Marcel Coetzee

Bluebok

I am in favour of phasing in younger players gradually.  You mentioned Bosch and Fransie, but another player who may have been affected is Pollard.   He started off very well and then seems to  regress in performance.

Bosch I think is a good youngster, but when eh did play in the Under20 WC he was not as good as Willemse were playing at center.   In the WC Bosch made some serious decision deficiencies.

I agree with you about Fransie too - I think that his main problem - other than eating overmuch - was his bigheadedness thinking "I am so good - I cannot speak too highly about myself".   

The problem with Augustus is - should they start with him now or by 2020?   I think we do not have good-enough 8's and other loosies, so we might as well start with him earlier rather than later.        

Pollard has been very good. His kicking issues have been with him from the very beginning though. He never was going to control the game with the boot, that much has never changed. Still our best 10 by some margin.

Sorry I did not explain the Pollard issue clearly - he was up and down after the 2014 AB test in Johannesburg and  that was clear in Meyer's subsequent selections.   I think he became very unsure of himself dealing with the Meyer shenanigans.

Due to injuries he played vey little rugby in 2016 and 2017.  Now in 2018 he is back to his best and I agree with you - he is the best 10 we have. at present.  

He was consistently good under Meyer. He wasn't the Fan favourite though, the 2014 EOYT sealed the fate of the fan favourites. Pollard is a player with very little variance in quality of performance. A very consistent Bok. 

Then why did Meyer dropped him regularly from playing for the Springboks and did not bring him on to play before the Japan disaster?    He merely got mentioned about playing of Augustus before the WC.   

Anyway this thread is not about Pollard at all - it is about Coetzee and by implication the other loosies as well.    

Pollard played throughout the RC in 2015. Lambie started in the second Puma test, then the Japan test. Look back through those games, which are mostly readily available, Pollard was the same player throughout those games. 

He was not the starting  flyhalf in three of the EOYT tests in 2014 after the Ireland loss and that makes for the reason why I said he was in and out off the starting line-up.  

In any event his function in the world cup in 2015 became peripheral and in the WC tests he was at best average.