Lood tops the 'unwanted' stat of Tackles Missed - with SEVEN in the Boks' opening two Tests

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Cape Town - Lood de Jager, the 'next big thing' in the Springbok second row, has been 'missing in action' of late.

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De Jager, after a series of stand-out performances for the Cheetahs in this year's Super Rugby tournament, made his debut in the Green and Gold against Wales in Durban during the Incoming Series and currently has five Test caps to his name.

However, his glaring deficiencies, particular when it comes to tackling, have been highlighted in the Rugby Championship.

De Jager currently tops the 'unwanted' stat of Tackles Missed - with SEVEN in the Boks' opening two Tests against Argentina, including a staggering six in the second Test in Salta alone!

Sadly, for the Boks, De Jager has plenty of company in the forms of his team-mates in the stats, with Damian de Allende and Jannie du Plessis both guilty of four missed tackles to date, while Juan Smith missed three in the time he was on the field in Argentina.

Coach Heyneke Meyer will no doubt be working on shoring up his team's defence in the two-week break before taking on the Wallabies in Perth on Saturday, September 6 (kick-off at 12:05 SA time).

And some people still cannot understand that test rugby is not super rugby and that someone who excels in super rugby will not necessarily be able to make the step up. I questioned this boy's mettle and his readiness for test rugby after the first Argentina test where he was a non-factor, and he's not doing anything to convince me that I'm wrong.

Matfield will be back for Australia.  Lood has had one good game so far, but very average in the others.

 Sharkbok
You are very wrong - De Jager played in 4 tests thus far and he made 41 tackles and missed 9 - making for a missed tackle ratio of  18%.   6 of the missed tackles was on Saturday and that ios not excusable - for the rest he made more tackles than Matfield and Botha combined.   
He was very good in the first Welsh test when he replaced the useless Bakkies Botha for 40 minutes - was veery good against the Scots and good int he first Argentine test - his missed tackles on Saturday made him look bad - but he also was the key in teh pushover try of Coetzee.   
Would not do a Mozart and invent anything different.  In essence the guy is very physical and in Tight 5 lay that counts.   Matfield will be bakcjk - but we will lose pohysicality in the process.  That willw eaken our Tight 5.   

 im not so sure thats correct i counted two successsful juan tackles and didnt see any misses. i didnt see loodt miss any head on tackles either. i thik there were structural issues and commuunication issues. you gotta support on the inside and outside channels of the main defender and i think too often it was a sitting duck exposed and the rest scrambling to make any kind of tackle. thats where most of these misses were. so yeah it might mmake them feel good pointing out loodt but they are missing the main issue and its an important one!

 Gonzo
You have a point there.  I noted that in the first half our specifically there seemed to have been deficient communication betweeen the players and they looked like they were playing outside of the team dtructure as indidividials - it only improved later on.    

Lood is lethargic....he flaps his arms about, moves at a snails pace....everything seems to surprise him.   I have been and remain sceptical.....we need some red meat.

 If Lood was lethargic - what was Bakkies in all his previous tests dince November last year?

Lood has actually played in 5 tests, during which he made 40 tackles, which at first glance is five more than Matfield's 35. He has, however, missed 9 tackles compared to MAtfield's 2.

It looks impressive until you realise that Matfield made his tackles in four games only, including the one against the World XV. Matfield has this year made 8.75 tackles per game and missed 0.5 tackles per game. Lood has made 8 tackles per game but he missed 1.8 per game.

Lood blows hot and cold when it comes to defence.

Matfield:
World XV - 5/0
Wales - 11/2
Wales - 10/0
Scotland - 9/2

Lood:
Wales - 11/1
Wales - 0/0
Scotland - 17/1
Arg - 6/1
Arg - 6/6

If you take out the two best defensive performances for both, you get:
Matfield -14/2 (in two games)
Lood - 12/7 (in three games)

If you only take their two best defensive performances for both, you get:
Matfield - 22/2
Lood - 28/2

And that (the last set of "stats") is the only way that you can get Lood to beat Matfield defensively. The last set of "stats" will obviously be the only set that ou Maaikie would be using in future.

Then, I have not touched on the viewpoint that Lood was supposed to be OK, as far as calling and arranging the line-outs was concerned because "anybody" could do that...........

 Lood (lead) feet and a hunchback.  This kid has so far been a one game wonder and has brought nothing special to this hapless bok team.

 Ooh wow lood has missed a tackle or two let's give up on him. This after his brilliant defensive display all s15. 
Lood is an awesome talent, the find of last year who has taken his game to the next level this year.
He is better than bakkies and matfield combined

Lomp looks pretty ordinary to me. The only thing remarkable about this kid is his height.  

Moz you have obviously missed most of the S15  

 you know what pizzez me off? they alwats pick on some guy and make him the scapegoat. what did bekker fo in sat? bugger all! he was so weak in contact he may as wrll have missed rhem all. he did take one goid uncontested lineout ball. if you got beef witj lood then ebenezer stooge must be in the firing line too. dont even get me started on no show bismarck the guy is only good fir bullying minnows. hes a 8 year veteran buf still cant do the basics properly but hey lets label him best in the world because shucjs he has been so hard donr by his entire life, i almost feel he was a persecuted black dude under peter but tge guy is as stupid as he is untalented! 

 The three morons at it again - Mo(zart)ron believes implicitly in Bakkies Botha - who has done squat in the tests he played in and the weakest lock of them all in contact - Matfield - who is pushed out of the way by all and sundry and dumnped out of rolling mauls.   
The morons do not recognize the quality aspect of tackles - when De Jager tackles somebody he goes backwards - when the moron favourites tackle somebody he goes forward in the tackle.   De Jager goes forward in ball carries - M atfield and Botha goes straight down and in the process lose control of the ball.   
The denigrating was expected from three morons of the site.   So what is new.   
But we live in interesting times and in two weeks time they will praise Matfield agter he flopped in Perth.   He is certain to flop - but the morons will write a praise song.   I think like is the case with the morons - they have already started preparing what they will write.    
  

Ou Maaikie getting all watery eyes again the moment that his won stats turns against him.

Zeromoron                                                                                                                      The stats has not turned against me - the BS is when you start to manipulate selectd stats is what is the problem.   You are in good company though - Mozart  use stats when he wants to discredit a player or trump one up according to his likes and dislikes.  When the stats disprove his BS arguments - he ignores them completely.  
A moton remains a moron - whether it is Mo(zart)ron, B onzo the Apemoron or zeromoron.  

 I have manipulated bugger all ou Bitterbal. I just put them into perspective. If I left them as they were without the bit of perspective, i.e. as follows then even a fool like you would have to admit that Lood has shown that his figures are inflated by two performances and that he does indeed blow hot and cold:

Matfield:
World XV - 5/0
Wales - 11/2
Wales - 10/0
Scotland - 9/2

Lood:
Wales - 11/1
Wales - 0/0
Scotland - 17/1
Arg - 6/1
Arg - 6/6

In fact, if you look at those it would be fair to deduct that when he is up against easier opposition, i.e. Scotland or an already down and out Wales, he performs like a demon but when the chips are down, i.e. against a rampant Wales and a very close game against the Argies, he stutters and he stutters in a big way.

Nee boet, your stats have come back to bite you in the balls. Something like this: