Goosen....Brittle or Brutal?

I really hope this kid has an injury free season this year and gets a good few runs in.with JW playing Lambie solidly at ten for the Sharks I can honestly see that if he picks up form that Morne might enjoy the golden hand shake from the Bulls and from the Bokke.Yes its time we cut out Morne ties people.Investment is always at risk with great loss and the prospects look fairly dimm.Goosen for one can hardly play tennis with out dislocating...well...every possible joint that can be dislocated in the human boddy.I say that with good humar.Man but did he have a good run against Australia in 2012,only to go home in a taxis with disco lights.

But be warned Nzl,this kid has something special.Naas was a great flyhalf and set a standard hence people know him that well today.This kid might just set a new standard.

I know I truly hope so.

Goosen basically over the last two years had three major injuries - the one to his shoulder and the other two to his knees.

There has been no indication that the shoulder injury recurred since him scoring a try and falling awkwardly in the process. 

The knee injuries both stemmed from rather freaky situations. the Soweto test one stemmed from ball  rolling towards him and Reid trying to fall on the  ball sliding against Goosen's leg.  The second injury was medically not related to the same problem and came as a result of him slipping badly when practicing kicking at goal - ie not in a match situation at all.

I think that it is rather weird - but Jordaan also suffered a knee injury when training on the same ground so it might be the surface of the training ground that caused the problem.

Be it as it may - since the injuries were of a different nature and occurred under some weird conditions I am not convinced that Goosen is really frail.   I would think that he was desperately unlucky rather than injury prone.   Like Beeno I think he was very young when the injuries occurred and that strengthening of his muscles through conditioning would solve any problem that may exist .   

I am looking forward to his performances this year and hope that he shows us some real class as he promised when he was an Under 20 player.         

Saffex

You must remember that both Sun Tzu and Mozart thinks hat Morne Steyn is the  best flyhalf in SA. When Morne buggers up - no problem - like he did in the last 3 tests heplayed in against the All Blacks. 

Goosen had only circa 40 minutes playing time against the All Blacks, namely -

*   for circa 20 minutes in the Dunedin test in 2012 - where he was a huge improvement on the rubbish display of Steyn, whom he replaced; and

*   for circa 29 minutes in the Soweto test before he got injured.  

He still had a heel problem which affected his kicking at goal - but for the rest there was no problem with his performance in that 20 minutes.

It really is funny - the few games he played in Goosen was ten times better than Morne was against the same teams.   I would like to remind the two of the fiasco in the away Aussie test in 2012, where Morne was the main reason for the loss, as against the Pretoria test against the Aussies where Goosen was the flyhalf.       

 Sun Tzu

Who has been consistently the weakest defending flyhalf in SA?   The answer is Morne Steyn - not the players you are referring to.

At least some of he players you mentioned had ball sense - Morne has NONE.

And then you talk about groupies - are you not in the Morne Steyn groupie?

 I can not see HM playing Goosen at fullback.I Willie Le Roux has a better chance at fullback then him and also with Frans Steyn on the come back trail...who knows.But it will be interesting to see how the politics might affect the team selections this year and the comming years.Remember it is now a law that there is a quota system in place(which I totally disagree with)So to keep the politicians happy we might just see Kirchner in the 15 jersey for a long while.

Also if Lambie builds good momentum in the Super rugby season and Goosen plays a conservative game to go injury free(which is what I think might happen) then there is a strong possibilty that Goosen will warm the bench and Lambie wearing ten for the Boks.Tim Swiel is TNT waiting to go off.Meaning he has great potential but we have to learn that we can not keep thowing these young guns in at the deep end.Super rugby has to be the platform for development for international duties.If neither impress...I am certian that HM will play it safe and call Morne to the number ten shirt.He doesnt like taking risks.Hence we havent seen to many new faces in the team.Think about it other then Willie Le Roux...who really was new in the set up...Kolisi...Engelbrecht.

Sun Tzu

You have not answered Saffex;s question - who do you think should be the Springbok flyhalf?  

Then we know the technique - any possible player you do not like - needs to be eliminated through  imaginary deficiencies.   So be positive and give us a logical and motivated answer. 

Sun Tzu

You have not answered Saffex;s question - who do you think should be the Springbok flyhalf?  

Then we know the technique - any possible player you do not like - needs to be eliminated through imaginary deficiencies.   So be positive and give us a logical and motivated answer. 

 Ceradyne

When players under-perform constantly they are to be criticised.   There is no player I dislike - there are players who under-perform and they open themselves  up to criticism.

I do not criticize performing players - only those who bring it onto themselves.   I do not invent reasons for criticism or reasons to down play players - I remain factual.   I also do not write imaginary reports praising players who in fact showed nothing during games or in fact under-performed.   

 Ceradyne

When players under-perform constantly they are to be criticised.   There is no player I dislike - there are players who under-perform and they open themselves  up to criticism.

I do not criticize performing players - only those who bring it onto themselves.   I do not invent reasons for criticism or reasons to down play players - I remain factual.   I also do not write imaginary reports praising players who in fact showed nothing during games or in fact under-performed.  

 Sun Tzu

Still no answer to the question - who do you think should be the Springbok flyhalf>

Look - when I criticize players I base it on factual performances - not hype of anything else.   When I get a negative image of a player and there are contrary views on issues I would look at the stats and even at repeat broadcasts to see whether I was wrong. 

I do not live by hype and forget everything else.   Normally when I criticize players I have at least checked my facts.

Now back to your allegations of poor defence on the part of Goosen.   The only real norm available were the few games (4) Goosen played in last year in the Super series.   In that series he made 32 tackles - missing 4.   That represents a miss tackle ratio of 11,1%  - which is in fact an acceptable situation and do not indicate any deficiencies in defence at all.    Where you got the deficiency in defence from only you would know.  

You seem to think that Morne's defence is better - so I took the first four Bulls matches in Super 15 last year and found that Morne made 31 tackles - missing 5 tackles.   His missed tackle ratio was slightly higher at 13.9%.   Ten to 12% is acceptable - so Morne is above that norm.   Where Morne is not acceptable as a defender is on test level - where the missed tackle ratio in the RC last year was  over 19%.