Lions Fans Bullish

The Lions have largely had the physical edge. I expect that to change tomorrow though. 

Reference one run where the Boks had the edge. Outside of aimless kicks and bobbling balls, they've had no way of getting around the defensive front. The big mighty Steph, dumped by a back, Damian's one big carry... dumped a good three metres backwards. Even Eben was held at arms length. The Boks were contained. The entire Bok pack accumulated 44 metres. The maul was another story though. 

The Bok pack totally dominated the last 20-25 minutes of the 2nd test, and the Lions were reduced to tacklers at that stage, and target practice for well-placed up and under's. 

The rolling mauls were a signal of the Bok domination. This is when the Springbok juggernaut gets into full swing. 

Not really. Who dominated? The Lood that never was? The Boks were clueless. The maul was the big weapon. The maul and the boot. There was absolutely nothing else. 

Jean de Villiers had balance….terrific speed….the vision to see the potential interception….outstanding rush defence and a fine long pass. About the only thing he was missing was an elusive step. But he could power through tackles with the best of them…regularly racking up great metres per run. 

Herr Haifisch, you severely discredit your argument. Damian is not a power back. In the same category as Jamie Roberts? Are you kidding me? Nonu, Frans, Fourie, Herbert, Mortlock, Jean, Esterhuizen... this is not a company of players to which Damian belongs. Damian is a carthorse caught between positions, like Serfontein. The only difference is that Serfontein has skills and intellect. Damian is brainless, passive, unteachable, unskilled, too weak in the upper body to be a power 12, too slow for an outside back, can't read play and tackle good enough for an outside centre. He is a low powered makeshift 12, because you can't do anything else with him. South Africa has such a poor tradition for quality at centre that only Saffers go for this myth. "Damian runs over players". For eight years I have challenged his groupies to show me one instance of this. The tool got absolutely hammered by Sonny, Smith and was toyed with by the Aussies as though he were a little mouse being held by the tail. Against the Samoans he was stumped. Where and when is he this power back? Esterhuizen offers real power. So much power he can handle any player from 1 to 15 reliably on his own. Put Kerevi in his place and shut down the entire backline. He also has the best distribution of any of our backs. We've never had power and skill combine so well. I like the way he calmly handles play when it breaks down. Good decision making. Josè and Crutch aren't good enough to utilise that. Josè only opened the playbook up for Damian, and we were rewarded with the ugliest centre performances I have seen from a 12 of that supposed stature. The Brisbane test of 2018. I have all of his clips on YouTube for that. Look at what he delivered with front foot ball and Josè pulling out all of his tactical tricks and ideas. I don't think I've enjoyed watching the Boks less than this. Not even the supposed dark days of the early 00s. 

Silly, silly. If Delande has only one thing, it is power. 

Grasping at straws. Damian getting dumped is reality. He had never been and will never be a powerback. His number one weapon is to target the weak shoulder and drive through with his legs, as his upper body is too weak. Mozart has correctly identified this as "tractoring".