I dont envy Meyer's decision on flyhalf vs Wales

The Welsh have suffered mightily at Springbok hands and they will be highly motivated to take a Bok scalp at Cardiff. The Boks have been playing high level rugby and have a settled team....that counts for a lot.

In the forwards I'm guessing Flip Flop will start with Etzebeth and Stephanie will be on the bench. The rest of the pack should be the same, if Jannie is fully fit. If not I sure hope we don't start Coenie at tighthead.

In the backs there are a lot of interesting choices. Fransie has probably fought his way back onto the bench, which could deep six Serfontein. But who starts at 9, 10, and 15...is in doubt. And one could imagine a scenario with Frans and Jean starting....JP back on the wing and Willie back at fullback.

Flyhalf is particularly vexing, because Lambie has been both a winner and a loser in his last two matches....blowing easy kicks....but coming right to make some hard ones. Which Lambie would show up in Cardiff? That said Morne had a Frustrating time against the ABs, following a good match vs OZ. He is the superior goal kicker....but Lambie showcased the drop at Newlands and some super kick offs. Tough call if you really want to win, which I'm sure haunts Meyer.

The really ironical point is the Sharks won playing Bools rugby.....a great lineout, very little backline passing, excellent tactical kicking and domination of the point of collision. Lambie looked very comfortable in that game plan. He still has to prove he can spark the backline.

To a large extent it's a choice between very similar players with slightly diffe rent strengths.

The dead head at it again.   Is there one reason in the world why we should continue with struggling in line out plays and all other facets of the game by playing Flippie at lock?   Why is it that Du Toit should be on the bench?  

Then a suggestion - and I expected that one - that Steyn must start at center and thus getting rid of Engelberecht is set to destroy the attacking capacity of the backline.   Steyn has still the speed of a prop forward and although he did tackle De Allende once he was really on the whole defective in backline attacking play yesterday.  Why does he insist on destroying attacking backline play by the Springboks?

After Morne Steyn's destruction of the Springbok's chances to beat the AB's at Ellis Park - why should he still be in the running.    The dead head mentioned two things - Morne's superior goal kicking when he missed 33,3% of his goal kicks against the AB's at Ellis Park and 50% in the Super 15 semi - as against Lambie's 30% miss record yesterday.   He then went on deftly to suggest that Lambie cannot "spark the backline" after proving that he can in two successive matches.

Something happened yesterday that illustrates that unlike the robotic Morne Steyn - Lambie thinks before he plays.  The half time siren went off  and Lambie promptly kicked the ball out of play.   The siren for half time was on the point of going off and Morne passed the ball in his own 22 instead of kicking the ball out of play.   That was the most stupid decision any flyhalf could take - but our dead head member does not accept that one and blames Enelbrecht for the resultant try of Messam.

On what does he base his statements?   On the fact that Steyn made one strong tackle on De Allende proving that he "dominated" De Allende.   Nothing about his slowness - neither the fact that the next tackle he missed on De Allende an the fact that he gave away two penalties in the game yesterday.

One has to wonder when this idiocy is to stop?   But then one remembers how he wrote up De Jongh last hear and how De Jongh ended up being useless in the tests at Murrayfield and Twickenham - so it must be a serial condition.    

Saffex

I think Mozart is on his standard campaign to advocate the following:-

*  To get rid of Engelbrecht at all costs;

*  To ensure that Morne is selected ahead of everyone else; and

*  To ensure by hook or by crook that Du Toit is not in the starting line-up.

I did not expect anything else - so lets just remember that he dislikes every player in the team younger than 25 - but is afraid to include Etzebeth - whom he criticized last year as well - in the younger category of players, because it will show everybody  how foolish his outlook is. 

Saffex

I have reason to believe that one of the failings of the Boks in recent tests were their inability to recover balls from line out play on a reliable basis by any other player than Etxebeth - and with only one reliable jumper,  the slide insofar as rolling mauls are concerned compared to previous years.   I think the chances  are 95% that Du Toit will start against Wales - Flip is just not a good enough option in line out play and the loosies are not reliable either.

Insofar as Morne is concerned - I am hoping against hope that SARU will insist on locally based players - unless there is a problem with the standard of play of locally based players - ie the only foreign players to be included are those who are world class.  That would definitely rule out Morne from the squad - especially since his extremely flawed performances in the AB tests and other games as well.   Lets hope that SARU forced out the foreign passengers at present in the team such as Kirchner, Morne Steyn, Vermaak and Juandre Kruger.

Insofar a general play - and also rolling mauls - are concerned, there is another player I have a problem with and that is Jannie du Plessis.   I think he should   be phased out over the next year as well.  

Beeno

In essence I agree with you - but for certain points.  Lets look at the players you mentioned:-

Francois Steyn

Although some scribes gave a major write up about Francois Steyn - I was not overly impressed.   He took a hard tackle on De Allende -= but De Allende was in a standing position not running and to him the pass was a real hospital pass.   The fact that he did not lose possession of the ball and WP retained possession afterwards indicated to me that it was not - as Mozart would say = a bone crushing tackle.  Shortly thereafter De Allende was running forward and Steyn missed a tackle on him and he had to be tackled by two other players - while still retaining possession.

For virtually the whole of the rest of the match - Steyn seemed to run into forwards (ie into traffic) when ball carrying and doing some tackles amongst the forwards - bar for two cases where he received the ball after contraventions by the Sharks and passed it out wide.   When he did carry the ball once and it was in clear view - he was trotting along and not really running at pace, 

Must say I was not impressed - and it is for me nor certain whether he will contribute at all to attacking backline play - especially since he still has the tendency to run into traffic and crashball - even though Mozart and Saffex - for their own reasons - says otherwise.          

Scrummies

I saw Schreuder play a lot of games for the Stormers and WP and he was quite good - but he had a poor ay at the office on yesterday.   I think two of the most exciting scrummies we have in SA at present are  Pretorius and McCleod - but both also have major negatives - they often enough are poor at times and can cost you games.  Wild and inaccurate passing is quite frequent in their cases.  

I agree with you about Reinach - he is the most promising of the youngsters.  I also believe that of the foreign based scrummies Kockott is near the top of the list - better than Ruan Pienaar.

Morne Steyn

After being around for years showing nothing - bar kicking at goal - I think with due regard to his very questionable performance in the Ellis Park test,  it is time to write him out of the squad.  Meyer can take Catrakillis or Goosen along in the event of any injury to Lambie  - or can call Steyn up in such an event.   To include Steyn is unnecessary and just means extra expenses for SARU - he is around the corner and an hour away in flying time in any event..

As to Goosen you made a statement that the doctors advised that he should not play and I asked which doctor made the statementm when was the statement made and about what condition (his knee injury  or his latest op) was the statement made.  Can you please help out?

Malherbe and Kitshoff

Agree with you in full.

Kolisi

After Saffex started to rave about Kolisi in the Super 15 last year - I started looking at his game carefully.  Towards the en of Super 15 he started to fade out and was then injured.   I also watched him in every game he played in this year and found that -

*   from time to time - not in every match - he did carry the ball well, but not so much that it has become a regular feature  in the games he played in;

*   he has for a loosie a low tackle count; and

*   he is  not involved in breakdown ball recovery or turnovers at all.

He definitely was very rarely seen on the game on Saturday and did nothing of note - but then neither was Fourie.   Under the above circumstances I agree that Kolisi is a quota player and for that reason he is included in the match day squad as well. 

No surprise that yet again McCaw was the top player for arrivals to the breakdown, being in the first three players on 34 occasions. He was well backed up by Sam Whitelock (23 arrivals), Tony Woodcock (15) and Brodie Retallick (14).

The All Blacks won the breakdown with four clean steals and a penalty won for the tackled player not releasing. Read, McCaw, Retallick and Sam Cane all won turnovers.

Impact off the bench was key for the All Blacks with Wyatt Crockett having a busy 27 minutes with 12 breakdown arrivals and seven tackles, Steven Luatua stealing two lineouts off the Springboks in his 17 minutes, while Beauden Barrett scored a try, kicked a penalty and two conversions, and made a try-saving tackle when he ankle-tapped Willie Le Roux a metre from the try line.

The All Blacks conceded nine penalties in this game which was less than their average for this Rugby Championship of 11.5, but they also conceded two yellow cards. Of those nine penalties, four were conceded in their own 22. The Springboks conceded just five penalties.

Turnovers cost the Springboks, particularly in the second half of the game. 

Of their 25 turnovers, 16 came in the second half made up of 10 handling errors, three lineout losses, two breakdown turnovers, being held up in a maul, and penalised for not releasing the ball when tackled.

The All Blacks conceded a total of 15 turnovers, of which nine were handling errors. They only conceded six turnovers in the second half of the match (three handling errors, a scrum penalty, a lineout and an accidental off-side).

Saffex

There is no prejudice against Francois Steyn in what I said about the game - watch it again and tell me what he did differently from what I described - what he did  exactly was in fact what he was involved in.  

Running into traffic and crashballing is not what is required from an attack-minded backline player and this was in evidence virtually throughout the game on Saturday - and there is still a speed problem in his case - he just does not possess the required speed and finesse to be a number 12 and as you pointed out also not the speed required from a full back.   I think he will kill off backline attacking play if he is brought into the team at center - there is no difference in what he did yesterday and what he did a year ago - when the Springboks showed no attacking backline skills,

As to Kolisi my statement on tackle count is indisputable.   His tackle count on average per game in Super 15 is 7 tackles.  If you take into account that Etzebeth average number of tackles per game is 7 and De Hager is 8 - it is clear that his tackle count as a loosie is low and comparable with figures of tight 5 players and not loosies,   As to turnovers in possession nearly is just not good enough.   Since there are many other loosies in SA with better performance records  then Kolisi - their i s only one logical reason for his selection and that is the one stated by me earlier.      

Saffex

The question is not when Kolisi arrives at breakdown points - but what he does when he gets there.   He does not recover the balls - neither does he protect balls - so what exactly does he achieve by arriving at breakdown points? 

Even though he may be the first loosie arriving at breakdown points - it would still be too late to be effective.   However, I agree - he is faster than the other three loosies involved - but none of the loosies are really effective in that area of the game - definitely n ot the strong point amongst our loosies.

Cleancut

So I gave Kolisi credit for his unconvincing performances - I clearly said that he is not a loosies backside - or perhaps he is.  

Saffex get into an euphoric state of mind whenever Kolisi is playing and sees things that nobody else sees.   Kolisi will be in the squad because of the quota system - but for no other reason.  

Same with Alberts in your case - bar the quota system.  The heaviest and fattest player on the field of play in either of the Springbok or Sharks teams - moving around he field of play with less pace than a prop and never at breakdown points (in one case where he was - he was so clumsy that he fell over his own feet) - cannot run to save his life - miss crucial tackles because he is too slow and has no real fire power in maul situations as well.    I differ from  you on him - and think that the sooner he is out of the Springbok team - the better it would for the team as we would have a flank forward and not a recycled prop.   I think that,  because that is how I see him and I can still in my minds eye see him missing Read (Ellis Park test) and the Samoan try-scorers (June test), as well as him falling over his own feet in the Ellis Park test and not even try to recover the ball from the tackled Aaron Smith - when he was nearest to Smith when he was tackled.   Both the Read miss and the Smith debacle ended up with tries for the All Blacks.    Believe me - those are not lies, they are facts.  

I think you are at liberty to believe what you think - and so am I.   You see things in Alberts - which I do not see.   That makes none of us liars - so lets forget about that term and debate things like grown ups.   

 When I wrote about this weekend game -- I wrote what I saw Albrts doing.   I think in the first half he was under-performing big time - if he was not why did the commentators never mentioned his name.   I saw him carrying the ball four times in the second half - three was relatively unsuccessful and amongst those three one ended up  as a penalty for the Sharks.

The fourth one was a good carry - that ended in a maul in the WP 22 and the ball ended up with Lambie who carried it forward and was tackled - another maul formed and McCleod picked up the ball and scored his second try.  

I saw him making a few tackles in the first half within the pocket - and since nothing much came out of it -  it was not ever mentioned by the commentator.   To my mind the same happened in the second half insofar as tackling is concerned.

You said he once recovered a ball at a breakdown point and caught a number of line - out balls.   I accept that I may have missed those plays - so you are probably correct in those.   Will have a look at the full game again tonight and follow Alberts every move and see what he has done.    Wi ll jot it down and give a full breakdown of it tomorrow.     

Mozart

Funny - ha ha

But this thread started on Morne - and whether that Clueless Ou should be selected at flyhalf.   I am still hoping that after the debacle he made of the Ellis Park that  he is shown the door.   Not long to wait and see.   I also hope that the same applies to Fatso Alberts - also a source of the loss of the Springboks at Ellis Park.   

Mozart

Funny - ha ha

But this thread started on Morne - and whether that Clueless Ou should be selected at flyhalf.   I am still hoping that after the debacle he made of the Ellis Park that he is shown the door.   Not long to wait and see.   I also hope that the same applies to Fatso Alberts - also a source of the loss of the Springboks at Ellis Park.