Boks Skip pass Jan Crashball fontein.

One of the main casualties, but hardly un expected. 

Well I have taken a lot of flak about Step.....and I'm hardly surprised he is history, but what the hell took so long to see through this very ordinary centre?

 Hard luck Jan in the end it was perhaps Kirchner that grabbed your RWC spot. 

 No beenz,  Kirshner does not compete for center.  Jean is the one to "blame" but I would still pick a dodgy Jean ahead of Serf anyday.  Coenie is the real burglar here!  Meyer is on some good stuff! 

 Nope draadie. We didnt need a second fullback as both Kriel and Lambie cover 15. One could argue JP can cover center but JP is fortunate to be in the side given his serial loafing. Meyer needs to have words with ou JP!!!

 Beenz,  agreed,  but there are more controversial pics than him. He is a solid enough option that can cover 13 and wing as well.  Better than JP in my book. Not ideal though. 

The team is riddled with issues.

 ...Bean Brain...how's my little wager on Samoa looking ?...btw the Cheetahs kicked yr butt...

Beeno1

Status: Hall Of Fame
Posts: 16645 RE: Lions versus hapless guppies
August 22, 2015, 18:52:04

 brycy my good man nobody kicks WP butt.

Instead we have washed up Jean on board who has been useless for the past 18 months....but don't fret he is our captain and by being our captain it means he will be starting which also means that the utterly useless Meyer is going to break up the de Allende / Kriel partnership...the same combo that made the Kiwi experienced incumbents look like a bunch of school kids.
One would swear Meyer with his pathetic recent record was some kind of credible player assessor.....geez just look at the pathetic squad this clown has come up with.
Serf was on a hiding to nothing having played so little rugby this year and having to contend with useless Meyers blind faith in his geriatrics.
Hell imagine leaving Kitshoff out of your WC squad and you clowns want us the believe Meyer is the measure. Get real....the squad has Kirchner, Paige, Morne, Pienaar and Matfield in it for fuck sake.

Take a deep breath, Saffex. You'll do yourself a mischief at this rate and neither of us want that, now do we ?!  
I think you expected this team, didn't you ? 
 

Yeah and to think some clowns on here think Meyer has done us proud. Rugby ignorance of the highest order.

Step and JJ ....man oh man. Thank heavens that's history.

Do you honestly think Serf is not going to return.....wow Moz I never took you for stupid.
How about a bet on it.....name your price 

Step is toast...I'll put up a car if you put up your farm.  

 Nope make it a fair bet but name your price....put your money where you mouth is....dead serious 

I will wager a nice blue blazer for club visits...and you can bet a bottle of Black Adder Raw Cask scotch, 18 year old.  

He may even be under threat at the Bulls for a starting position. 
It is rumoured that he is going to re-unite his partnership with JJ in Japan.The Bulls are looking to play more expansive rugby. They also have their other twin Kriel coming through. 

 The one player I am really delighted is not in what Beeno rightfully calls a "witches brew" is Fransie Steyn.   Meyer tried hard - but he ultimately could not get over the Fat and select him.  
If there is one crashballer in SA rugby it is Fat Fransie - the sl owest and most useless center imaginable.
Meyer generally likes Fatties - so he went for Fat Alberts instead of Fat Fransie    

 Moz stop chickening out - name your price in pounds or dollars your choice 

 Sharktwat how about you taking up the bet as well...put your ignorant mouth to the test 

Bulls’ Odendaal more than a battering ram2015-08-29 10:04SHARE THISBurger Odendaal (Gallo Images)Related Links

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Ockert de Villiers - Sport24

Pretoria - While the back three have been cutting opposition defences to shreds with their striking runs, Blue Bulls centre Burger Odendaal has been equally impressive as a traditional battering ram in midfield.

Odendaal may fill the mould of the traditional Bulls centre, taking the crash ball up creating space on the outside, but his aim is be more of an unknown quantity on attack.

“I don’t score many tries so I try to assist the guys next to me, so I can say the guys play off me but I don’t only want to be seen as a player that takes a crash ball, I want to be unpredictable,” Odendaal said.

The fact that Odenaal at 22 can be considered as one of the senior players in their team pays testament to the youthful look of the side.

Burger burst onto the scene during last year’s Currie Cup and has since established himself as one of the top performers in the Bulls team.

A year ago Springbok centre Jan Serfontein had his place in the national side all tied up but when he returns to the Bulls he may find it difficult to crack a starting berth with Odendaal staking a claim for the No 12 jersey.

The conservative Ludeke is gone- but the Super XV is the real test of how expansive they actually are. 

 Lets face facts and stop the verbal diarrhea.  The center situation is complex.  Meyer decided years ago that if De Villiers could crawl onto the field he would be the Springbok captain in the WC.  It has nothing to do with performance of the player in this case - so De Villiers is to be in the squad come hell of high water.
They would only take 3 centers in the squad - so suddenly there was a problem choosing between the following for the other two positions:-
Fat Fransie Steyn, Serfontein, De Allende and Jesse Kriel.
Fat Fransie has been useless in Super Rugby for three seasons running, but that would not have stopped Meyer from selecting him - after all performance has nothing to do with Meyer's election criteria - there are other donkeys in the team so why not Fat Fransie as well?  The choice might have been the FAT one - but he got injured and had no match time for months - but even that would not finally have ruled him out - there are enough other hospital ward cases in the squad.   It remains a mystery why Fatso was left out.   I guess that lingering doubt about Fransie's outburst last year - when he stormed out of the squad - might have affected his choice.
The above being the case the choice for the other two positions in the squad was down to the other three listed players,  Serfontein had very little game time over the last Super series because of injury - but that would not be a problem because he played for the Bulls and Meyer did select players with even worse injury problems  than Serfontein had.  Although performance is not a norm for selection by Meyer the performances of the De Allende-Kriel combination in tests this year must have played some role in the process and I guess that Meyer went for those two because another selection would have been totally unacceptable in the media and the supporting public.  The dolts would not have minded a contrary decision - they would have loved Fat Fransie in the squad - but the media and the thinking people would have screamed blue murder.  
Now back to Serfontein playing for the Bulls.  I think it might be to Serfontein long term career advantage to return and play for the Bulls in CC.  The Bulls have six very good centers on contract - who thrive because of the fact that Ludeke is out and his attack coach Matfield is not there to destroy their performances through a warped playing style.   So there are serious competition in the Bulls squad between Serfontein, Odendaal and Swanepoel for center positions, with the Kriel twins also in the picture in Super Rugby next year.   If the  situation prevail and they could get rid of Matfield as attacking coach - there will be a complete turnaround in the performance of Serfontein as well.  To write him off is seriously shortsighted and would only be the viewpoint of the idiots on this site.           
               
    

It seems the Bulls have only offered Serfontein a short contract, while others have been given long term contract. He may even have a buy out clause if he is not getting game time -
The Blue Bulls company announced on Monday that they had extended the contracts of Springboks Pollard, Adriaan Strauss and Kriel until October 2019, whileTrevor Nyakane has signed on until October 2018 and Jan Serfontein extended until October 2017.

So you dont think contracts are two sided and that Serf only wanted to commit until 2017 huh?

Given the surplus of centres at the Bulls-  I doubt it was his choice

Ah so the Bulls would want to give up on their best centre would they, one that is 22 years of age and a Bok - wow

 SB
I am not sure that you re correct in this case.   I think there is another angle to the contracting of players and that is the SARU contracts to be signed by players.  There may be difference in the dates of the SARU contracts and the Bulls contract in this case.  
I think that Serfontein is already on the SARU contract from 2014 and those contracts normally run for three years.  So the new contracts will take effect from 2016 and be for three years from then - ie 2019.  I think that the contract of Nyakane took effect from 2015 and is also for three years as from the original signing date - ie in 2018. 
If there was any intention of the Bulls to terminate Serfontein's contract they would not have signed an extension of his contract.  it may have been to the benefit of the other unions if they let him go, but there is no sign of that at all.       

 
Serfontein needs to come to the Lions.

Ackerman will show him back to his former form.

He is a lot more than a crashball runner.

We would welcome him in to the pride any day.

He seems to have lost his way a bit but it won't take much to guide him back to what we saw a few years back.

 

Ou Tokkie, there is something that needs to be understood about the national contracts. The national contracts are not over and above the players' contracts with their unions/franchises. They are more or less "in conjunction" with the union/franchise contracts. It boils down to SARU paying a part of the players' salary, giving them a "share in the asset". The player's "market value" increases when he has a national contract and subsequently his potential for earning extra income through endorsements. 
If he earns x amount at his union/franchise and then gets a national contract for (let's say) R2m pa from SARU, it does not mean that his salary becomes x plus R2m. The national contract also has nothing to do with the union/franchise contract. The unions/franchises, though, have the benefit that they have a smaller contribution towards a Bok player's salary because of the national contract which, in itself frees up funds to spend on other players. That is one of the reasons why unions are always pushing so hard for their players to become Boks and eventually gets Bok contracts. If the player's contract (in the above example) with a union/franchise runs out prior to the end of his national contract, it has no effect on his position. His national contract is not affected. It only means that his new union/franchise has the benefit of SARU paying part of the player's salary with them.
In view of the above it probably explains why the Sharks have, for quite some time now, been able to buy so many top class players as opposed to many other unions/franchises who contract youngsters and then bring them in through the ranks.
I think that I had an article where all of this was explained. Will see if I can find it again.

 Ceradyne
The conjunction issue is what i tried to point out - so what are you talking about? 
The problem is that the contract periods involved is not stipulated in the newspaper article.  Take for instance Serfontein - his contract expired at the end of 2014 - but for some reason was not renewed timeously so his period expires in 2017 after a three year contract.  The other three contracts mentioned has also be dated as being three years in length commencing in 2016.
However, it is a dumb argument leading to really nothing.  All of Serfontein and the rest are still on contract with the Bulls - so why the big hullaballoo.