Dominee Eddie Jones

So when one views four years of Harrassmissball one is struck by the mediocrity of it all. A few wins over a transitional AB team…..losses to every major rugby nation….a very average win ratio.

Only two performances have risen above average. The WC final and the very similar demolition of England last week.

The similarities in these two wins are striking. A completely overmatched Pom scrum….two vulnerable half backs, Ford and Vonpoorfeet. And a team seemingly with nothing in the tank after taking on the ABs the week before.

Much of the blame in both cases has to go to Eddie who knows Bok rugby well. Why did he persist with his scrum half who basically gave away the AB game, until the ABs gave it back. And are there no props in England who can stand in the scrums….surely not.

Then there is of course Eddie’s resurrection of our backline play before WC 2007. You could make the argument that nobody has done more for the Boks’ reputation.

So if this was Britain we could knight him. But of course we can’t. An alternative would be an Honorary doctorate….much used at Stellenbosch for physical Ed types. Dr Craven, it sounds so much better than Mr Craven.

But I was thinking perhaps in Eddie’s case we could come up with a new award for serving the Volk. And honorary Dominee title….what else could carry more weight.

See Draad I hope that shows my sensitivity to the culture….hahaha. Actually I would do the same thing for English speaking Saffas except they just aren’t very funny….kind of boring compared to hell and damnation.

The Nelspruit Bok vs NZ test was also one of the better ones.

Dominee Eddie...

Ja, I don't know what to make of the Lions series either. Yes we won, our scrums were dominant, but then there was some Bias from the ref in the first match. I loved John Smith comments that it looked the Ref and Jones were on a date. Where as Sia got shut down. 

I think the boks had the best year back in 2019, we won the championship, but lost a few games too. I think we lost twice to NZ or did we draw in one game. 

I was hoping with this team we would have a perfect year. I think France is the only team that is unbeaten in 14 matches. 

That to me is a champion team 

I have no idea what to expect from next year

I disagree with the notion that Jones made any significant change to the 2007 WC campaign. Right up until Jean was injured against Samoa, it was the same story. Frans changed that game, and turned the Nok's fortunes around. The biggest contribution that he perhaps made was having Burger link more. We never saw that part of his game. Aside from that, Jones is an ideas man who cannot captain the ship. 

Under Erasmus we went from 6 to 7. It was only under Erasmus that we hit 7. After that we were 5th into 6th early into the WC until we beat the minnows, and won what was called the worst game of rugby against an injury depleted Welsh side. The England game was the anomaly. Without the double ranking points we'd have never been higher than 5th post-2019. It was an illusion. One that has since been shattered. We have never played good rugby under Erasmus. The England win in the WC was Beast's parting gift to Bok rugby. 

Yes, yes, the pesky WWE Trophy is an embarrassment to the Boks on the same scale as "Pro Wrestling" ...somebody call The Undertaker!

You say we were the best team in world rugby, but that has not been the case. If say we are playing good rugby, the reality is that we are not. Erasmus has been heralded as the greatest most forward thinking coach in South African rugby for a very, very long time; none of that has materialised. We have the work of Nienaber and a few failed gimmicks by Erasmus. This at a time where we have never had so many opponents at such a low and vulnerable point! Australia are t worst they have ever been (2019 was their worst year in 45 years, this has been their very worst of all time). New Zealand are the worst they have ever been. England, France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland are all teams who cannot lay down real dominance. There is no great team in world rugby right now, and we are still mediocre. This would have been a lay up for White or Meyer, maybe even Coetzee. Even Straeuli's men would have benefitted. A rare opportunity to capture world rugby for the foreseeable future and beyond. Yet, Erasmus has most people gushing over substandard rugby with mediocre returns. 

"You say we were the best team in world rugby"

I did? Where?

Geez this Doos is an ignorant prick

Geez that's double hit.......I thought it's one or the other 

mmm...a hermaphrodite!...well spotted Denny!

Just so glad he wasn't called a Doos of a Prick

Saffex, your life would be easier of you would just accept simple facts and accept that you can't always hear what you want. I bet your knuckles are raw from beating the walls after reading posts you don't like. Maybe even giving yourself Chinese burns. Relax. 

Boks finish 22 Season with 8 wins in 13 Tests for a win percentage of 62%....80% is the minimum where we should actually be....62% i s to close for comfort.

Keeping the averages in our favor...surely not intentional???

The outcome of his performance review will be interesting.

The man proved he did not learn from his own mistakes: after the WC final, he admitted his greatest mistake was a failure to refreshen the English squad before the final yet he repeated the same mistake for the last test of the November series.

That stated, rugby is not football as shown by the ongoing WC, competition in rugby is diluted to the utmost and England is on the right side of the table. An advantage that is more than enough to declare EN as a clear favourite for the 2023 WC on the current english squad form.

It would take little to make EN the definitive favourite.

These days, governance is all about balancing out. The powers that be are going to balance the cost of firing the man (among other things) against his ability to get that little extra to be added the already big english chances of winning the WC.

So, curious to see what the result is going to be. Which side is going to outweight the other.