Lions downed yet again by Jaguars

Did not watch as I'm rather bored with Supers over the last week...quite honestly I only really enjoy watching the Hurricanes and the Saders play but I see Jaguars won 49-35 against our so called top team or are they?

I was impressed by the Stormers first half but second did not convince me at all...the Reds are not by any means the strongest in Oz but they came close to the Stormers in dying moments...and that's at their home ground where they play their best.

We are looking rather dismal...it looks like we will now have to wait and see if the Bulls can gain momentum and up their game...I'm not that sure.

I thought Marx was excellent when he came on. And made a real difference. Got me 56 in fantasy too. Machine. They got close when it was 39-35. Unfortunatly a drop off in defense conceded anothr try.

We've brought a lot of quota coaches in and to be quite honest I expected nothing less than a torrid season because of it

Also ... coach De Bruin isn't suited to a leadership role. He was good as an assistant and that's where they should have left him.

We have joined the pathetic ranks of the rest of South Africa's SR franchises.

I'm preparing an email as we speak and have every intention of expressing my disgust.

Totally unacceptable.

CC

I share your feelings in this regard.   However, I do believe it is not only the coaches who are to blame in this case,  They obviously have a share of the problem - but there are others as well.   Allow me to be more explicit.

I think it took some time for the opposing teams to work out Jantjies as a player and now they hit pay dirt,   Jantjies has a defense deficiency and I have always maintained he is not a natural talent - but a manufactured one.   He is predictable in his passing game and  his defense is poor.   It is where the Lions backline problems start.

In the second problem is that there are also midgets in the backline - in other words the  13 and wings are physically deficient.    They has a massive pace superiority over  players - but is not physically strong  enough to make tackles and to have real punch in attack.    

Les face facts - the main problem of the Lions is centered around Jamtjie s - who under  pressure is not a nice sight to see and the backline defense. is a nightmare,   I cannot see how the Lions can correct the Jantjies problem  - but to have poor defenders at 12 is not the way to go.  It is also lunacy to select three midgets at 13 and on the wing.  This is a repeat disaster equal  to the  Stormers under Coetze.   

I think the Lions must play  Janse van Rensburg  at 12 Vorster at 13   and expedite te return of Combrinck om the wing,  but has no answer to solve the Jantjies problem.        .

Looking good for the Crusaders, a couple of weeks ago I didn't give us much of a chance with our injuries but now I am pretty confident we can take this one

The Lions are missing Whiteley.  

I have to express how inspired I have been by ou maaaaikie. I have managed too teach ou maaaaike over the years that you cant have too many midgets in the backline. This gives me hope that I will, over the longer term, be able to educate JW and other kbbs! 

Chop ... perhaps it's best you focus your attention on your limp member and leave rugby to the rest of us. 

Mike ... your statement of a "manufactured" talent regarding Jantjies is an interesting one. You may be onto something. He does however have excellent accuracy with his kicks out of hand. Best in the country if you ask me. Just a pity that he has such confidence issues and that a panic attack is always so close at hand with him.

One cannot present a proper challenge when you're leaking tries like that. If you allow the opposition to chalk up 7 trys (which seems to be the regular number) it puts pressure on you to come up with at least 8. What if your opponent's defense is a solid one?

We face the Saders next. Their defense is a lot better than most. I'm very worried about the coming weekend's match

Gooo Lionssss!!!!

Orie is a pap lock and Kwagga no forward unless playing behind a dominant pack. Play kwagga at 13 you are missing a trick here.

The loss of Whitely, Redlinghuys, Ruan ACKERMANN, FERRIA AND FAF HAVE BEEN REAL LOSSES! 

"over the years that you cant have too many midgets in the backline."

LOL...they need  young midgets like "Mannetjies Roux", Brenton Paulse and Gio Aplon

Depends if they are pocket rockets who read the game well and see gaps and run through them and have speed then they don't need slow earth moving equipment to break through..

If you mean  centres like a young Danie Gerber or Pieter Muller or Japie Muld er then I agree with you but they are like hens teeth and certainly don't exist in our line up as it stands.

Yes ... sadly it doesn't look as though we have a dynamic set of centers to challenge the world with.

Rohan is not the answer. Neither is De Allende or Kriel.

Rohan reminds me of Dries Scholtz. A powerhouse going forward but sucks at everything else.

Perhaps we should look towards a different set of centers. Someone like Odendaal. Maybe even someone like Franscois Venter.

They may not be much to write home about but at least they can defend their channel. Brain over brawn.  

I have to make some observations as to the above comments as to the above.  As to Jantjies I have to confirm what was said - he is a confidence player, but that confidence takes a nosedive when he is under pressure and that is the case on test level.  That is when he miss goal kicks at times, but is line kicking is at times very good.   A mixed bag - but under pressure a failure,

As to Kwagga - I am becoming less and less inspired by his performance on 15 man rugby.  He is to my mind a Sevens specialist - one of the best in the world - and should concentrate on that foirm of the game.

I agree with the description of Janse van Rensburg inasmuch as that he is not a thinking player - something that makes him rather aa liability in backline play.   He playing outside of the defense - deficient Jantjies - is also seriously deficient as a defender,   The two together  makes the channel a highway for opposition attacks.   

As to the term midgets to describe small backline players who is physically deficient was coined by me and Beeno is of course trying to highjack that phrase as f he has come up wi th something new.   He should start thinking before writing as if he knows something about rugby.   

Seb

I met a number of smallish backline players like Mannetjies, Dawie Snyman and Carel du Plessis and was surprised how really small they were.   There are two things that is different, namely -

*   unlike the situation with the present midgets - they were brilliant THINKING PLAYERS; and

*   the circumstances were different when they played rugby in the 1970's and 1980's as to present circumstances where the backline players are physically much bigger than they used to be at that stage and also combine thinking play in their make-ups., despite them being much slower as backline players than the situation was in the deca des mentioned.