Watching Bradley Barritt defending with his usual courage and also ripping the All Black defence to shreds on attack is a reminder of how we waste talent in this country when we pick players based on reputation and provincial bias rather than on form or talent.
Can u imagine what a Springbok centre pairing we could have in Brad Barritt & Jaque Fourie? Instead we're choosing between has-beens like JdV & players out of position like JPP, Taute and F Steyn.
Jallpy can you explain to me what Brad did against the Boks - measure him against a good defence please. The guy is a plodder much like Conrad Smith.
England are welcome to Brad. Your sharkie bias is showing!
beeno brad has always been a great prospect for the boks but was forced to leave this shores. seeing that we dont have any depth at 12 that move really hurt the boks more than what they would like to admit. brad had a blinder against AB but he has not really had a standout game for me personally but no backline player will ever have a great game in the english meyer style of bash it up game pattern.
Who forced him?
All I will grant you is that its difficult to look that grea tin a Bok backline. There have been some good moments but not enough. Jean and Frans can do a job fo rus. If Frans sheds some flab and gets really fit watch out.
Cant recall were Jan Serfontein plays - is he an inside center?
Beeno
Brad Barritt really was not even remotely considered as a Springbok center. However, in England he had one advantage and that is their coaching level allows for development of players - especially in respect of backline players.
Our backline and attacking coaching is a joke - and this again can be shown up by the apparent improvement in the game of Barrett.
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then. Brad Barritt is a totally ordinary, inside stepping, place holder at 12.
Against the Boks this year he has run 12 times.....made no breaks, and beaten no defenders..... at an average of 2.5 metres a carry.
"Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then. Brad Barritt is a totally ordinary, inside stepping, place holder at 12."
LOL! And this same clown gets all tearful when nobody wants to discuss centres with him!
One break, one try and Barrit is now been considered as a great inside centre?? Pffffttt.
He would have never made a Bok team, becasue we have far better players than him.
barrit just hit the line hard with a great pass and width on the pass
lets be honest the english has moved to another level with the play and shows that they can add the attacking dimension that we will never have due because our attacking coach is a forwards coach
When he played for the Sharks he was a one dimensional crash ball dummy.
I never rated him as bok material, and was to be honest not very dissapointed when he left.
Funny. The Natalians also say that Kevin Pietersen was crap and they were not disappointed when he left............
Totally out of the closet now Rooinek....in spite of lying about your identity.
The Brad Barritt break, which motivated this thread, was about as hard as the Israelites passing through the Red Sea. In the Red Sea story, the sea parted. So too with Barritt. Conrad Smith had support outside, but chose to run straight past Barritt onto Tuilagi. Read was behind and unable to get across on the inside. So Barritt sailed some 30 metres through blissfully open field....he never beat one tackle the whole way.
Given his match stats are 35 metres gained in 7 carries....I'm estimating about a metre per carry for his other six carries. Here are the Barritt clean break/defenders beaten stats for his 11 tests:
0/0
2/3 (Italy)
0/1
0/0
0/1
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
1/2
This includes a stretch of 5 straight tests in which he neither made a clean break nor beat one defender. And a stretch of 8 tests where he never made a clean break!!!!!!!!!! Five tests without beating a tackle! That surely must be a world record.
Nope we don't need that kind of toothless player.
Very nicely wrapped up Moz. Wonder what's next!
If you look distinctly at the similarities between Brad Brarrit, Ma'a Nonu, Jamie Roberts, Manu Tuilangi they have the unique abilities to be regarded as a quality centres. Its fair to say JP Pietersen could fit in that category if given the opportunity to settle as a centre permanently. Theres been a high amount of credibility as to how JDV reads the game, in my opinion we're not going to gain progression as a team if he remains in the team 2013.
Best SA Centre combination
12. Jaque Fourie
13. JP Pietersen
Lucid, you better hope for a lucidum intervallum, as that 12/13 combo looks a bit cloudy. JF was a good 13 and will never be a 12 AND then you want to take arguably one of the best 14's in the world and play him out of position.
Lucid, great combination (sarcasm) but can I just ask you..Why would you wana take the most complete 13 in the world and make him play 12 and take a great wing and turn him into a centre? Is this Heyneke Meyer posting under the name Lucid?
You assume that this combination won't be successful just because they don't play in the usual position and without seeing for yourself, therefore your post is irrelevant to this situation. You fail to realize the amount of wingers that has made a transition to centre has made a better impact as a player. To my understanding not all wingers can potentially be great at centres but wingers like JP Pietersen certainly can fit the description well, so its not actually 'playing players out of position' if they have the right attributes to change its not in that case.
is lucid an aka for lucifer?
lucid
I was very disappointed when Plumtree played Pietersen at 13 inasmuch he became from being a top wing a very average center. His performances improved drastically after Plumtree moved him back to wing - where he is reality world class. Due to injuries he also played in the Super 15 final at 13 and again showed nothing in that position. The question remains - why move a world class wing to a position where he already showed he does not belong? In any event the theory that he could really play at 13 - has already been proved to be extremely questionable and to do something like that on test level would not work. Pietersen performs best when playing outside a quicksilver player like Jordaan and I definitely think moving him would be a disaster - both for the Springboks - as well as his personal career. I think there is no chance that Plumtree will move him to center in 2013 - as the experiment failed in 2012 and in a way contributed to losses by the Sharks in early 2012 matches in the Super Series as a result of a rather "dead" backline.
As to playing Fourie at 12 it can only lead to a disaster. He has never in his playing career played in that position and is not a type of player that can create attacking play - he is a good finisher. There are also serious question marks about his defence and that would be challenged more at 12 than at 13. In any event he would not be available in 2013 - and in 2014 may be out of contention - depending on the younger players coming through.
Mike
Thanks for a more informative post on this topic, we have discussed this before. Fair enough, i agree to a extent that Pietersen performance at centre was rather average, but you have to understand that at that period of time he didn't have a fair amount to time to settle in the centre position. It was in fact his first time playing outside centre, so what were you expecting? A phenomenal performance for the first time in that position. Wow your expectations are so high, think more realistic here. JP Pietersen first played fullback in his early days and made a transition to wing due to his speed, but wasn't up to standard on the wing at first. He developed over the years and is now a great winger. So given more opportunities at centre he could progress as a great centre.
My solution to have Jaque Fourie at 12 is due to the fact that he would be suited well in this current backline structure, look at the amount of times we're crashballing at 12 it would'nt be a bad idea to have him there. Theres not much of a significant difference between JDV and Fourie's playstyle 'they cant create but are good finishers' right? You assume it would be a disaster without having a reasonable explaination or without seeing him play at 12.
