https://www.ruck.co.uk/all-black-legend-dan-carter-ranks-his-five-toughest-opponents/4/
....the bloke at number 2 might surprise some:
“A real competitor and absolute top bloke off the field as well. His mindset was a little bit different when he was out there competing. That just made him such a tough opponent to come up against.”
......what, no Luke Watson, hahahaha!
Who will ever forget poor old rooitwit rating Luke Watson above Schalk Burger!
Bwhahahahahaha.
Experienced choices by a man who was at the very top of the game and perhaps the greatest flyhalf and player ever, an opinion based on experience and expertise, Who would know better?
Schalk was a legend so was Jonny Wilkinson.in their respective positions.
"Who will ever forget poor old rooitwit rating Luke Watson above Schalk Burger!"
His dislike for Burger wasn't rugby related...
Luke was a good player but messed up by his screw-ball and unstable family but he was never in the same class as Burger.
Burger was sheer magic and a pleasure to watch at the time. After breaking his neck om 2004 he still was an outstanding and great player with some of the magic gone, The next catastrophe was illness om 2012 after which he did not play any rugby for more than 2 years, After his return to rugby in 2015 the magic and performance were both gone/
Schalk's output in 2015 comprehensively eclipsed any segment of Steph's career at any level of the game. In fact, if you took all the "best" bits out andd out them together, they'd still be inferior. Ende.
Kindergarten Imbecile
What about the knock-ons when plating a first receiver from the scrummie and killed all progress with backline play by the Springboks?
Schalk was very sure handed. Hence his distribution and offloading was significantly higher than Steph. His metres were also higher. If you want handling errors, look no further than the WC Boks who tried to open it up against minnows
Knocking in four balls in the process was not very secure in ball skills and happened in all games. Maybe I should not blame Burger for that - it was a crazy Meyer idea that caused it/
However, I mentioned one thing about Burger that probably was caused by him breaking his neck and that was a distinct reluctance to be involved in ball protection and recovery - which was especially noticeable in the 2007 WC final where all the loosies did squat about it and there were numerous breakdowns where turnovers occurred, Three of those involved Frans Steyn. That is a major reason why I classified that Final as the worst WC final the Springboks ever was involved in - but like the Kindergarten Imbecile you really are you don't know why that component of the game is important, and missed out the very important role players like Du Toit and De Allende play in in that component of the game/
Just a bit of advice - it is so easy to hit holes in the garbage you write on site - please read and study what really happen in games before making postings on site. ,
Organhuffer Burger and Du Toit are both Bok greats and Rugby player of the year winners.
Please get some perspective regarding Du Toit.
Thanks
Dud Toit is a process player.....he makes lots of phase runs and phase tackles. Because the team assigns that first receiver/ first defender position to him. There’s some value to all that effort....but you could assign any loosie to that role.
Schalk by contrast is a contribution player... offloads, open field tackles and before his neck injury, tons of turnovers.
And for the record, Schalk’s hands were as safe Boucher with gloves....the man could take the ball off his toes. Comparing Dud, an out of position small lock, to Schalk ....is silly. Itoje is the small lock Dud has never been.
2015 RWC Scalla was a process player too...even more so...never seen the Boks playing as robotic.
2015 Semi ratings:
Schalk Burger - 7 - Got through 12 tackles in just over an hour, and also forcing a turnover as the Springboks unsettled New Zealand.
The backline suffered from having Lambie at flyhalf. Lambie was a fine defensive fullback of the Halfpenny type. He had no idea how to play flyhalf. Any backline operating outside him was doomed....and when that backline included Mvovo and Jessie Kriel, the team was doomed. Kriel putting the final stamp on the match with his horrible missed tackle for the winning try.
Luke was a little fellow who simply wasn’t strong enough for test rugby....which was proven when Snor made him his man.
Dud Toit never beats a tackle... talk about not being a bruiser, scrummies dominate him in contact.
So Kriel and Allende combined to beat the AB centres? Here’s the Mail’s take:
Jesse Kriel 6
Tested the ageing All Blacks midfield early on, getting around Nonu, but impact faded during the game.
Damian De Allende 6
Carried out his defensive duties against the experienced All Blacks midfield but limited edge in attack.
Vs
Conrad Smith 7
Nothing flash but showed subtle handling skills to bring in the All Blacks’ wide men.
Ma'a Nonu 8
Exploited for pace by Kriel early on, but showed a range of skills in attack through kicking, footwork and power.
........
You missed it again Dave, but they did say Smith’s contribution was subtle, a bridge too far hey. But the AB centres were rated comfortably above our chaps.
What you missed was Nonu running diagonally across our 22 to put Barrett over for the winner, while Dud Allende was simply umm....confused...and trailed him dutifully without ever making the tackle.
So as usual everybody is wrong....except you Dave. Your take on Watson is so pathetically Woke. It wasn’t his fault he was manipulated by outside issues and let down by his coach?
Nope he was a small guy who got huge mileage out of his family name and was so pathetically self centered, he couldn’t even respect the jersey. He got a full chance under Snor in his prime .at age 26 and proved everybody right who said he was simply not physical enough for Bok flank.
For four years Jake tenure was soured by Watson’s non selection, when it was clear to real rugby men that he was a lightweight. That basically killed our whole 2006 season.....the press were relentless.
But tellingly when Snor dropped him there wasn’t a peep from the press, they had learned their lesson. Sadly you still haven’t Dave.
No Mozart
No backline can function when 80% of the balls passed by the scrummie is to other players than the flyhalf or another backline player, as happened in all the WC games in 2015, Gio and checj the stats and you will find out what really happened,
I have already debunked that stat of your’s Tokkie....pure nonsense. But as usual you wait until the thing is forgotten and then resubmit your debunked theories. So I’m not going to research it again...show us the stats.
One senior politician said the family's honourable role in the struggle meant Luke Watson was effectively a "black player" who should be included in the Springbok team ahead of a white player of equal talent.
The view was shared by Hoskins who has gone on the offensive against his critics, notably attacking former Irish international John Robbie - now a Johannesburg media commentator - in a recent radio interview.
Watson finally got his first Springbok cap last weekend but failed to shine in the 35-8 victory over Samoa. To White, the performance vindicated his theory that the player was too small for international rugby. But union bosses are unperturbed and have since signalled their intent to mould a new Springbok team around Watson that features at least 10 black players in the starting XV by 2008
South Africa's under-21 coach Peter de Villiers was reportedly being approached by the union to take over from White. He would become the country's first black Springbok coach, and this week he said his emphasis would be on transforming the team even if it meant "pain" in terms of results. "Other coaches pick black players in their squad, but don't play them. That's where I am different. I pick the players and trust them by playing them," he said.
...............
So there you have it.....Watson was picked with huge political tail winds and would never have been dropped if he wasn’t utterly mediocre in his test ‘career’ .
He was gifted, he was anointed by the coach, he was promoted by the government.....but because Jake once said he wasn’t good enough, he was damaged. What a load of modern bunkum.
He got his chance, he never measured up, he was dropped and disappeared. He wasn’t fit to shine Schalk’s boots as a rugby player or as a man.
Oh look:
He was a member of the 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning team, has twice been named South African Rugby Player of the Year (in 2004 and 2011), and was named IRB Player of the Year in 2004, among other accolades.
Difference is unlike Dud Toit and Puke he deserved it and achieved it long before he played at Sarries. Puke was chosen in 2008 and failed....case closed.
Luke was no presence at the breakdown. He often obstructed play around the fringes trying to be present for the ball everywhere. If I were a 9 I'd have been aiming bullet passes into his face. He is what you call a stat padder. His work at the breakdown was none existent. Big talk of him died after his 2007 Samoa test, where he was gifted an opportunity to show us his breakdown skills. Brussow was the player that fulfilled Watson's reputation.
The loonies at it again. I wrote down n detail what Birger achoeied and the fact was he was not involved in breakdown ball protection and recovery after breaking his neck in 2004 In the 2007 WC the latter component of the game was a shambles and that is why it was by some distance th worst of the three WC finals the Springboks won.
Burger in 2004 and Du Toit were comparable - after that year if the two players are compared Dui Toit was miles better than Burger, However, we have two real prejudiced duds who do not want to see what actually happened in games and then dream up BS to mootivate what actually did not happen.
The breakdown game by the Boks in 2007 was world class. That was the final where England had a power pack, and competed verociously at that point to stay in the game. This was also the England team that beat Australia so badly at the breakdown and contact points that the Wallabies almost never left their half of the field. The 2019 team didn't face one opponent with that power. The weakest Wallaby side in 45 years, the most vulnerable All Black side since 1998, an injury ravaged Wallaby side. You are a joke Lügnerin. You may proceed to cry at the feet of your Josè Erasmus shrine.
Burger broke his neck in June 2006, not 2004 you ineffably stupid and uninformed man. That injury was a big part of our setback in 2006, after 2005 where we were within 2 minutes of a TN repeat and won 8 of 11 matches.
After Schalk was hurt we lost 5 matches in a row, showing what a massive factor he was in our team.
Tokkie your ‘theories’ based on totally inaccurate facts are really hilarious.
Mozart
Sorry about the dear in which Burger broke his neck. After that his perfoimances were not on par with what it was in 2004,
Do yourself the favor of looking at breakdown ball protection and recovery in the 2007 final. It was seriously defective, I know it is impossible for you to comprehend what that component of the game actually means and remember when you wrote on sire that Alberts did it by pushing away all the opposition forwards - something that never happened..
I find it ridiculous that you claim that the Springboks atrocious record in 2026 am before the 2007 WC was due to Birger not be available due to his injury. Looking at the Tri- Nations 33-6 against the AB's it is clear you are talking rubbish again.
