I would say that the game today showed us the following issues that should eb borne in mind:-
JP Pietersen
Pietersen's lack of pace and his low workrate is a major problem and needs to be addressed. Problem is the other players Meyer has in his squad to replace him is not really the answer - since Hendricks defense is so poor and Mapoe may be the better option, but he has problems as well.
The Number 13 position
Kriel had a good game and what was clear was that when De Villiers came on - he did not move into the no 12 position - but stayed at 13. De Villiers has in the past always preferred to play at 13 for the Stormers when De Allende played at 12 - so this may be the position in future as well.
Ruan Pienaar
Pienaar's service was very slow - he takes too ,long to pick up balls from mauls and even from line-outs - putting Pollard under pressure. The try of Burden stemmed in part from that deficiency. The backline functioning improved drastically when Reinach came on, because of improvement at the scrummie position. Pienaar may be better in NH conditions than he is in SH conditions, but the question remains is he still good enough as a scrummie.
Jannie du Plessis
Mozart's "national treasure" has been poor last year in tests and he was struggling in in Super 15 this year as well. His performance today was the poorest of any player on the field of play today and he has to be replaced as a matter of urgency. Jannie is way past his sell-by date. The starting prop should be Malherbe - with Koch on the bench. Insofar as the latter is concerned there was an immediate improvement in scrumming when Koch came on - despite the fact that Louw at that stage was yellow-carded and the Springboks played with 7 players in the scrum.
Francois Louw
I was always a Louw supporter - but he was just not good enough today in breakdown play and was very inconspicuous in both defending and attacking play. If we want to compete at breakdowns we need a player like Jaco Kriel and the sooner he is brought in the better.
Victor Matfield
The one area in which the team today was iffy was in Tight 5 play. Jannie du Plessis was poor - but in the Tight 5 situation Matfield was largely absent and made near to zero contribution. He did not make a significant contribution in the line-outs either and largely called for line-outs to go to other players. There were two line-out takes on opposition throw - both not involving Matfield. His most obvious contribution in line-out play was his taking out Williams in the air and being penalized for that. His only positive contribution was when moonlighting in the backline he picked up a poor pass and pass it to De Allende for a try - but that could have been done by any backline player. Matfield remains a player with no grunt and not a contributor to Tight 5 play. His replacement will improve the Tight 5 - an essential requirement if we want to make progress in the RC and the WC.
