If one were to believe the doom and gloom merchants like ou maaaikie, snapspeter, muncher rugganutter etc etc we are in the dwang. Mike cant see us winning another RC match etc etc. Ou maaakie couldnt see the second string Stormers winning a match.
These guysare like yo yo's up and down they go - unstable in all their ways! Hence some much needed sound perspective is needed.
One such perspective is that the Argies on this form could have beaten any side in the world. Can they sustain this level of ferocity or will we again see them peter out. Be assured we will not face a pack so determined and capable again jn this years RC. The biting and eye gouging were simply the evidence of extreme desparation. With oaks like CC demanding their removal from the RC they were playing for their rugby lives.
Meyer can be forgiven for not tweaking the side although a couple of changes should have been made. The more direct and physical Biissie should have started this match as should Flip.
In the front row the scrum was solid against a strong Puma scrum. However as Mallet noted players like Beast, Jannie and Junadre do not clean out that well. Also Beast and Jannie do not drive the ball up effectively and do not last 80 minutes so sub tthem. The positive is that Coenie was rock solid at tighhead. He also adds more value outside the scrum so we can expect him to start. We have a very good tighthead in Malherbe emmerging and there are a number of promsing props such as kitshoff, Marcell Mellet.
At Lock Etzebeth continues to impress in all aspects of the game and in his discipline. I am sure he would like to deal with same of the oaks more severely but restrains himslef for the sake of the side. When Du Toit gets going next year we will have the premier lock combo in the world. Again we have a number of locks emmerging. Pity Bekker was not there instead of Juandre.
The loose forwards are accused of losing the break down. Well what the oaks are misisng is the way the Bok forwards were fanning out and not committing to the rucks in numbers. Against Engalnd at twicks this loose trio may be fine. Deon Fourie at 6 (Tough as teak), Vermuelen and Louw at 7 is a good option. I am keeping a watch on Willie Brits and of course arno Botha impressed.. Kolisi is not ready and lacks the skillset right now.
JJ needs to be moved t the wing but NOT because he is not an extremely promising 13 but because with JP gone a hole needs to be filled. This means Jan being thrown in at 13 which is not ideal given his youth.
Vermaak must start until Fourie can play. At the very least he should have been on early in the second half.
Habana was very quiet. Normally he is excelleny at looking for work. Is his R660,000 a month contract with Toulon weighing on his mind?
Willie at 15 remains but lambie is challenging which is good competition.
Morne remains unchallended at flyhalf and was clealry the man of the match with his amazing goal kiking. His ratings were embarassing for ou maaakie.
So quite a lot to think about for Meyer but there is little doubt the incremental improvements are there and by 2014 we should be cooking.
Lets go down under and give the puffed up abs a severe snotklap. Last year at Dunedin we were good and should have won comfortably. This year lets slot the goal kicks, not butcher our scoring opportunities and give the abs a good hiding. No more our loosing the game rather than the abs winning it etc. We can only hope we get a competent ref/linesmanen TV adjudicators etc.
