JJ Engelbrecht at 13

now we are talking - wow this lad is a real threat with ball in hand, love that step, imagine this guy outside Frans

A sieve......gassed by Kolisi , tossed off like a rag doll by Wailing Murray.....this boy can't tackle. He missed Murray 4 times for heaven sake. Imagine what a good outside centre would do against him.

Nope he missed two tackles and was a constant threat on attack - the guy was sublime.

Jean missed more tackles today

Nope he missed him clean twice and  two more times Wailing drove through him and offloaded . As for being sublime he beat a non closing Murray and a bunch of tight forwards in one move. In the other he handed off Mapoe who can't really tackle.

Why not talk about Hougaard who beat many more tackles and missed none?

JJ is clearly a sharp runner....I noted that last year in a posting. But he needs space.....and is unlikely to get it in tests. More of a wing. But it's all moot...if you can't defend you wont survive.

Wrong he missed two, Jean missed more today. He does not need space, he has a wicked step........he wont have that space at test level, but that is ok as he is big enough to impose himself physically when need be.

I tell you what, you stick with de Jongh as your choice at 13 and I'll stick with JJ and Taute and lets see who displaces Jean. Last I checked JJ was in the Bok squad and after his last two performances, Meyer must be smiling

I didn't see much physicality when Wailing threw him off like a rag doll.

These things happen in rugby Moz, Murray is a big powerful guy..........but remember Lambie on Schalk - shit happens - these misses dont define players.

Hell if they did Jean should never play for the Boks again after all his misses today.......but I know better, Jean is a good defender and JJ is a physical player, who will get his arse kicked from time to time - its the nature of the game.

JJ really impressed me today

I am going to make a very contentuious statement - what the hell is Francois Steyn doing to be in the Sharks team.   He played a very average game against the Bulls and yesterday he was worse - getting a yellow card for a spear tackle is the worst thing imaginable.

Francois Steyn has a huge reputation, but reputation alone is a problrem  - he needs to buck up and stop believing he is the best center in the universe.   His absence in the first half cost the Sharks dearly and put a strain on his team.   Whilst oither players get the blame for a 15 - 6 lead by the Cheetahs at halftime - I would say that his action alone  - cost the Sharks 9 of the 15 points.     

Saffex

I did not see the whole game of the Bulls-Lions because of electricity failure - but what I saw was enough to convince me that Engelbrecht is really improving.   Am begining to think more positively about him than I did before.   However, there are still some deficiencies in his game as a whole - but they are beginning to be eliminated through experience gained through playing on Super 15 level.   Yesterday he was playing against possibly the worse backline in SA - so lets see how he performs next week against the Crusaders.