Eztebeth aka BRuno aka lady elizabeth overrated ???

Becs, very cute that you bring England up in real rugby talk. When Aus, Nzl and SA head over on the end of year tour, if we dont win every game we are pissed. Often SA will send a half baked team but still a big disappointment losing to England. They caught Nzl with one foot on the plane. Good win but dont read too much into that. Lets leave England out of the serious stuff. They good for a laugh but this is real talk now.

 

Reds, usually a very sane poster. I see the tone of this thread. It was started by you to get under the collar of "Saffas" but you seriously dont think Timani would stand a chance against Etzebeth if it came to that "fist fight" you talking up. You are talking about a monster of a guy that had to have extra weight shipped into the gym to reach his full potential against an oke that you hardly notice for the Waratahs and has only really been a starter this year. Romano and Retallick = good players. Will be rocks for the AB's but Etzebeth just has more. Once he learns to control that aggression and use it to his advantage, coupled with his strength and height, who is going to be better than him.

I find it precious that you mention Horwill when we are talking enforcers. Haha Horwill is a great player for Aussie but much like John Smit, his real value comes as a captain not a player. Timani is your run of the mill player, hit it up, make 1 metre, if he doesn't drop the thing you will recycle ball and away you go. Very normal. He is never going to be a "wow" player and I think Etzebeth has already ticked that box world wide and he still has to get better..Hell, you dont see any "saffas" starting any posts about Horwill, Timani, Retallick or Romano! Me thinks you fellas are concerned and rightfully so.

 

Joe Launchbury??Is that a new flavour of ice-cream ;-)

Shezza if you read my posts about Etzebeth I dispute the way SA fans have already elevated him to "best lock" ever status based on 1 season. Like I said hardly made a ripple against the AB's who are the benchmark team in the world. My point is he has the potential to be the best he just hasn't met it yet, hardly jealously though, NZ wins consistently as a team so our locking stocks are fine.

Ahh Boklogic - logic is undeniable. Yes simply posted this to stir the crazed saffa connection about Bruno who incidentally (i belive) has got heaps of potential - but still overhyped and that frankly is my opinon based on weekend's game - he wasnt an obvious in general play so I was just stoking the fire to see the reactions... much to my personal amusement... as both reds and tahs had good wins over the lesser saffas on the weekend... BTW bruno would have been smashed by timani though no questions... guess we'll never know - but if you really want an insight look at brunos' face when he was telling timani to bring it... there wasnt that much conviction...... Timani though is not a world class lock but he is handy but that was not my topic.

Re general lock discussions... Horwill as leader, controlled aggression and all round lock is easily first pick lock in any of the trinations'  / global XV. Bruno maybe no 2 in a few years... but obviously too dumb still as headbutting sahrpey in blatant view of ref = young / dumb / rookie error - nearly as good as greyling's accidentally elbow to mccaws head.

Re Lions - bring it - Walalbies depth looking best in recent memory with NEARLY all positions covered by numerous options - getting team dynamic right and tactical play is really what its about now... but on that note would be a lot more confident in Ewen doing this than drongo deans... Gatland as coach will no doubt bring his welsh recipe which so far has been pretty lacking v wallabies. Im quietly confident about a 2/1 victory over lions. Becs - same issue with wallabies who have a few irreplaceable KEY players that must remain fit if wallabies are to be at peak competitiveness. Genia / Horwill / QC (i hope) are these - I also have reservations about who wallbies will go with @ 12. Tend to agree that superman Folau could indeed play here too but likely will get nod @ 15...

 

I have to agree with Redsman on at least one his points . . . Abby Elizabeth might be a very good player but even then he's still wildly overrated.

 

The way the Blowhards (aka Stompie supporters) are talking him up as some kind of rugby god while plucking at their feeble little dicks and squealing with delight, you'd think Abby Elizabeth had single-handedly beaten the All Blacks.

 

He looks a promising enough player but I still can't help thinking that he's trying too hard to be the "enforcer" of the team. I think his fragile temperament will make him a yellow card liability for whatever team he plays for. Elizabeth always looks like a very angry young man on the field . . . so much so that one has to wonder if all that aggression isn't a result of steroid abuse.

Redsman do bear in mind Gatland has more than Wales at his disposal and were those Wales/Oz tests not pretty close?

Becs all the best re injuries I fully understand how vital that aspect is.