Beeno
There never was a truer statement made by a Rugby player of the anility of Jane. He knows what he is talking about.
Lets take the backline players since 2012. Initially we started with -
* the standing to deep in the pocket and donkey kicking Morne Steyn at 10; and
* the crashballing Witless Hog at 12.
Unless those two were cut out - like in the case of Habana's try at Dunedin - the wings would never ever see a ball.
Then the two got changed for Goosen and Taute. The Pretoria test of 2013 was a vast improvement in that respect - even though Taute himself did everything in his power to ensure that the ball never reach a wing either.
In the EOYT tests - Lambie tried to copy Steyn as a kicking flyhalf as per instruction from Meyer in both the Irish and Scottish test. The pooblem was enhanced by having Taute and De Jongh at 13 in the Ireland and Scotland test. Both are useless in ball distribution. The Twickenham test is a case where Meyer himself said that Lambie must play his natural game - but when he passed the ball they found that De Jongh has gone AWOL and Kirchner ended up with the ball - he does not pass balls either - so the few backline movements ended there.
In 2013 Meyer told Steyn to stand flatter and pass the ball more often - especially in the case of breakdown ball recovery. The result was in fact better since another element was added - namely Willie le Roux.
However, that did not solve the problem in its entirety - we lack some thinking ability amongst our centers - and it turns out that only De Villiers has been using that. Engelbrecht mostly ran straight at defenders and showed no rugby nous trying to create space for other players - especially the wings - to perform. Meyer then tried Fourie - but he was a flop - especially in attacking backline play.
Jane's remarks followed the match on Saturday - where a really unique performance of stupidity was shown by Witless Hog Steyn - I have never seen a worse example of unthinking center play in my life. White does not criticize his players in public - but he made a remark about the passing game of players - which indicated that he was seriously upset with in particular Witless Hog.
Wings can only perform if they get balls and especially get them in open space - the space to be created by players inside of them. Our problem is that other than De Villiers the centers especially run straight at the opposition defender - which is stupid. Centers - and other players - shuld aim their run at the gap between the two opposing centers or other players - which could unbalance the opposition defence by the outside defender shifting in slightly cover the ball carrying player.
This presents another problem - a player should pass the ball just before being tackled or if a player is in the process of being tackled, he should be able to off-load balls effectively to the player who by then could have some space to operate in. The number of centers and flyhalfs capavale of doing the latter - you can count on the fingers of one hand.
We only have De Villiers and De Allende as proven cases - with Ebersohn and Jordaan showing that in a number of games they played in (the jury is still out iro Serfontein). For the rest there is one big zero. The distribution capacity of players such as Engelbrecht, De Jongh, and Witless Hog is either totally absent from normal usage - or in the case of effective off-loading of balls totally absent.
Coaches can correct the technical problems in performance - but they cannot correct the instinctive thinking abilities of players - they either have it or they don't, Unfortunately too many of our half backs and midfield players does not have the instinct and ability to read games properly - so our wings suffer badly
