We need some pace in our back row....given the backlines we are going to face. But rather than the robotic Spies, I'd give Kankan the start. He is even better than Spies in the lineouts.....plays the link role better....and is a more natural tackler.
With Matfield gone we need a smart lineout captain.....I don't think that's Kruger. Kankowski on today's evidence could fill that role.
Kankowski must be a certainty- unless Duane Vermuelen is fit- which is unlikely as their is no chance for match fitness against top opposition. The Curry Cup 2nd division has the Southern Kings at the top who seem to be gradually improving- but way of Superxv form, and the only place to get match fitness- and Meyer would have to watch these games to assess his form.
Kankowski has added mongrel to his flashy act. He was also like Spies- a wing playing as a forward, now he has brought the physicality on defence as well
I agree that in the Super 15 Kankowski showed that he is a vast improvement on Spies - but would he een be considered by Meyer? He has a Japanese contract and that would probably be the excuse for leaving him out of the team.
Moart - I am not so impressed about Kankowskis role in the line out situation. The line out situation can be handled satisfactorily by Bekker and Etzebeth - plus the other tall players that will be in the Bok team amongst the forwards even better than Mattfield did it - since the latter other than during line outs Mattfield always stood around in the backline - no hard grind for him. I think the line out issue is settled - but what worries me is the actual role of the no 8 - a role which is not played well at all by Spies.
Meyer will stick with Spies - and also with Morne Steyn.
I agree that in the Super 15 Kankowski showed that he is a vast improvement on Spies - but would he een be considered by Meyer? He has a Japanese contract and that would probably be the excuse for leaving him out of the team.
Moart - I am not so impressed about Kankowskis role in the line out situation. The line out situation can be handled satisfactorily by Bekker and Etzebeth - plus the other tall players that will be in the Bok team amongst the forwards even better than Mattfield did it - since the latter other than during line outs Mattfield always stood around in the backline - no hard grind for him. I think the line out issue is settled - but what worries me is the actual role of the no 8 - a role which is not played well at all by Spies.
Meyer will stick with Spies - and also with Morne Steyn.
A fit Vermuelen will get the job and rightly so. Meyer has expressed his admiration of this world class player and I think he could well ditch him if Vermuelen is fit. Not so sure Meyer will ditch spies for kan kan,
Kan kan would be an improvement on spies. However apart from the lineout factor he was outplayed by Deon Fourie quite significantly.
We need a pack with grunt so to me Juandre Kruger is out and I prefer Vermuelen to the improved kan Kan. Will Schalk and Vermuelen be fit. One thing for sure snapsters big call on Kolisi was shown once more to be premature. Apart from a few tackles he was a non entity. He and Joe were weak links
With Burger still struggling its Coetzee. Vermuelen and Alberts.
toe be honest i will use spies on the bench for losie cover and for wing. i will choose vermeulen and alberts but then you need a much more mobile fetcher to balance the lose trio out. alberts and vermeulen are great ball carriers but are very slow. need to balance that power and size out with a more rangey quicker player for the breakdowns. maybe a fourie or brussouw. cant have 3 lose players that are the same. we will get murdered at the breakdown
On current form i would also prefer Kankowski above Spies. If ermeulen is still out.
Carpet. regarding Fetchers. Please remember. a flank doe not need to be a fetcher. Neither does a fetcher neccesily have to be a flank. Bismarck is a great fetcher. Fetcher is a role that any other player that plays to the ground can fullfill. Both the Stormers and Sharks play their Main Fetcher in the Hooker position. fourie played it in the Nr8 Position on the weekend for the Stormers. Cheetahs have 2 fetchers. In Brussow and Coenie Oostuizen.
I agree though If you have alberts at 7 and Vermeulen at 8 you do need pace at 6. There you can then go for Coetzee and maybe Kolisis off the bench. This will give you some pace. However they can play a more distributive role with the speed they have. You can then use Bismark to off set the ground play.
its not a hooker primary job to fetch or to cause turnovers. he ons has that by all means then its a bonus. if bismarck cant play for what ever reason might be then it will cause the cohesion at the breakdown to be disrupted. so what will we do then if bismarck is not o the playing field ????...do we assign beast for that role of fetching ??? one cant expect bismarck to be there at every breakdown. that is impossible. kollisi nor coetzee has that breakdown ablity to steal or disrupt the opposing teams ball sorry to say. we dont need a another running flanker but rather a mole mongrel doing some work on the dirt to ensure that our backline and forwards has amble time to contrate there efforts on going forward running not mauling on the ground with the mcheats and pococks of the world. coetzee and kolisi are great running lose forwards but not international class open side fetchers. england exposed us at the breakdown and they are not at all potent at that department so i am very very worried to say the least. if HM cant see this as problem area then i am sorry we will be doomed from the start. one can try to send 3 or 4 players to every breakdown to combat the other teams fetcher but to do that over 80 min is just not a option nor possible.
we need to be street smart not one dimensional
kanko must at least be on the bench in my view. great season and deserves it really
Kanko should walk the Bok number 8 spot. Spies has the potential to be great number 8, but he is simply a lazy guy. Kanko has always showed potential, but like Spies used to go missing, but something has finally clicked and Kanko has as last arrived. I think Spies needs to be left out the Bok set up for the rest of the year and I think it will be just what he needs to re-invigourate himself. But for now, Kanko is the man.
Without a doubt he has been my favourite player to watch in the Sharks squad over the last few games. The guys work rate is tremendous and he seem to have a good head on him whent he lineouts are concerned. He has really proved that he could do a great job at 8.
I wonder if Juan Smithis truly retired
