Brussouw gasses Olivier...

How about that, Heinrich Brussouw goes for the corner flag, leaving Olivier and Vermaak in his wake. Then a great effort to get the ball over the line in Ndungane's brave tackle. One of the most enjoyable halves for a while!

The Cheetahs were being outmuscled by the Bools and the Bools flat backline were giving the backs no space. But once Ebersohn started chipping he found the mother lode. The Bools were ripped apart.....and I suppose the subs didn't help.

For the Bools until he was gassed Olivier looked good. His parter JJ also was bamboozled up the same touchline. Stretched to his limits to catch Willie Le Roux despite having the angle, he was easily stepped. For the rest he made one quick pass, lost a ball in open field and was otherwise anonymous despite the Bools huge advantage. No doubt the Saapp will find reasons why.....but this guy will NEVER be a Bok centre.

Poor old Kirchner was also decisively gassed, but perhaps he was still spacy after being run over by that Cheetahs prop.

Morne and Hougaard snapped back from last week. Hougaard was great on attack and defence.

Greyling looked like a force until the Cheetahs brought on WP who popped him a few times...and that was that. I thought Kruger has gained from the international experience...a good sign. Flip Flop gave away two penalties and coughed up the ball on the Cheetahs line....useless! Potgieter remains dumb muscle and Spies remains missing.

For the Cheetahs Sias was the catalyst. WP Nel and Willie le Roux also played huge roles. For a long while Brussouw was overwhelmed by numbers....but in the end he made his point. I'd take Brussouw for the FN any day.

This game showcased the Bools potency when things are going well....and ultimately their confusion when the opposition gets in beyond their first line of defence.

 Man Moz you do speak a load of shite. JJ hauled le Roux in with sheer pace if you did not see that you are either blind or lying about the facts. JJ was motoring to such an extent that  poor old le Roux had to stop in his tracks, by which point JJ had overcooked it, leading to Ndungane getting hold of him. JJ is bloody fast and was good with the little ball he got.

One certainty is that le Roux has skills, but a wing he is not, for he just does not have pace. Olivier had a good game as did Jeandre Kruger and Flip. Hougaard looked like he had his mojo back. Greyling and Chiliboy were good as were the Bulls loosies. Brussouw had a good strong game for the Cheetahs. Basson's try was pure class.

The Bulls were huge and far better than the Stormers who looked out of sorts but for Kolisi, v/d Heever and Fourie. For the Lions Josh Strauss once again showed he deserves a crack at the top

Sure the Bools were huge....but soundly beaten by the Stormers a few weeks back. Your take on JJ, and Greyling is pure fiction. JJ will NEVER be a Bok centre.

 I dont care what the Stormers were weeks back, the Bulls today were far far superior and that against better opposition. Greyling has always been good and JJ is a better 13 than Jean, Ebersohn or de Jongh by some distance.

Are you telling me JJ never hauled le Roux in with ease - it was man vs kid in that sprint - FACT

JJ is a wing.

 Yes he is a wing who will make a great 13, for that is where he will stay for the Bulls and where Meyer will play him and rightly so

I haven't seen Engelbrecht do a thing in the 3 or 4 matches I have watched him at centre. He looked better at wing for WP last year. This is just a fantasy Sapp. And speaking about fantasies, did you see your old flame, the previous JJ, Wailing Murray, slip onto the park today? It brought a tear to my eye thinking of all your commitment to that palooka.

Mozart

I would not take too much notice of yesterdays performance by Brussow - in the first half of the game he was nowhere in the game and was knocked over at least once by the Bulls forwards - losing the ball in the process.   In any event the Bulls was o strong in that Department that they ran away with enough tries to have the game in the bag.

In the second half the Bulls defensive play was nowhere to be seen and the Cheetahs in fact played the fool with them by kicking the ball over the balls defensive line and their whole defensive system collapsed completely.    In that process Brussow managed to score his first try in Super 15 this year.    

I am still not convinced that Brussow showed ONE reason to be included in the Springbok team by the fact that he carried the ball once in Super 15 and managed to score a try through extremely poor defence by the Bulls. 

You're right Mike....a big pack rumbling over the ball negates an exposed fetcher. But Pocock killed us in the RWC semi. A fully fit Brussouw has the same capacity. Heinrich in tandem with Alberts and a tackling machine like Schalk would be very effective. In any case I think we should develop the option to go in that direction if we find this fetcherless thing bombs, as I think it might.

The try was just a bit of fun....but how splendidly taken!

Mpz if the fetcherless thing bombs we can call on Brussouw as you rightly say. Gret try by Brussouw and hats off the Sias for a very creativ e time on the park - should earn him a starting spot again. You forget however that hands in ruck is not allowed and thats what peacock got away with in the world cup. Dan Retied counted 5 or 6 such incidences in the Oz 22. This great Oz fetcher is achieving zip for the Force as we saw yet again last Saturday. 

JJ has huge pace and caught up very quickly with the nippy Le Roux. I am fully pesuadded we should never have lost this guy to the bulle. Now we are also loosing the very useful Poolman in addition to Sadie, Hoffman, Whitehead and Jaque Fourie!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Its incredible what we have lost in the last year! Imagine if we had been able to keep these guys!!  Yes and also kept Francois Louw.

Snapster Kolisi was quiet and actually did not do too much. He needs, like  Brussouw to play in a dominanting pack. Lets not get into  a mantra type of situation where if one likes  aplayer he always has a good game a la wee matfield - I swear some goupies would name him man of the match even if he didn't play! Hahahahhahahahahahaha.

I agree with Moz here, Brussouw playing with Schalk and Alberts would be devistating!!!

 schalk  coetzee and fat albert are the loosies who will win the world cup in 2015

Explosive, aggressive, right attitude, killer instinct and botg flanks can compete as ball crriers and on the ground.

 Hey Guys i am a Brussouw fan, but honestly, apart from the opportunistic try he scored this weekend he was nowhere else. Quite innefective. Maybe i watched the wrong game. But he will have to up his ante if he wants to compete with the young guys coming through.

No surprises there, a snail would gas plonker Olivier.

 Brussow does seem to have lost a step since his knee injury, but I agree with the comments above that with the Bok supporting cast to clear the ruck and drive ball carriers backward he would be more effective. Turnovers are so crucial at Test level that the edge he could bring would be magnified in importance. At least deserves a shot. The role of fetcher is not irrelevant with todays rules. There is a reason Jake is after Pocock to come to the Brumbies

 When last did Brussow turn over the one ball after the other? Definitely not this year, in any case. I have posted this turnovers, thus far, the other day and nobody even challenged them. He was nowhere. Heyneke Meyer had all the reason not to select him, and he admitted it to Heyneke, from what I have heard. I do not know how close it is to the truth, but I am sure that I have read somewhere that he has told HM that he was not on par, to be included in the Bok squad, at this stage. 

This weekend, against the Bulls, he managed to pull off one turnover in the match, and as someone else has mentioned, he was nowhere for almost the entire match. Jacques "he is no fetcher" Potgieter managed two turnovers, as did Labuschagne, the other Cheetahs flanker, who is "not supposed to be the flanker".

How the wheel has turned windpomp. I seem to recall how I was howled down some time ago when I pointed out that Brussouw was not stealing ball much as wee matfield was not stealing lineout ball - yet was repatedly being acclaimed for his lineout work as was Brussouw for his fetching prowress.

Its called media hype followed by herder mentality  - you know who I am referring to of course.   

Its nice that you have come around and now agree with me windpomp re Brussouw but please just bear one thing in mind - Brussouw needs to be assessed after playing behind  dominant pack.