Jean de Villiers - Looking at his recent photos

I was really surprised to see photos taken the last three weeks.  Jean looked as if the serious injury has resulted in him looking five years older than he actually is and that he has lost a lot of weight - his face showed a gaunt person.
I wonder how much weight he has lost since that horrible injury against Wales last year?    What is evident he has not regained his rather average form he had last year before his injury and he was obviously slowed down and seems to be lethargic as well.   Meyer said Jean offered to play from the bench - but he would not allow that since they are friends.   
Interestingly enough the following comments on the article dealing with Meyer's decision to retain De Villiers in the starting line-up:-
" Hate to say it but I can't help hoping that JdV is still off form and gets replaced as early as possible on Saturday so that De Allende and Kriel can finally pick up where they left off. I think JdV's role should be to come off the bench for the last 20 minutes, when his experience might actually be useful. But to me he doesn't look well - he looks like he's lost 15kg's after all his injuries and his strength has gone. Like 20 minutes is all he can handle anyway right now."

They said he had lost 7kg  

Kriel was run over by the Japanese, this is a kindness on HM's part. His career could have been destroyed by Samoa. I repeat Kriel lost the match against Japan.

Be careful what you wish for. If Jean fails, so too our World Cup campaign. It's not as if Damian has been playing good rugby, he has actually floundered like an amateur. And what exactly did he do with Kriel? They were both outclassed by Australia and Argentina; blunt and haphazard against NZ. They did nothing constructive on attack or defence. 

 Balls Desert Fool - the player with the best tackle break record and the third best line break stats is sub-standard.  What a joke.   

Damian is the worst defensive centre in Super rugby and made ONE successful tackle throughout the RC. Furthermore, he cannot carry the ball up or create space. If Damian was getting so much penetration, then why was the attack so lateral? The Stormer's pack was immense and their support lines were good. Your fanciful tall tales do not hold up to close scrutiny or video evidence. 

 DF
He was beaten by Fransie Steyn as the worst defending center in Super 15 - proven over and over again.   And you lied about him making 1 effective tackle as was proven in one match where de Allende made 15 tackles - against OZ alone.  
You are the confused one about this issue and has been WRONG whenever you mentioned De Allende.
Have your forgotten how Fransie landed on his ass twice when he tried to tackle De Allende in the Stormers - Sharks game?   Apparently a very short memory on your part. 
Also the one line break and 9 defenders beaten all season as against De Allende's 27 line breaks and 73 defenders beaten.  Only a palooka like you would say Steyn is the better center.
Why are you ALWAYS wrong about player evaluations? 

Actually, Damian is statistically and factually the worst defensive centre in SH rugby! It was in an article interviewing Nonu. So the joke's on you. It gets even worse though as most of the tackles listed as a success were anything but. Tackles in which he was being driven back, run over or slipping off the attacker but with a team mate rescuing the situation are listed as a success for Damian. 

 Fox, when Nonu was asked what he thought of going up sgainst a weak defender like Damian, by an SA journo nogal, he actually said it is bollocks and pure stats don't always reflect reality. He said Damian was one of the best, if not the best 12's in Super rugby this year. In fact everyone say that, exept for you and Moz. He has a weakness on defence, but there are ways to deal with that. As long as the good weighs more than the bad, he should play. The guy is hard to bring down and breaks tackles like no other 12 I've seen. Some of his defensive issues has a lot to do with poorer lose forward defence than what he is used to. Flo in particular let him down, especially in the Kudriani try. His defence will be much better with both Duane and Scalla in the mix. Pollard missed some tackles for the same reason. Flo hangs back for too long. Go check.

 That is an outright lie.   Mot institutions use the ESPN stats and that prove beyond doubt that Fransie is in fact statistically and otherwise the worst defending 12 in SA.  You live in a dreamworld - perhaps you have forgotten how Fransie was brushed off like a fly and the Fat ou8 landed on his backside behind De Allende.   Everyone target Fransie because he is a defensive liability - too slow and clumsy to tackle players effectively.   
I will quote the stats of the relevant game in brief for you:
Juan de Jongh
Ball Carries        =       6Meters Made     =       8Tackles made    =       2Tackles missed  =       3
Francois Steyn
Ball Carries        =       6Meters Made     =       7Tackles made    =       8Tackles missed  =       2
Damian de Allende
Ball Carries        =       10Meters Made     =       56 Tackles made    =         5Tackles missed  =         0

I quoted the above since it was a game where De Allende was Fransie opposed each other.   The two missed tackles are the attempted ones ofn De Allende where Frnse tried to clean up the grass after the two attempted tackles.   
Unfortunately the above is the regular type of stats in each match De Allende and Fransie played in.  However,   the stats in that case was very typical of what happened the rest of Super 15.      
The normal rubbish performances of De Jongh ad Steyn was clearly illustrated above.    


  

 Mike, was this the game Fransie lost his cool and targeted kolbe with late and high tackles?

I already reviewed that game. It was the one where Damian failed to clear his lines and the Sharks scored a try immediately thereafter. Interesting, you berated Morné for failing to find touch, but you were quiet about Damian directly conceding a try with a poor kick. The Sharks were completely exposed on the opposite side of the field and could not scramble back, such was the pressure Damian placed upon them; A ball fielded just outside the Stormer's 22 and seconds later try. Damian missed all his tackles on Frans. Michael has a very strange habit of revisiting old ground, the very grounds of old defeats. He imagines that if he tells the same beaten lie of olde often enough, the outcome will be different . He is like a dog returning back to its vomit.  

 Draad
Yes that was the game where Fransie tried his wrath on Kolbe because he could not fund anything to do better on bigger players.  Ended up being carded.
  

 DF
De Allende did not miss a SINGLE tackle in the game I mentioned so where did you get that rubbish from?  I gain the impression that you are just stirring and what you wrote has only that objective.  You can really not be so  stupid as to believe the dribble you write on this site.    

 
Mike ... I agree ... he does somehow seem gaunt ... tired ... stressed ... as if a sense of hopelessness has come over him and is now manifesting itself through his face.

He knows very well that ...

Fisrtly ... he's not up to scratch and shouldn't be there ...

Secondly ... that Damian is by a long shot the better 12 .. not only as an attacking player by defensively as well ...

He knows very well that this is a poorly selected squad and that it's lead by a foolish coach ...

He even made it clear that he had no confidence in this squad by promising us that they'll "never give up" ... that they will "keep fighting" ... implying that he was aware of the possibility of an early exit and we should understand that it's out of his hands.

He knows that he's ll go down in history as the captain who lost to Japan ... as the captain who was part of the most embarrassing squad of feeble players ever to represent South Africa ... as the captain who watched his team fall to 6th ... with a record 5 wins in 14 test matches.

There is nothing for him to be proud of. 

I would hang my head in shame!!

Wouldn't you too be gaunt and filled with dread?

 Jean offered to step down but the team (except for Bismark) stood by him and wanted him to play. That's what I heard. I agree he looks gaunt. The man is all class but is still not playing like he needs to.

 
A lot of negativity going on behind the scenes.

A house divided cannot stand.