Humble pie being eaten here

Hi

Ok last week I had a little rant about some players. Today I will be eating a lot of humble pie regarding one of them.

Damian de Allende.

I knew he had power. But he never came across as one who had the required vision, hands or brain matter.

I did say last week that I'd like to be proven wrong.

And so I was.

He is not only being played out of position, but he kept his pace up with the Highlanders outsides and kept his side of the park in check with some fantastic man on man defense and fielding of up and unders.

Then on attack, this is where i really was wrong. He always seems to time his passes perfectly. He knows when to pass and when to smash a few heads with his bulky frame. He also has a good boot (not too common for outside center).

I would prefer it if he got a decent run at 13, cos I think him and JDV would gel well together.

He also seems to always have the right attitude. If he gets beaten, he gets up and tracks back to have another go.


I dunno guys, i think this 22 year old laaitie of 103kg's could do well if asked to make the step up.
Maybe another year of Currie Cup first?

Thoughts?

I agree, I think Delande is ready for Springboks. 
He is big, fast and does have some passing skills. It is surprising he has not been tested at outside centre yet for the Stormers. If he is fast enough to be on the wing, and he plays at inside centre, and he has the incumbent Bok inside centre and captain, it is worth a try.
That set, Dejong is having a good season so far. He looks dangerous with ball in hand. Not sure about his defence

JdV and De Allende were together for 4 games...and the Stormers lost all 4. That was a 13 JdV/ 12 de Allende combination. Damien looked lost at 12, perhaps reversing the positions might make more sense, but I tend to believe Rugby 365 when they opined that he is a better wing.

Chippo
Mozart's ideas are always done in accordance with a journalist writing for Rugby 365 - has not got any original ideas of his own.  He has not even seen games and then responded quoting from a Rugby365 report as if that is the be all and end all of the game.
Fact is that De Allende is the SA player with the  highest number of tries scored - more than half of which was when he was playing at center. He is also the backline player credited with the highest number of try creates in the SA franchises.  
I like many others share your point of view that De Allende should be used at 13 - but Mozart is addicted to De Jongh at 13 - even to the extent that he advocates De Jongh as Springbok 13.   As to De Jongh - his problem last year was in defense - he had a miss tackle ratio of more than 23% last year.   Over the last two matches he made 7 tackles and missed 6 he should have made,   That is just not good enough.
De Jongh has another problem - he is a poor reader of the game and even when there are overlaps on his outside he hangs onto balls he should have passed - it happened  3 times in the Cheetahs game.  
I think that De Allende should in fact play at 13 and that De Jongh could be better at 14 - where he will not have to judge when to pass and when not to - and where his defense helped by the touch line should be better.
Foxsport rates De Allende as the top SA backline player for performances throughout the competition - be it at center or wing.     I tend to agree with that and think that he should in fact play at 13.   Problem was that De Villiers had a say as to who should play at 12 and who at 13 when De Jongh was not available - and knowing the very good off-loading skills of De Allende - decided to play outside of him at 13. .         The Springboks have a serious problem at 13 and I would definitely think that De Allende is a better proposition in that position than either Engelbrecht or Fourie - another Mozart pet.    

  

Actually for the record, as I've said before, I don't believe deJongh is the answer....but he is better than JJ.
For the record I don't think Fury is the answer....never have actually....but I do believe he is better than JJ.
Sadie and De Allende have made something of a case...but De Allende at 12 was not a success, 13 may be a better bet. Still I doubt these chaps are the answer. Others like JP or Mapoe could make a case, but I doubt it.
It's beginning to look like we won't have a long term solution at 13 this year, perhaps even by the RWC.

 Mozart
De Allende was  a success at center - as he was on the wing.  Where you got your statement to the contrary from is only prejudice - nothing else.   
De Allende's stats for the five games he played at center were as follows:-

de Allende

1/1

5

3/16/43

226

3

13

1

5

50/9

0/0

1

0/0

In the five games he played at center he was obviously used to attack the gain line and did an excellent job for the Stormers in that regard.  
*   He made 3 clean line breaks *   He beat 13 defenders in the process*   He had an average net gain in territory of 5 meters per carry.   This might on its own not sound like much - but compared to the other centers playing at 12 it was mmore than double what Steyn, Serfonetin and De Villiers achieved on average per carry
His missed tackle ratio was 15,25%   and he gave away only one penalty.  Compared to the other three mentioned centers he was way ahead of them in performance at center.  Does not sound like a failure to me.   If he did - what about the other three? They really must then be abject failures.       .