Letsal - the idiocy of player assessments based on prejudice

Under two threads Letsal dealt with player assessments of performances during the games of the Sharks and Stormers on Saturday and specifically those of Francois Steyn, Juan de Jongh and Damian de Allende.   

He did all that in a minute to minute report of the matches and the players roles in it.  De Jongh and Steyn could do zero and get a flood of compliments - De Allende is criticized virtually non-stop. 

In the end he came to a conclusion that Steyn and De Jongh was shining stars on the day and De Allende basically useless.   

One wonders  how that is possible at all - but then everything is possible in what Letsal came up with, eg -

*   Folau is useless and slow as a full back - Kirschner is world class and better than any other present full  backs;

*   Morne  is the best flyhalf the Springboks have had in the professional era; etc

However - I am trying to put some perspective into the delusions spouted by Letsal and am comparing the real info on what happened  on Saturday.   I am using four databases in this case and found the following:-

ESPNscrum

Even Mozart from time to time - when it fits his book - use stats from this site so lets look at what actually happened:-

If any person missed it the situation is as follows:

*   De Allende scored a try - none for Steyn

*   Steyn converted 3 penalties and a try for 11 points 

*   Steyn handled the ball 10 times - kicked it twice - past it 6 times and carried it twice.

*   De Allende handled the ball 7 times - passed it once and carried it 6 times.

*   Steyn made zero net gain in territory iro the balls he carried - De Allende made a territory gain of 48 meters in his ball carries.

*   Steyn made no line breaks and beat 1 tackle during the game - De Allende made 2 line breaks and beat 3 tackles.

*   Steyn off-loaded 2 balls - De Allende 1.

*  Steyn made 8 tackle attempts - making 5 tackles and missing 3; De Allende made 15 tackle attempts making 12 tackles and missing 3.

*  Steyn gave away a penalty.

Somewhat sick performance of Steyn in reality.

Test Rugby

Pointe here are allocated based on stats and deal with issues such as tackles made and tackles missed, line breaks, effective ball carries, penalty and tr conversions.

The point allocation for Saturday was as follows:-

Steyn       :   205

De Allende :   290 

Problem here was the 205 points of Steyn included 110 points based on successful conversion kicks - leaving him with 95 points in respect of all other activities.

The NZ Herald Data Base

Pointe here are allocated based on stats and deal with issues such as tackles made and tackles missed, line breaks, effective ball carries, penalty, try conversions, etc.

The point allocation for Saturday was as follows:-

Steyn       :     24

De Allende :     46 

Problem here was the 24 points of Steyn included 11 points based on successful conversion kicks - leaving him with 13 points in respect of all other activities.

Foxsport Data Base

 Pointe here are allocated based on stats and deal with issues such as tackles made and tackles missed, line breaks, effective ball carries, penalty, try conversions, etc.

The point allocation for Saturday was as follows:-

Steyn       :     25

De Allende :     49

Problem here was the 25 points of Steyn included 11 points based on successful conversion kicks - leaving him with 14 points in respect of all other activities.

CONCLUSION

If there was any cases where there were any other sources agrees with letsal or even where there are doubts about the  difference in performances on Saturday was expressed - then some credence could be given to what Letsal wrote - but not one of the databases indicated that Steyn could not even get to 50% of the performance achievements of De Allende.

All I can say - we have a serious case here of extreme prejudice against De Allende and praise-singing of Steyn.   Good for entertainment - but of no real value otherwise.  

Lestats take on everything rugby is a load of shit.

de Allende was far far better than Frans or de Jongh and I am a huge Frans fan.

de Allende has beaten more defenders than any other player in the S15 this year......that says it all.

de Allende has to walk the Bok starting side with his eyes closed......one of the easiest selections to make......its just a case of 12 or 13.

For me it would be Serf at 12, with de Allende at 13 and Vorster on the bench  

Oh what rubbish he was solid enough at 13 in the tests.....one or two tests playing out of position hardly define a player.

Play him at 13 for a season and then pass judgement. The notion that he was poor at 13 is complete and utter rubbish......much like your takes on everything......the worst to date has to be Etzebeth......insulting to say the least.

As for not being much of an attacker at 12 - what a joke. He likes to position himself out wide - that's a lie......show us evidence of this crap?

His strength is in contact where his raw strength is second to none......he invariably beats the first defender or breaches the advantage line.......but added to this is good pace and good feet.....the lad has it all, coupled with good hands.

By some distance our best centre and clearly one of the best players in this years s15 given his stats on defenders beaten.

You cant argue against those stats you idiot.

de Jongh is a joke......he is not good enough to play 13 at S15 level...physically not up to the task