It is always a no-no to look at one match and then base all selections on the basis of that match and then make claims on performance only based on that match. So the shockingly poor performances of the Sharks is suddenly according to some the norm for all selections
I do not fall for that kind of non-thinking - so lets look at the factual situation about some players and especially those yesterday.
Pollard and Du Preez
Compared to Du Preez Pollard yesterday was very good. However, that showing does not take into account that since 2014 Pollard had a very spotty record when it comes to defense in the channel - and he still makes kicking mistakes leading to ball possession handovers. However, on the positive side he is a thinking flyhalf in the main he is good in decision making.
Du Preez is a different kind of player. He is more physically inclined and use his physical strength with at times ctaking substandard decisions and at times he also make questionable decisions. ormall he is a good player - yesterday he was horrible,
On the whole Willemse is a mixture of the above two - he is very young - but already showed signs of good decision-making as well as physicality. On the whole he is probably the player of the future, I would say that he should be phased intohe Springbok team by starting him on the bench - preferably from the start of the Rugby Championship this year.
I would start games with Pollard and have Willemse as back-up. This would raise endless protests from the Jantjes supporters - but I believe Jantjies has had adequate chances to prove he is a test level player and he failed every time. Time to move on from him.
The critical number 8 position
There has been a lot of debate as to the election by Erasmus at 8. The present incumbent is Whiteley- but he has hardly played any ruby this year andthequewstion is - is he injury prone ?
Yesterday I watched the game between Toulon and Montpellier. Vermeulen was playing for Toulon. He was largely invisible and made a reasonable number of tackles in traffic - for the rest he was ineffective, The problem with Vermeulen is serious pace deficiency and the emphasis on physicality without regard to thinking rugby. He is incapable of linking up with the backline in any form of attacking and tackling outside of the channel is non-existent - his deficient pace makes that impossible. A further problem is hat club rugby is not really good as to physical performance and some club players is not as fit as they should be. I believe Vermeulen is unfortunately one of those.
I think Vermeulen is likely to be in the mix in the June tests - but he is unlikely to last beyond that, Since his injury in 2015 he is not he player he used to be and his performances in club rugby are not really good enough to qualify him for Springbok selection. H is already32 years old and the chances of improving in performance is remote.
If neither Whiteley or Vermeulken makes the grade - I think the future no 8 would be J-L du Preez or P-S du Toit. One may be in the 7 or 8 positions and the remaining of the two players could end up in the vacant position at 7.
Taking into account the
