Zyl has established himself as one of the most promising scrumhalves in the country, so they will both be sorely missed.

Fourie explained: "We have lost Piet van Zyl and Riaan Smit with long-term injuries so they are going to be out for the rest of the Currie Cup. Piet broke his collarbone and Riaan dislocated his elbow.

"He [Smit] started to find his feet nicely and he is such a versatile player, he can play wing, flyhalf and fullback. Piet played really well during Super Rugby and he was in the wider Springbok training squad so it is a big blow to lose those two," he said.

Fourie said that experienced scrumhalf Tewis de Bruyn has recovered from his groin injury and will provide cover for Sarel Pretorius on the bench this weekend and added that the only doubtful starter in their squad is prop Trevor Nyakane who is seeing a specialist about the neck injury he picked up against the Blue Bulls last week.

even if a fetcher is included, they will be as effective as hougaard has been cos theres just no urgency from the forwardpack as a whole at the breakdown.

hooper one of the best fetchers in spXV managed to contest one ball that resulted in a penalty for the wallabies, the next 10 mins worth of breakdowns saw every single black jersey hit the rucks as if their lives depended on it and that went a long way to helping us win the game with a clean sheet.

if the Boks dont increase their intensity and play with some balls, then brussow aint gonna do anything except get blown away every single time especially by the All Blacks. i also rate the wallabies breakdown game a lot better then the Boks.
 

Again I agree with sasuke on this. Broussouw may help, but it will not make a major impact unless the attitude towards the breakdown as a whole(coaching staff and players)  changes for the SA's.

If you watch the Kiwis, it's like a life or death situation on every ruck with every player. They know that this is where it all begins. Their backs would never have the room, and speed if it wasn't for the work done at the breakdowns. I cannot understand how Meyer does not realize this. The breakdown is slow to recycle, and hougaard, and Morne are plain jane. Combine those two together and it's easy pickings on defence.

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Sasu

After analyzing the game again I came to the conclusion that the real problems was not with the forwards - the easy way to explain the poor performance on Saturday by the Springboks.  After all the  - the real disaster was the fact that constant kicking by Hougaard and the Steyns cost the Springboks possession on a continuous basis.

What is ignored by the critics is that the same pack of forwards who played against the Argentinians in the first test against them for some inexplicable reason failed in the second test - but was it really so?   Even though the majority of the game was played in the Argentinian half - the Springboks constantly loss posession as a result of -

*     a rather limited number of handling errors by players and a few cases where players isolated themselves and turnovers were inevitable; and more constantly

*    the aimless kcicking by Hougaard and the Steyns - which assured loss of possession on a continuous basis.

Let me make it clear - the real cases of turnovers in tight phases are not possible bearing in mind the present laws and where balls are affectively handed to the opposition in 90% of the cases is where there is  poor ball handling and by kicking away of possession.

The screams of agony by critics and by Meyer is that the loosies are to blame - but what about the rel reason for possession losses as a result of a poor and ontinuous kicking strategy?   meyer and the critics suddenly want a large number of players changed - but will it work?   The answer is NO it will not work.   Unless trategies to prevent handing over of the balls are implemented - we are onto a losing strategy/

@clevermike,

if the kicking was more accurate, it might not be as bad it was, but i cant help but wonder why it was bad. IMO the pressure laid down by the pumas on morne and the protection given around the breakdowns for hougaard was horrible, its been horrible all seasom IMO.

i love coetzee, IMO he has a big Bok future ahead of him, but he seems to play a more blindside flanker role then he does an openside. fantastic ball carrier, fantastic defener with high work rate around the field and in the breakdowns.
coetzee is the only forward i see pulling his weight, which makes me wonder what the hell are the other guys doing??? when bismarck was there he was right up there as well and alberts has been effective in the first two games of the england tests, but has since lost that edeg which made him so dangerous.

the way i see it is, if the Bok forwards can set a better platform, then their backs will find it easier to do their job.
i really feel sorry for hougaard who seems to have to fight for his ball a lot more then any other half in the IRC, including the pumas.

after the first two english tests i started to pay heavy attention to what the Bok forwards were doing around the breakdown and its the same ol same ol, but i might watch that game again over dinner, cos i wouldnt mind seeing those points u mentioned.

@clevermike,

if the kicking was more accurate, it might not be as bad it was, but i cant help but wonder why it was bad. IMO the pressure laid down by the pumas on morne and the protection given around the breakdowns for hougaard was horrible, its been horrible all seasom IMO.

i love coetzee, IMO he has a big Bok future ahead of him, but he seems to play a more blindside flanker role then he does an openside. fantastic ball carrier, fantastic defener with high work rate around the field and in the breakdowns.
coetzee is the only forward i see pulling his weight, which makes me wonder what the hell are the other guys doing??? when bismarck was there he was right up there as well and alberts has been effective in the first two games of the england tests, but has since lost that edeg which made him so dangerous.

the way i see it is, if the Bok forwards can set a better platform, then their backs will find it easier to do their job.
i really feel sorry for hougaard who seems to have to fight for his ball a lot more then any other half in the IRC, including the pumas.

after the first two english tests i started to pay heavy attention to what the Bok forwards were doing around the breakdown and its the same ol same ol, but i might watch that game again over dinner, cos i wouldnt mind seeing those points u mentioned.

Intersting psots Mike and saSUE.

One wonders what the effect of your pack not giving enough front foot ball and your backs having little clue have on Morne/Meyer re up and unders.

That is why we need props who can drive the ball forward.  Guys like Bissie, Vermulen and Schalk who can go forward.

But we most of all need to stop being so predictable. Even if we had the best players in the world in every position but were this predictable we would struggle. The oppostion knows exactly what we will do and plan accordingly. If the ball goes to the backline there is a forward in the middle of the field - Aberts to drive it up. Unfortunatley there are a number of opposition players there just waiting for him. So hence the  conclusion is Alberts has lost hi sedge  - no not at all! 

@ Mike.

Care to explain this?:

"Let me make it clear - the real cases of turnovers in tight phases are not possible bearing in mind the present laws and where balls are affectively handed to the opposition in 90% of the cases is where there is  poor ball handling and by kicking away of possession."

Morne Steyn had the ball 41 times and kicked it 12 times. Hougaard kicked four of the 74 balls that he received. Pienaar kicked 1 out of 16. look at the rest of the kicking. Frans Steyn 3/18. JDV didn't kick it once. He just ran towards the touchline and either blixemed into the first opponent in true JDV style or popped a pass to one of of the wingers that was already squeezed up agianat the try-line. Haban kiked one of the 7 balls that he received. Mvovo 1/8. Kirchner 3/10.

if the forwards dont give prober quick ball then the backline will always be on the backfoot. bolt the utter rubbish tactical kicking and what do you end up with ???? a lacklustrue performance against the number 8 side in the world.

i agree that the back need to change there approach to the breakdown but brussow will the the spearhead of that mental shift and the coaches and management need to bring that to the front in there training and team talks.

quality of ball starts upfront but that ball needs to be used bu the backline or else the hardwork is being undone...the so called obsession with bismarck being the fetcher (cant believe that a hooker is being tasked with the job of hunting the ball) is missed as he should being that bismarck is a one of kind hooker.

coetzee in my view will lose out to brussow. coetzee is a bit in between in terms of his skill set that he offers to the dynamic of the team. not really a ball carrier nor a fetcher so that in between. albets and vermeulen should be the main ball carriers and brussow can compliment them. the pack needs better skills at the breakdown as well. saw really poor basic skills. the players were way to high and lacked conviction. hougaard had no support pillars when we were on attack neither was there proper attention to detail.THAT ALL IS JUST PURE COACHING DETAIL. so the service was not great either and offcourse the penile limp stormers kicking game was also played to boredom so much so that the wealth of ball % allowed the pumas to dictate the game to us. on a flat hard pitch fitted them like a glove.