Greatest Ever Springbok Centres

Greatest ever Springbok centres? This is a position that hasn't been a strength of Bok rugby, so I don't look at the Bok production line and see it favourably. I grew up on Aussie rugby, and the difference between the two nations was always noticeable. New Zealand were always well-armed with quality centres. There's no such thing as a successful All Black side without potent centres; where there were uncertainties in these positions, there were problems. 

Of the Springbok 12s, the candidates will naturally include Jean, Frans, Barry in the professional era. Jean served the Boks longer at 12 than Frans, but Frans was the better 12. A lot of blunt muscle at 12 for the Boks. Andre is currently the most complete Bok 12 I have ever seen. By far the greatest distributor. We shall see how that goes, but the Bok preference has too often been a one-dimensional player who cannot read the game. 

Of the Springbok 13s, my candidates are Fourie, Gerber and Joubert. Robbie Fleck was quite popular at one time, but I simply didn't rate him. We very seldom have test caliber 13s, to transition from Jourbert to Fourie was a real blessing. Jaque Fourie is the best of the bunch. He could have walked into almost any Wallaby side of any era. As good as he was, we never really fully tapped into his ability ball-in-hand. He was a monster on attack, opportunistic, brutal on defence (best ever defensive 13) and always had the knack for making decisive contributions. Was cool and calm under pressure. A game that comes to mind is the 2010 Tri-Nations home test where the Boks nearly nilled the All Blacks. It was a rough start for the team, being run ragged. Fourie killed three try-scoring opportunities with decisive intercepts and it was his defence which kept New Zealand at bay and settled the team into the game, from there the team didn't look back. Classic Fourie. When watching Gerber, I see similarities between the two in running style. I have softened in my stance of the old legend, and I think he did possess the ability to be successful in the modern era. 

This guy is talking KAK again,    Steyn was a brilliant promise that never materialized and should have remained at full back - bar he was pace-deficient.   Plumtree said he was NO center at all amd experts agreed with him.    He had so many negatives at center it was really a farce playing him in that position.   He played five tests in 2012 and was on the bench in two tests in 2017 and was in the world cup squad in 2019 as a dirt tracker,    For the Sharks he was so poor that SARU would not renew his contract in 2015.   To name his as a great center is a joke.

Then we have Esterhuizen.   Given opportunities by Erasmus in 2018 and was found wanting and never included in the WC squad for very obvious reasons,    

OA remains a brain fart and in this case it exploded and he is so immature he can come up with BS,   We had plenty of great center s that I have seen play,   Players with thinking ability and ace to match,  So the list is long from the 1950's onwards,   Gainsford, Roux, Du Plessis, Gerber, Snyman, Jean were real centers - something neither Steyn nor Esterhuizen is,   Slow in pace and thinking ability without any step whatsoever and to o slow to be good  enough defenders,                   

Frans, Jean, Serfontein, Gerber, Fourie, Rosenberg and de Allende.

De Allende is the worst 12 I have seen. I mean that literally. He is no 12. 

Kriel is one dimensional. Basically a solo runner. More physical than Damian by far though. Makes a lot of mistakes and has poor vision.

Serfontein was too small for 12 and too slow at 13 in some games. Though, he was by far at his best at 13. All of his best tests were at 13. 

De Allende was always better than Steyn and Esterhuizen whom the AO moron hero-worship.

Was rated by most experts describe as the key to the Springbok backline and was superb in the WC anyway,  The mind boggles - is it possible for any human being to be that rugby ignorant? Guess  not - but in these desperate times one always need a good laugh and what he writes guarantees that,          

Dud Allende played against a truly useless bunch of centres in the knockouts. His WC comprised of running over 2 fly halves who never even made an attempt to bring him down. Against the ABs:

Dud 10 runs/zero clean breaks/ 1defender beaten

Am 4 runs/zero clean breaks/ zero defenders beaten

Crotty 4 runs/ 1 clean break/ 2 defenders beaten

Lienert-Brown 8 runs/2 clean breaks/ 8 defenders beaten.

The All Black centres beat 10 defenders, we beat 2. Let’s get real chaps.

Dud Allende played against a truly useless bunch of centres in the knockouts. His WC comprised of running over 2 fly halves who never even made an attempt to bring him down. Against the ABs:

Dud 10 runs/zero clean breaks/ 1defender beaten

Am 4 runs/zero clean breaks/ zero defenders beaten

Crotty 4 runs/ 1 clean break/ 2 defenders beaten

Lienert-Brown 8 runs/2 clean breaks/ 8 defenders beaten.

The All Black centres beat 10 defenders, we beat 2. Let’s get real chaps.

Mozart - the total rugby idiot is back - always so weird he is good for a laugh.  

Dud so much better than Frans. Yet it was Frans who saved Dud's blushes as he gifted an open highway to the try line in the final.

Boks finally get some attacking movement going and Damian misreads the entire play and cuts inside to nowhere, killing the movement dead. Funny thing is, that was a routine situation for Andre, who always gets outside backs free into space in those situations. Dud also blew a defensive assignment earlier as we could have pressured them deep in their 22.

Dud will always be a flop. Has never and will never be a quality 12. Ironic that his best numbers were under Coetzee though, but that raises whole other issues! 

Alas Angie it’s not apparent to those not equipped to actually see.

Wanker you just find the truth weird. It’s ironical, you moan about fake news in politics but then you eat up what the media feeds you about rugby. Dud Allende has no guile, no step, no acceleration, no top end....all he has is tractoring, made to  look good by Biggar and the tiny Japanese flyhalf.

The fact is against SH competition Dud is  a nothing burger.

The media guppies fall hook, line and sinker every season. They just can't help themselves! Lügnerin is surely the most gullible of the lot. 

The fact is that nothing AO and Mozart write on site is fact-based,   All of it are mangled BS that they specialize in.  Take that incident the AO idiot mentioned,  Steyn never tackled Watson - all that happened was that Watson pushed Steyn away and in the process he was tackled by Du Toit and fell down.   If he was not held by Du Toit nothing prevented him from getting up and scoring a try bar the real tackler Du Toit.   The dud two scrambled the incident to glorify Steyn.   In any event the action of Du Toit caused Watson to knock on the ball.   

So that is what everyone saw as happening - but you two are known for lying on site and that is nothing new,               

Another post by Lügnerin, another yawn. 

Take that incident the AO idiot mentioned,  Steyn never tackled Watson - all that happened was that Watson pushed Steyn away and in the process he was tackled by Du Toit and fell down.

No, here's what happened. Watson beats DA, comes up to Steyn and tries to spin past him. Steyn manages to lift his feet, Watson goes down and Steph dives on top of him on the ground (which could be penalized). In frame 2 below you can see Watson is clearly going down before Steph even gets to him. Frame 3 shows the first time Steph makes contact with Watson.

Not a grand tackle, but enough of an effort to stop a rampaging wing.

RE: The halftime try was a turning point in the game
October 09, 2013, 22:15:39

JJ and Jean were our best backs by some distance on Sat, JJ had an outstanding game with ball in hand and put to bed all that crap about him not beating defenders against top opposition.......he beat 4 in one game against the Kiwi's........as Sas said, a Kiwi, JJ was awesome and said he was even better than Jean......I have to agree with that.......that beating of Savea and putting Willie away was the best bit of centre play I have seen in ages.

Best 13’s - JJ, Gerber, Joubert, Mulder, Fleck, Snyman, Fourie, Kriel and Am

Lister missed a key name!

I'd been l ooking for that post for such a long time. Much appreciated Sonny Jim. 

Pakie

How do you tackle a man like Steyn did in that photo's of yours.  Fact is from a technical perspective there was no tackle made anyway,  just a shove that got Watson off balance,   Du Toit caused the fumble and prevented Watson from getting up and scoring.       

Pakie

How do you tackle a man like Steyn did in that photo's of yours.  Fact is from a technical perspective there was no tackle made anyway,  just a shove that got Watson off balance,   Du Toit caused the fumble and prevented Watson from getting up and scoring.       

Here's one just for you Dame Lügnerin... 

Frans Steyn was smoking hot in the 2007 WC. That’s it. He faded after that and became a run of the mill chump found at any club. Greatest?? That’s laughable, He was moved back and forth to flyhalf and full back after his never ending slump. Nothing could compete with his over inflated ego.

Simply useless after 2007.

De Allende? Haaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaaa. Trust Dumb Fuck Dave to slot him into his usual grocery list.

Serfontein had the makings of a great but was exposed at big boy level. He was good ... but certainly not a great. Not by a long shot. Oh look ... it’s Dumb Fuck’s contribution ... might have known.

Gerber rules the roost at 13, hands down. The best 13 this country has ever seen ... alongside Mortlock, O”Driscoll and Sella as the best centers the game has ever seen. How Am, JJ and Jesse Kriel  make the list is beyond me.

You’re on form today Dave.

Fleck ... not exactly someone I’d consider for national duty ... ever.

Andre? Surely not Andre Esterhuizen? Best complete Bok you’ve ever seen, huh Augie? Wow!!! Really? Along side Mohoje, Morne Steyn and Kirchsner, right?

Dumb Fuck Dave and Augie ... so much to say ... and yet never any substance to there posts  

What a shame.

Mortlock was an elite player. All time great player. Any real Springbok fan would remember him, he caused us no end of trouble. Likewise All Black fans. You really don't know centres at all. If every position, you come undone most consistently with centres. I suppose it helps to have played the position.

As for Serf? Repeatedly run over against Wales. I repeat, run over. He had no stopping power. Problems. He could not cope physically at test level at 12. 

These are all simple things. 

PS: Dame Linda, who ordained Damian the goat of goats? 

Allende was without doubt our best 12 and that World coach of the year Rassie knew it. Strong, fine skills and all round game Allende was widely praised. 

As of course was World Player of the Year, the sublime Du Toit who some oaks argue was not a 7.

Sadly Dr Moz and Organhuffer did not have good world cups! 

Hahahahaha.

Serfontein too small at 98 kg! Goodness gracious me. 

Serfontein was a very competent center before leaving SA.

Two best Jean De Villiers and Danie Gerber. 

A guy not mention but a very clever center was Michael Du Plessis. 

Mannetjies Roux was better than Jean...as was Willie Dup.

Michael Dup wasn't half bad either... Helg art and Pieter Muller were handy midfielders too.

Yes Shezz ...and some on here think that's nothing special . 

Damian was below average in that World Cup. In fact, our attack wasn't very good. Handling errors abounded. And in the one good performance, Damian was shown up again! No. Damian has never turned a corner. A poor wing who failed to convert to 12. His greatest Bok moment is running into undefended space. Epic stuff. 

@Shezza: He was run over by three Welshmen. One was indeed Roberts, but the try wasn't. Being run over is when the opposition breaks through the tackle and progresses right over the top of you and behind you. R-u-n o-v-e-r. And if your 12 loses to the opposition 12, that's not much consolation that the opposition 12 is a "big lad". You've lost the arms race in a critical position. Damian and Serf both lose the out in that race. 

It always fascinated me how those who criticize Meyer never look at the players as well. I criticize him for some poor selection choices/preferences, the balanced perspective. When there were problems, the same names popped up. Time and again, the same fan favourites. They would criticize Meyer, but never ever call out these players. 

@Safesex: I was also the "idiot" who posted and entire season's worth of video evidence which proved I was right. I also posted several 2015 test vids, around 6 super rugby vids. Each and every piece of evidence stands against you. Your analytical skills do not exist, you merely possess an enlarged mouth. A bleating chamber if you will. All governed by one solitary glazed eye. 

Damn Card, I really enjoy some of your insights, but you've got a couple of blind spots the size of Jupiter. 

At least you have the courage to admit it Shezza. I accept your concession. 

How many tests did Willie du Plessis play for the Boks Draad. Please don't compare him to Jean de Villiers!

"it was all a load of shit"

Finally we are getting somewhere