Jantjies - SR player of the decade

https://sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/why-super-rugby-player-of-the-decade-still-doesnt-do-elton-jantjies-justice-20200521

Not sure when he was nominated or how it works. Also not entirely sure that I agree with the outcome because there are a good few players that could probadly be given the title with much less pushback from fans.

Fact is, and I don't know if it was posted here already but Elton has been voted as SR player of the decade.

Yeah, I know that he has very few fans on the site. 

Handre has turned out to be his superior and took the Boks all the way in 2019.

What Handre or any other SA 10 hasn't done, is pivot a team to a multi-season 50+ average points per game record. And I still feel that we never took the lesson that we should from that Lions 2015 - 2018 run. Here's why...

SA has something that other top tier nations don't have. A toolbox that we seem, for some reason, very apprehensive about leaning in to.

Nkosi, Cheslin, Dweba, Willemse...yes, players of colour. Guys that don't necessarily fit into the traditional mold of what we expect rugby players to be but that bring something else to the table. Those sporting gifts that come with more fast twitch fibres and quicker reaction times. The same innate ability that dominates the NFL - Perhaps the most stat heavy game in the world.

Looking no further than Mapimpi for evidence of innate ability being a more than suitable replacement for a rugby upbringing.

We have to look far and wide to find white players that start late and make it to the highest level. Perhaps some people here know of a few examples. I don't.

However, when you look at many of the black guys, they started late but the machine was good enough to run on software that had only been a few years in the making as opposed to an entire school and university career of updates.

Dyanti is another one. Natural talent...Haha well not so "natural", but you get the picture. He only started at University. 

An awareness of space and danger, an almost ignorant level of bravery and an effortless feel for opportunity. Most of that is not coachable because it is genetic. Perhaps it is the result of tens or even hundreds of thousands of years of hunting small game and the in-built reflexes required for such a task. Whatever it is, the difference is measurable. It's what gave rise to such terms as "The Great White Hope".

Ja, I know the idea pisses many people off but don't take my word for it. Just take a gander at the NFL roster. It's entirely skewed towards black players and that statistic has zero to do with affirmative action. It has everything to do with results and permance.

In fact, there are clear trends that show exactly what positions whites and blacks tend to be better at.

As more and more kids of colour take up rugby, it seems that lessons need to be learned from that magical three-year Lions run. 

The lesson is that players like Jaintjies don't hold to the keys to the old coffers but it may just be that they are able to open doors to future dominance. 

There are many ways to skin a cat and we might just be sitting right on top of the best one ever.

A NFL scout coming to a SA township would be like a kid in a candy store if he were shopping for raw talent. 

I don't care about the politics and race baiting that entirely surrounds this subject. And I'm not promoting affirmative action, so don't even go there.

If success if the yardstick then I think SA rugby needs to lean into players of color with everything we have while taking lessons from guys like Jantjies on how to make the best of it.

Who knows, if the NFL is anything to go by, that best may our  best ever.

I await the backlash.

Typos fixed...sorry my phone hates me.

Ok lets start with it then and look at it objectively.   Jantjies was very good  when he played under 20 rugby for SA at the Under20 WC series in 2011.  He then played Super Rugby in 2012 and really was part and parcel of the failure of the Lions in the Super Rugby series in 2012 - resulting in their relegation from the Super Rugby series in 2013.  The Lions also had a poor season in the CC competition that year,  Jantjies failed in that series too and he was part of a plot by Strauss trying to get rid of Mitchell as their coach after he started to deal with the two.   Jantjies was so bad Michell replaced him very early in a match against WP and that caused the attack on Mitchell,

Because of the relegation of the Lions in 2013 he went to the Stormers in 2013 and was a total flop in that series.   He was so bad that the Stormers released him from his contract with them three months early,  He went back to the Lions and had a few good years playing for them in the Super Rugby series  in especially 2015, 2016 and 2017.   In 2018 and 2019 he was as poor as he was in 2012 and 2013 when the Lions were extremely poor,   

I would not select him as player of the decade based on three years of good performances in a strong Lions side,   On test level he was a flop as well,                    

Mike, 

I hear what you're saying. And I agree regarding him perhaps not being the right choice. 

There are certainly a few Kiwis probably more deserving. 

Still, I was making a larger point. But, no worries.

Mapimpi is the most intelligent wing since Habana. That's an important distinction to make. 

The NFL is the most scientifically analysed sport in the world. The level of detail in every phase of the game is without equal. The coaching and the proactive manner in which teams are continually adjusting and developing, it's beyond anything that has ever been seen in rugby. It's something South Africa as a culture is one of the worst in the world at doing. South Africans are feely people, they are very sensitive and emotional and don't like to be told unpleasant things. They are passive and simply go with the flow. You want players to be more impactful, then find ways to bring their skillset into the game. But, you will also have to utilise players that are innately passive and slower at learning. Take Damian, Steph, Nkosi et al. Passive. This is and will always be the Achilles heel of Bok rugby. Now consider these attributes at coaching level. We've only had two coaches who tried to turn the tide. Neither were received well by the substandard collective of plastics masquerading as fans. 

Aug, 

Why do you rate Mapimpi's smarts department so highly? Because he's a strong/efficient defender?

I take it, as an NFL follower, you agree that we're squandering lots of innate ability?

I do think that the NFL comparison isn't completely fair, since the stop start flow of that game does lend itself to fast twitch explosiveness more readily. 

Regardless, there remains value in it, right?

AO

For an idiot who claims he knows something of rugby and the way you have carried on under various user names for years and punting the same imbecilities you are very outspoken in adding to the BS you routinely spout on site,   I do not know what you know about SA at all,  South  Africans are critical of players who do not perform and those include players like Morne Steyn, Matfield (after his return from retirement) and other players where their age caught up with them.  The string is very long.   Of  the three worst rugby coaches since 1992 - De Villiers, Meyer and Coetzee - you gave ratings to two of them above the rugby genius Erasmus,

It is always laughable to read your ridiculous idiocies  on site - so please don't stop and cause less enjoyment for all of us,   LMAO              

"Sptj Africans." Yes, by all means, lets have the resident expert speak on these matters. 

Before you tell me that was a typo, do tell me what word is contextually accurate that is so close to "Sptj". 

It was a typo idiot and I corrected it before I looked at your message,   Be it as it may upi remaion the joke of the decade on this site,    L MAO 

Thanks Mike.

Tell me, is it possible for anyone to create a rugby post without you immediately screwing it up?

Yes, please tell us for the 1000th time about M atfield and and and.

Get a grip

"upi remaion"

According to Google Translate, that may be Croatian... 

LMAO