It is interesting to look at the potential Springboks mentioned at recent times by members on this site. I watched the games today with that in mind:-
Stormers - Griquas
The game was actually a most entertaining performance by both teams - inclusive of plenty of backline play. The Stormer defence was brilliant and their attacking play evenly so.
There are a few players that played really well in the stormers side - and some rather average. In the past mention was made that we should watch out for Brache - but he was not relly above average today. Du Plessis was very good - that seems to be normal with this player. Aplon was outstanding on the day. Malherbe and Kitshoff was solid. It must be borne in mind that the Stormers was on the day so much better than the Griquas tht the team as a whole should be credited with the performance.
Other than Aplon there are rel candidates for selection in the team - but Kitshoff and Malherbe will ultimately get a call up.
Bulls - Cheetahs
The Bulls won this one - but on the Bulls side at present there are no real candidtes for higher selection, bearing in mind that Engelbrecht is not really Springbok material. The bulls forwards showed more fire than they did in the past three weeks.
On the Cheetahs side the site always have the Brussow supporters - vey verbal at that. Like the past two weeks Brussow today showed nothing as to why he should get Springbok selection - matter of fact he showed again today that he is nowadays to slow (even on CC - level) to make any real impact. From wht I have seen - he probably was a 4 out of 10 player today.
Brussow dsefnitely remain a no-no insofar as future Springbok selection is concerned.
Sharks - Lions
This game should have been won by the Lions and they were handed victory through the poor performances by a few players. Insofar as potential Springboks are concerned, the Sharks made two mistakes, namly -
* They brought on McLeod to replace Reinach - his tendency to make inaccurate and poor passes cost the Sharks dearly - he gave away a try to the Lions through a wild pass; and
* They did not bring on Jordaan early enough - despite the fact that Whitehead showed nothing while he was on the field for 65 minutes.
Aside from the McLeod pass that was grabbed by the Lions no 8 who scored a longish distance try - there are two other negatives that contributed to the loss. The one is the poor grneral play of Biljoen at flyhalf and in particular the brainless Deysel. Deysel gave the Lions 9 points on a platter through giving away kickable penalties and he did nothing to justify his retention in the Sharks team. Matter of fact i would keep Reinach as first choice scrummie, move Bosman to flyhalf and play Whitehead as inside center if I was the Sharks selector.
The best player by a provrvial mile was Daniel - he stood out completely above the rest of the players on the field.
Jordaan was on for only a short time - but during that time he was involved in oe attack where he broke the opposition defence and made about 15 meters before he was tackled.
On the Lions side I watched in particular Magoe, Taute and Jantjies. There was one problem that worried me a lot and that is the backline defence of the Lions - it was too much like a sieve.
The following can be stated as tpo the performance of the three players mentioned:-
* Magoe has the ability to break tackles - he is a very strong runner. He made some really good and promising breaks today - but far too often he lost the ball in tackle situations. His defence can as best be described as poor.
* Taute today polayed as number 12. It doies not seem that he should play in that position - and in essence there was not much to write home about. He made a few meters on two occassions that he broke through tackles - and he also crashballed a number of times. The difference between him and Magoe was that he defended better and did not lose the ball in tackle situation.
* Jantjies got the man of the amtch award because of his goal kicking. He had a 70% success rate today - 5 out of 7 kicks.. That remains the only positive insofar as he is concerned - for the rest he can be described as average to poor. In respect of his strategic kicking game is concerned - his general kciking was not startegic at all - the kicks were too far to be chased down and it opened the way gor counter-attacks by the Sharks. His passing game was 50:50. He generally avoid contact by passing too soon and in four cases he made very poor passes that stopped Lion attacks in its track and they lost possession of the ball as a result thereof. His early passing in fact can be described often as hospital passes - with no real benefit to the Lions - since they normally means tht no ground is gaimedby the Lions. His defence remains a question mark - and a serious one at that. Opposing players easily break any attempted tackles and in the one case he did make a successful tackle - he did not release the tackled player and tried to effect a turnover - duely penalized for that one. The defence issue mut have been borne in mind when he ws subbed by James. The Sharks were attacking and came near to scoring a try and the Lions could not afford a sieve in the channell.
Summary:
Based on todays performance and with due regard to the fact that Jordaan came on very late, the only players with potential for Springbok selection have been Aplon, Daniel, Taute and Jordaan. I must admit that Taute did not show yet that he really ready for selection - but what he did show was that the potential for higher honours is really in place - same can be said about Jordaan..
The players that keep on disqualifying themselves based on spotty play remain Brussow and Jantjies.
