Is it because I is black, we need to talk about the Italy game

Don’t worry, I’m not hear to bash Kolisi but I noticed a pattern when he is captaining. I have to give him credit for challenging the ref on not calling the in air tackle on Moody, the shoulder on Marco and a few other poor judgement. He was constantly asking the ref. But it felt like ref was just brushing him off and talking to him like a child. Maybe Kolisi is to nice or don’t make the refs think twice. I remember one of the refs that blew a game against the kiwis and Richi was always in his ear reminding him of the law and rules. The ref said he was surprised how much of the law Richi knew and sometimes almost second guest himself. I simply don’t see Kolisi keeping the ref on his feet or honest, more like protesting and sulking and I almost feel the ref just bat him away. Very similar to that lions game where Rassie came out swinging and saying the ref was racist.

just putting it out there.

I said I won’t bash Kolisi but what was his stats again, how many meters did he make?

let’s talk about the game. Well done boks and well done Rassie. It was by far not the game we hoped for but some players are just pure class. Stenekamp, Wilco, Andre and Kwagga just lift the game and so does RG. You almost have to wait until the last 20 min before you see the real boks.

i noticed the ratings and the journo were raving about Willemse but to me he was great covering being a sweeper at the back. His kicks weren’t so great and his catches from high balls were not sticking. When he did run with the ball he created no momentum, taking up space or throwing wild passes. He was solid but not man of the match.

method to Rassie madness. Did have to bring on AE so early when he could have moved Ben Jason to lock, but I guess he needed a lineout specialist and we were suffering in our line outs. Should Boan and Porthen gone off, maybe not, they weren’t performing well as a unit.

That was a really tense forty minutes and Italy threw everything at us.

Pollard, we need to talk about him, just not able to get the backline going. He has almost given up running and gone to auto pilot and just robot cross field kicks. Does the job for goal kicks and that is it. I know he is much better and I hope he can get that old Pollard back. We saw what happened to Morne Steyn and some part I blame Meyer and Rassie for coaching that out of him. Now we have Sasha and Manie and it is almost that he is not good enough. He needs to get more game time.

Manie, no thanks, poor defender, gets spooked easily and simply can’t play in the wet, other than his cross field kicks, some wild passes ads nothing more. We need to start looking for a third fly half. Definitely not Hendrikse.

cards, man this is becoming ridiculous how many stoppages we have. Rugby need to dial it back and accept head contact will happen. Stop throwing a card every slight foul play. Sticks hand and knocks ball on yellow. It use to be when you slap it down. Head to head. Which player wants to tackle with their head. It is never intentional and why punish. Rather tell both players to take an hia.

yeah, so not a game I was hoping for but this is a very special team that are winning fans.

Go Bokke and Go Rassie.

This is now Rassie 7 wins in a row. He has never gone past 7, next game is Ireland. Please break the hoodoo Rassie

KC

I do not think Ireland i as strong as they used to be. Leinster = that used to eb is not t he powerhouse it used to be and the strongest team at present is Mnster/ So far they have won all their URC matches - they also beats rhe Bulls = bit smethin g is serious amiss in the Bulls thus far - their twelve is a joke and in the onme game Pollard played in the URC Pollard was pathetic - but he semed to be better on Datirday.

Now lets get to the Stormers - they let Libbok go and when Sacha was not avaulable they discovered a new Flyhalf by the name of Matthee. His first match against Leinster he seemed to be hessitant even though he made and scored a try, But every match he played in he got better and better. In fact is outside of Sacha and Pollard at his best - he is at present the third best flyhalf in SA and by far better than any other franchise flyhalf in SA. The Stormers after five matches has a point difference of +118 meaning that thier average winning score differeince is on average +23,5 points per match = all three other S A franchises has a negative point differnce. That why their Springbok players making up 4 players lost to Springbok selection they eems to eb functioning on very hi gh level. . Sacha only play in 1 of the 5 matches played, The hottest backline player for the Stormers is the unknown Matthee - in his last match for the Stormers he scored 16 points himself, I state this beause the Stomers lost Libbok they found a better player in Mattheee, I never was a hot supporter of Libbok - I hessotated - becaise he was good agaisnt the AB's, but very disapppointing when he came from the bench in the match against France and my vew of Libbok is back to negative

The one player I would like to be in the backline is Hooker - but in my vrew he would be a strar player at 13. The other 13 I really think should be in the squad is Van Wyk of the Lions/.

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i noticed the ratings and the journo were raving about Willemse but to me he was great covering being a sweeper at the back. His kicks weren’t so great and his catches from high balls were not sticking. When he did run with the ball he created no momentum, taking up space or throwing wild passes. He was solid but not man of the match.

Pretty much my summary of him although he did have a few good runs. I'm perplexed by these "secure under the high ball" comments from that article Dave posted as well as Planetrugby. In the game I watched he could barely catch anything. Sure, there was pressure, but then don't say he was secure when the ball went bouncing all over the place.

As per normal you missed 90% of the match because you did not want to see wat happened in the match. That is why you conme up with the same BS as Plum. You are talking of the bouncing of the ball all ove rhe place - which happened in only one case why there were numerous cases where he caught the ball and set off counter-asttacks, and ws very good in exactly one case. He was so good in that facet of the game that I at one stage suggested he was the real MOM. What you "saw" is the exact opposite what actualy happened. How many times did he catch the ball in the Boks 22 and called and got free kicks in the Springboks 22. It happened at least 3 times. In most cases outside he 22 he caugth the ball and passed it to players who counter-attacked at least four times.

But then it is h e same - when Vunipola in the final was tackled by Mostert - wen the tacklers were two players at the same time was Marx and Malherbe and you came up with the shit that it was Mostert - who had zero involvement in the relevant tackle. You also came up with Moster making a ackle - where Mostert was weak and Marx stron in the tackle - at elast at tht case the strength was with Marx and not Mostert that really tackled the player back. Most tackles in that period was in fact made by Malherbe and Marx - et you claimed Mostert made the tackles There were also two tackles where Moster vcaled the tackles and lost hold of the players legs and Malherbe had to stop the player from getting up and scored a try.

Those are cases where you misl;ed or lied about actually happened. The cim was started byMozartand you tried to mae it real. In that specific test the commentatotrs said the two bet defenders to stop the dang erous Eng lish abckline from attacking like they did in the RWC Final. The player that stopped the English forwards stared with an M - it as Malgerbe and not Mostert who never hit a player backwards when a tackled anybody i whole career, Also the player who lost possession when tackled and did nt see how he ball lnded before Pollrd and the abll ws knocked on before the last penaly nm the first half followed and the ref allowed to kick the penalty at lest afer the Moster fuck-up happened. I caled spilling of the ball and that is what it really was.

That was what ahppened n the tedt concerned nullifying he BS you were spreading. I saw scrummie clearing Mostert at breakdwn balls, Then there were the ridculous claim that a flyhal ran strafght through a tackle of Mostert and you and Mozart claimed it was the fault of Du Toit 3 meters away guarding the next player in the attacking line - so Du Toit was to blame for a shit tackle attempt by Mostert. When Jordan ran through the tackle attempt of Mostert Meyer saw it and dropped Mostert from the starting line up n the rest of the RWC matches util he came uop to replace De Jager when he got injured.in the final. I mentioned the above since you lied about what ahppened in the tets where you prased highly for non-achieveent - same is yu did now iro Willemse.

SIES.

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Plummie and I listening to ou Maaik telling us how we missed 90% of the match.

KC

i noticed the ratings and the journo were raving about Willemse but to me he was great covering being a sweeper at the back. His kicks weren’t so great and his catches from high balls were not sticking. When he did run with the ball he created no momentum, taking up space or throwing wild passes. He was solid but not man of the match.

I will be brief and polite - the above is total misleading BS, SIES

Brilliant Pakie...... brilliant

"Pretty much my summary of him although he did have a few good runs. I'm perplexed by these "secure under the high ball" comments from that article Dave posted as well as Planetrugby. In the game I watched he could barely catch anything. Sure, there was pressure, but then don't say he was secure when the ball went bouncing all over the place."

I will have to watch again, I can recall him not securing 2 and catching quite a few.

He caught the routine catches without pressure as I recall, but you'd expect that from a fullback. You can't catch those at test level, get off the field. It's the contestable ones that's the problem because that is where the pressure comes from the opposition so those are the ones that matter. I'll check again though, first viewing impressions can be suspect especially when you get a little too involved in proceedings as I was on Saturday :)

Okay, quickly ran through the kicks. As I expected, he caught the easy ones, dropped the contested ones. He actually didn't take one contested ball, which is probably what I recalled most because, as I said, those are the ones that matter. And no, before all the reflex bleating starts, this is not to hammer the player, it's just observation. Conditions weren't great and there were few clean contested takes. His positioning was excellent throughout.

00:20 catch, no pressure

2:09 contested, completely misses

9:19 catch going back, no pressure

15:16 catches Garbisi's cross, some pressure

16:23 catches Caputso's chip, no pressure

27:10 contested, doesn't quite get to the ball, two Italians in front

40:40 contested, drops it

41:46 contested, drops it

47:24 contested with Lynagh who knocks it back and Ita attack

52:52 catch, no pressure, good run

55:39 catch, no pressure

61:45 catches cross kick, no pressure

66:24 contested, drops it backward, Italy kicks through

68:24 catch, slight pressure

71:19 catch, no pressure

The contestable ones that bounced off him irked me as well. And yess he should take the regulation ones, but there it is more important to read the game in order to be in the right position to be able to take easy catches. I think that's where the praise for his effort comes from. His positional game was excellent...

PS, The conditions were poor, even Arendse and Kolbe missed the odd contestable IIRC.

Agree, and I credited him for his positional play in the live thread and up there.

The Italians contested surprisingly well.

It reinforces the fact that his best position is 12 - he can do a job at 15 but his best position is 12 and it’s where the Boks need him most, with Fassi back at 15

Willemse’s intuitive sixth sense to be in the right position, at the right time, is what makes him so good at the back.

His cover defence from the back, also sets him apart from other full backs

He is usually much better under the high ball, but had an off day in that department on Saturday.

His ability to adapt to different positions in the Backline, that includes Nr.12, is what makes him extraordinary.

In my opinion, Fassi is possibly only better at collecting the High up and under’s out of the air.

His positional play and Defence, is not better than Willemse.

Then again Moodie is just as good at collecting those high balls.

Those high bombs looks like it is here to stay and many teams now use it. Especially the boks and it has been part of our play since way back when. Jake used Fourie Dupreez a lot, remember JP Pietersen being a nuisance etc.

The only player to me that was near impossible to kick on was Israel Folau. He just commanded the catches. That said, most of Willemse 50 plus test matches has been at full back and you would expect him to be close to that level. Those are the catches that can hurt you. Agree that Fassi is better than Willemse.

We are probably missing Willie in that he always knew how to get his backline away, joining the line and getting those crisp passes away.

Willemse who is a school boy 10 and started his career for the stormers as a 10 should have those skills. We see the opportunities can come countering and especially if it is a poor kick.

Maybe 12 is his position, but my biggest bug bear with him is he just doesn't have that distribution skills. Even RG is better in drawing players and off loading in contact. I don't see Willemse grinding into the line.

One great example was that play by Moodie for Williams try. Beat his man on the outside, had the sense to swerve and thread a pass to William. AE tried the same but his pass was too hard and too high which hit Williams on the shoulder. Should he have caught it, maybe.

However, Willemse workrate is phenomenal, when he does step and swerve impossible, and has those line breaking capabilities but I just feel that moment stops with him more often. If he can use those skills just to draw the player and get his back to read him and use that space he creates would be near impossible for any team to defend. Especially when you have the likes of Kolbe and Arendse and even Williams that can exploit any space.