10 minutes of uneventful back and forth so far.
10 minutes of uneventful back and forth so far.
Lions over through Renzo du Plessis. Good handling, good try.
Wolhuter slices the conversion like it's a chocolate cake. 5-0 Lions.
Mills botches a clear try-scoring opportunity with an unforced forward pass.
Wolhuter penalty. 8-0.
Dave's man Bronson with a terrible forward pass with the Lions on attack.
Kriel with a good take but another wayward pass ruins the Lions momentum. They still have it though. Now penalized for going off their feet in the ruck.
Lions doing some good attacking, just can't keep it going.
This girl is in charge…seen her before, quite competent.
Bronson had a bit of a Death Wish there with a late no arms tackle on Jennings but ref ignores it.
Connies forward pass saves the Lions some possible trouble.
Penalty right in front, should be 3 more for the Lions. Indeed, 11-0.
Okay game but lots of errors and everything feels kinda flat. Bronson has been a nothing burger. Not sure if I'll watch the second half.
All Bronson has done so far is throw a Breakheart Pass.
Wolhuter penalty. 14-0.
Yellow for Du Plessis.
Con-act with an easy maul try.
Connacht over but it's ruled out for obstruction.
Might have been obstruction. Holly cancels the try.
This girl is going to make a stern mother
Kriel with a superb offload from the ground keeps the Lions going, but then they knock it.
Poor defending from Connacht and Edwil vd Merwe in for an easy try.
21-0.
Edwill makes it look easy. One on one you don't stop our little wings.
Hang on . . . TMO checking a dangerous tackle from Henco . . . "glancing chin contact" makes it no try, penalty Connacht instead. Bit soft if you ask me.
Oh wait, Holly and her two stooges are looking at something. Yeah I though Henko was flirting with fate with that tackle, but there doesn't seem to be head contact.
Yeah that's bullshit but hey, the players know how things are by now.
There’s more physicality in soccer these days….
It's a big downer when good tries get cancelled for something that happened so far back.
It has an insidious effect….when your team scores a try these days you don’t give your emotions free rein …you have to check the ref. It changes the game for fans.
For such a frantic game there's very little productive happening. We run a bit and lose it, then you run a bit and lose it and then we run a bit again.
And again the Lions lose it while rumbling towards the tryline.
Bronson is making his tackles at least. Another wild Lions pass into nowhere.
Not much energy in this game
Good play by the Lions down the left side of the field and Pretorius scores. 19-0 with the kick to come.
Renzo du Plessis has been my fresh face of the game so far. He's been busy and carries strongly.
Good carry by Cairns to engage three defenders and open the tryline. Or whoever it was, looked like an 8 on the back but I couldn't see properly.
Well worked try by the Lions. All our teams are offloading instinctively, I wonder if the Boks will finally be encouraged to do so.
Wolhuter pushes the conversion like it's his mother-in-law's car with an abyss in front of it.
Connacht over. 19-7 with 6 minutes to go.
19-7 for the Lions Blobbie, 75th minute.
Just saw a replay of that botched Lions try after my stream hiccuped.
How did Stransky get 19 points to 12…almost as dumb as that missed try….dot the ball down they teach the U11s
Bronson!!!
Bronson kicks it into the corner.
Edwill knocks on with the try-line beckoning . . .
Edwill off Horn's offload almost creates something out of nothing, just couldn't hold on to the bouncy ball.
Edwill did everything and then can’t collect.
Renzo's impressive stats getting highlighted on the telly. See, I'm not bad at spotting them.
Huge Lions scrum wins a penalty but they make nothing of it . . . there's the hooter . . .
Geez Lions. Take a quick tap and then pass to an oblivious team mate and lose the ball again.
Long post-hooter period of play. And Edwill kicks Connacht's dropped possession through, no one back, try.
Nice end.
Edwill finally gets a try after a kick through and it ends 26-7.
Stompies up next. I'm braaing so I'll be watching but not posting.
26-7 Lions win. Not a bad game, bit error-ridden but entertaining in its own way.
Guys
i missed the game.
without baiting the guy that “searches for singles” in his area, how did Mills play?
Made his tackles, threw one terrible pass, did the basics fairly well. Nothing that made you sit up and take notice. Journeyman vibes.
Stav
It is hard for temas from Europe o come and play in Pretoria or Johannesburg du alitude,
I had a look at Mills - he looks aa good guy at his age and played ell - a hell of a lot better than deadhead Esterhuizen.
Ou Maaik, if you had to choose between having Joe Biden or Andre Esterhuizen over for dinner, which one would you choose?
Hansie Cronje
None - both are deadheads
Ou Maaik, the question is if you HAD to have one of them over for dinner, which one would it be?
Pretend your Cliques device will be confiscated if you don't choose one.
No
I will leave town or pretended to be sick - since I do prefer not to talk to idiots and deadheads..
I guess you didn't see AE crash through and make the pass that ended up winning the Sharks the game last night, Mike?
And you missed that then I'm guessing that then you also missed that he was getting over the advantage line at will throughout the game.
He was excellent this season before that scumbag Stormers players tried to break his knee, and he's also been fantastic since he came from that injury.
You're the only person on this site that doesn't recognise it, Mike. Literally the only one.
Fact is praising Esterhuizen love to see dead backline attacking play, Imagine a center playing in 22 tests for the Springboks and never scoring a try and crashing threw and making a pass that led tp a try is just vocal disbelieve,
The Sh aksa nai roblem is hey have adequate playes to do better in rugby and not struggle to win games against teams lik they did recently and scoring a few tries here and there is due to dead head backline play. The Sharks has excellent wings and a very good fullback that had to score tries based on unividual effort - while their scrummies, flyhalfs are playing poor an unthining rugby,
Lets go further the stats of Esterhuizen on Satirday was 11.5 points for Esterhuizen and 11 points for mills, Both of those are based on stats and in your book Mills is a journeyman - while Esterhuizen is so much bette than Millsm based not on stats but on your prejudice, In the main Mills contributed t attacking backline play - while did mostly contributed nothing more than Mills did, Mills is to my mind not a 12 - he is not physical enough o play at 12 - while Esterhuizen is but that is here his perormances end. He has no abiliy to play a meaningful role in scoring of ties, contibution to try scoring with on test level resulted in no tries be scored by him and no ral value n scoig of tries plaing ouside of him.
Despite all the praising Esterhuizen is a crash ball player and not a vey effective one without any real attacking ability and that is not contriobuting to attacking effective backline play and tryscoring, .
.
In the URC currently Esterhuizen is ranking 4th for defenders beaten and 11th for successful carries. Quan Horn is the only South African back close to him for defenders beaten (5th) while there's no other SA back in sight for successful carries. The only other two South Africans in the top 20 for successful carries are Stormers loosies Roos and Theunissen.
On Satiurdy his stats are average and he got 11,5 points and Mills got 11 points, Not much for any center especially f hey score ioe which is something Esterhuizen rarely achieves. Give us that stats as well if you don't mind. Ad to that tr assists as well,
By the way there was no line break involve in that the try yuu efered to was scored, Ulster was 1 man short die to a yellow card. St Estehuizen carried the ball for about 6 meters and passed he ball to Hooker who passed it to the tryscorer,
So give us the full picture - how many tries has Esterhuizen scored in the URC matches this season and how many try-assists he was involved in in the present season.
.
4 tries.
What is your obsession with try assists? All you need to get a try assist is to pass or kick the ball to the try scorer. Basically be the last handler of the ball before the try scorer. It's a nothing stat without context. In other words Esterhuizen has a try assist for Saturday. Jayden has two.
Lol AE could Smash through the line, get the opposition totally backpedaling, Jayden picks up from the ruck and pops it to someone who now has an open line in front of them.
AE gets zero credit but Jayden gets the assist and the other gets the try.
Context, Mike
What I asked abiut is how many tries Esterhuizen in fact scored for the Sharks this season. My obsesson is abou creation of ries like Sacha did over he last two tests - Scoring 4 tries and credited 7 try assist in 2 matches at flyhalf is wat is making him way above the rest, In the case carrying and passing a ball means zero as to try assists,
In all Esterhuizen is a tyical crash ball carrier with vey litle role in playing attacking backline rugby.
Fact is we are really discussing something that will not happen in future as to Esterhuizen. I think Erasmus gave im an oportunity to be in the Springbok team coached into playing attaking rugby and all he did was toget a red card with less than 4 minutes played and all he got was a red card and 4 weak ban, There is a virtually near to zero chance of him being in the Spring bok squads this year - with the sonata being sung by the site moanies against Erasmus given a new boost to spout garbage on site against Erasmus, ,
Plum
That is severe BS and you should know it is if you know anything about rugby. However, I asked a very simple question - how many tries did Esterhuizen scored for he h arks in this season. According to the internet he scored 4 tries in the whole series. Not enough for a top class bakline performer, is the simple answer,
He remians a crash ball center and nothing more,
We have totally opposite views.
I think Rassie has been saving AE for this WC cycle. That's why he has kept him around all this time.
Right, Mike?
You know that since forever now, if AE has not been injured, he has been in the squad.
There's a reason for it and that reason is that he is going to take over from DDA.
Unless Rassie is an idiot and keeps players around that he never intends on using
If he keep him around for t he 23027 WC - we have already lost all background performance s in the 2027 RWC. I am not evens aying that - I do not think Erasmus and Brown will want him in teh squad this year sincehe reduces the emphasis being on playing 15 man attacking rugby, We need functional centers for that purpose not crash ball specialists,
According to the internet he scored 4 tries in the whole series. Not enough for a top class bakline performer, is the simple answer,
Not a single 12 in the entire tournament has scored more than 4 tries.
Fuck off Pakie with your journey man vibes
Mills got fuck all ball to work with, defended really well, had some good kicking moments, showed a great switch pass and threw one howler forward pass
As the commentators said, he had a debut he could be pleased with
Cairns was good at 8 and Edwil on the wing - that was it really
Imagine evaluating a player on tries and fantasy points.
Cairns was good at 8 and Edwil on the wing - that was it really
Fuck off with your that was it really Dave, Renzo was the standout Lions player on the day.
Disagree Cairns was better
Well Pakie if your centres get no ball it’s a bit difficult expecting them to score tries - a little obvious don’t you think - fuck I thought you were a little more intelligent than this?
Did the impressive Henco v Wyk at 13 make an impression with ball in hand huh?
No - I wonder why - he got fuck all ball
Wake the fuck up
Pakie
Get some brains back and think. Fantasy points are based on stats - nothing else,
Well Pakie if your centres get no ball it’s a bit difficult expecting them to score tries - a little obvious don’t you think - fuck I thought you were a little more intelligent than this?
I'm not the one going on about tries Dave, Mike is.
Sorry I saw your response about tries and fantasy points - I had not read Mikes post :)
Okay Dave, I won't beat you up and take your lunch today :)
:) Thanks bruiser
Pakie
You started with the stats story and I just folloe up on it, I have not seen a clean break beatin g one r to defenders for a long time by the cashnaller, By the way your version of try assists is rarely given and does not include he BS you said it is.
I have not seen a clean break beatin g one r to defenders for a long time by the cashnaller
Well, no one here would expect you to.
By the way your version of try assists is rarely given and does not include he BS you said it is.
No idea what this means, but it sounds like the bullshit it probably is.
Esterhozen is a god at center.. cracks the line every time and offloads after that 80%of the time. Best we have. But he is so big, Jake may have been right….he could have been the blindsider Dud has never been.
As for Kolisi, he looks like a scrumhalf out there. Blown off the ball every time, bounced back in the tackle…I suppose if you take a weighted average of Dud and Kolisi there are two loosies there, but neither can fetch.
Hard to tell which is more pathetic . . . ou Maaik's hate campaign against Esterhuizen or Moffie's hate campaign against PSdT.
What we do know is that neither of the Grumpy Old Men is capable of changing his mind.
Absolutely not a hate campaign…he looks like a lovely bloke. But you were the guy who called Schalk’s ball carrying toothless….how much more toothless is Dud. But you think he is great….explain.
Wow I’ve read some shit in my time - Kolisi blown off the ball and bounced back - that’s just a complete lie
Esterhuizen while he has been slightly effective with his bashing this season, he has more than confirmed the reason de Allende has been preferred at the Boks
de Allende is without doubt the better player, Esterhuizen’s solid at best performances for the Sharks this season proves that
No the lie is that he isn’t blown off the ball….visible in every game he plays. Stop making you name trash Dave….stop lying man, Kolisi is useless on the deck.
Undoubtedly the better player….based on hot air. Esterhozen does everything Dud does and way more….offloading, organizing the defense, clearance kicking.
Stop lying and making you name trash Dave.
You are lying about Kolisi being bounced - that is utter bullshit
As for Esterhuizen being better than de Allende - no chance - and his current showings for the Sharks proves that
Rassie got it spot on - de Allende is the better option and part of the reason the Boks have achieved what they have
You are lying about Kolisi not being smashed off the ball…totally in evidence against Ulster.
As for Dud Allende you keep beating that drum. But there is nothing in the numbers that provides anything to support.
Sure the numbers aren’t everything, but great backs show up in the numbers. If you looked at BOD and Jean you would see that clearly…..tries, clean breaks, try assists, tackle success.
Dud Allende excels in nothing. It’s simply not credible that a great center would never show up in the match stats. Because he is just de Wet Barry without the tackle
Evidence where Kolisi was smashed backwards against Ulster or better still throughout his career implying he is not physical enough
de Allende’s stats in virtually every game are there for the reading, just like him making teams of the year or selected as such by the likes of Jean and Schalk or by Aplon saying he was better than Jean having played with both
All this by a poor player in your books? Fuck me given the above who the hell are we going to believe - I can assure you it’s not you
Dave
Mozart brings up BS on site due to his prejudice against some players, A player whom in 5 years was World Ruuby Player of the Year is useless according to his massive prejudice and love of BS spreading Aplaer selected as part of the world eam repeatedly as the numbe 12 player of the year is useless according to th e same idioy,
The evidence of Kolisi failing over the ball is there in every game. As for Dud Allende 5 runs in the WC final, 1 meter gained. And he misses 25% of his tackles.
What we do know is that neither of the Grumpy Old Men is capable of changing his mind.
This De Allende saga as we all know has been going for yonks, matter of fact it reminds me of the endless slagging off of Quinton De Kock and if that wasn't pathetic enough it also reminds me of the endless saga about the jacket, the buttons on the jacket, the colour of the jacket, the size of the jacket.....the shirt....the size of the buttons...... UURRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!
Cry me a river!
Hey, Denise...
When last did you actually watch an SA team play rugby?
Mozat
you are talking sht about D e A llende in t he 2023 RWC as ex[ected from you. Hinm scoringa critical try against frnce was never mentioned. by you - and hs defense and that of Du Toit was the main reason for the Springboks winning the Cup - whih according to you never happened.
Plum
When did you actually las watch a SA team playing rugby without interpreting shiot in the process?
I dunno what "shiot", Mike...
But I do know that your head is full of it.
Hysteria is too busy trying to find the next derogatory article on Trump to watch any rugby….obsessed
Dud Allende playing in the WC winning team with great ball….outgained by an aggregate 57 meters by his direct Irish, French, English, AB opponents. Mostly because they were much more involved….in position to get the ball, backing up other ball carriers. Alert to the opportunities.
She's "indifferent"...her words, not mine.
LOL I can't remember when last I posted a bazillion articles a day about someone that i felt "indifferently" about, but Hysteria has her own meanings for words.
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Pity they don't properly show the pass there.
Pity they don't properly show the pass there.
Probably a good thing looking at where Kolbe had to catch it - jumping and behind him.
Anyway, DDA's best moment since slapping away Biggar in 2019. A while coming.
Lol
de Allende is the best 12 the Boks have ever had - he edges Jean de Villiers as Aplon correctly calls
And imagine being a rugby follower that does not rate him
Stick to soccer is my suggestion
he edges Jean de Villiers as Aplon correctly calls
In what respect?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh_Vk5ttxro
Actually viewed in real time it was a pretty good pass. Ben Earl is very hyped but actually not a great tackler….Dud tractored him out the way and Slade’s tackle attempt was also brushed aside. A nice bit of play by Dud.
Williams try makes one wonder what the Sharks are doing,
Williams has a neck injury.
Hope he’s back soon then….that try against England is a threat from anywhere given his speed.
They say he'll be back for the URC playoffs. Here's hoping, Jayden is selling the Sharks short now.
The Hendrikses are sturdy blokes but I don’t see anything special.
Nothing sturdy about Jayden he is small it’s Jordan that is sturdy
Plenty of good there - has good skills and is powerful - his best position is 15 or 12, he is not a 10 but more of one than Willemse was
Jayden at 9 is in shit form at the moment - too indecisive
In view in the constant carping and BS spreading on site I watch ed the following matches and concentrated on the indicated playes in each match:-
Lions - Mills
Sharks - Esrerhuizen
Stormers - G oosen,
In the case of Mills he made a mistake makig a pass that went astry - and that a enough for some site members to concentrate on that inicent and ignored what happened in the rest of the match s expected from the membes. In both defence nd in bacline play he ahd a good and very match and in my rating I woukd give im 7/10 in the match.
In the ase of Esterhuisen I saw hat he did in t he case o the second try of Uster he was not anywhee near the ball and was trotting back sloly to the braeakdown point - no real effor at all trying to get back, wher he played no role in trying to preent the scrin g of the try.or the rest he was l;ess active in the game from both attacking and defending poits of voe, I would give him 7/10 too, In vie of this being his debut match on URC level I shhe h e opinion of the comenttor - he had a solid andactive game he would be satisfied with his new experunce,
In the case of Gosen he was hyper-actvive and vey effecive . I ould give him 8/10 for his very active and effectve erformance - both in attacking and defending/ .
10,961 posts
And there's a girl ref. Sweet.