Louw's view on Alberts

The Springbok pack also suffered a late setback when stalwart flanker Willem Alberts was withdrawn from the matchday 23 at the last hour.

Louw felt that the late omission of the blind-side flanker had disrupted to the team's ambitions on the day, but would not be told that the fact that the Bok forwards failed to dominate their opponents could be attributed to the absence of one man.

"Willem is a fantastic player. He is the enforcer of South African rugby and the performances he has put in over the past few years speak for itself," said Louw.

"It was a setback in a sense, but one thing Heyneke gas created is depth within the squad. For guys to step in at the last moment on the 11th hour and I really think Marcel Coetzee put his hand up.

"He is not a youngster - he is a veteran to a certain extent and has played enough Test rugby to know what is going on."

Thank you Francois. The plain fact is Alberts would have made a huge difference yesterday. What he does in giving the Boks a power edge is totally missed by many a fool. As is Louw's contribution, which was so starkly obvious yesterday, even some morons finally got it. How about you Dave?

 Alberts started and made name for himself at the Lions as their regular 8. He then moved to the Sharks where he again played 8 and lifted Kankowski in the process. But then somebody, somewhere decided that Spies will remain the Boks' 8 and in order to find place for Alberts he was moved to 7 where he initially made a massive impact scoring a try in every test (3 successive tests if I remember correctly). That is unfortunately where the wheels came off when Alberts was turned into a battering ram and nothing more. All the other duties of a loosie was abandoned and the Boks were soon struggling in their battle for the ball on the ground. The situation improved somewhat when Vermeulen returned from a lengthy injury, but in my opinion our loose trio is not optimal.

I honestly hope Juan can return as our 7.

 Dave:

"Why on earth would you want an old man returning to 7 in Smith,  what a short sighted view. Alberts never had the skills for a good 8, his strength is his physicality - but great test players need more than that"  

I still believe in the saying: If you are good enough, you are old enough ... and Juan proved last year in Europe that he is still on top of his game.

 "The plain fact is Alberts would have made a huge difference yesterday."

Face the real facts Mozart, Louw's view on Alberts is just as distorted as yours. I would not expect Louw to make a negative view on Alberts seeing as they are teammates. If you believe Alberts would've make a "huge" difference why can't you pin point exactly what he would've done during the match - that the other loose forwards would not have done? Like mike stated. Be more specific. One of the things that is for certain is that it requires a whole lot more to be an effective loose forward and it is clear Alberts does not have the abilities that the others have. Physicality isn't everything.

There is no doubt that Alberts is not better than Marcel Coetzee, Warren Whitely and Nizaam Carr. The others deserve the starting spot more. I've rightfully mentioned before Alberts is no player that should be part of the RWC15 setup or RC for that matter. Some need to wake up.