Match Summary- Boks vs Argentina @Newlands

 I thought both teams played relativly well. 

The Boks should have got another 1-2 tries in the 2nd half. I think the referree(walsh) was pretty poor at the breakdown, and their should have been given one yellow card to send off an argie. The try scored by Cotzee the referee took his card out, but put it back as advantage play allowed Cotzee to score.

The major area of concern being ball retention. Apart from the 2nd test against England- 1st half so far ball retention has not been great under Meyer- although this is often an issue with the boks in years past. When Brussouw was playing at his best- it was an area that was more clinical. Adrian Strauss in particular got isolated often, as did JDV a few times on the ground. The one from Kirchener was just plain stupidity.

Way to many turn overs given and lost possesion on good attacking moves. The bok defence was very sollid and never really under major threat. I would score the boks about 6 out of 10 for this performance at best. 

Ratings

1. Beast- 5/10   Has become less effective in the loose. Not very involved in most aspects of the game. Not one good carry the whole game.

2. Adrian Strauss. 7.5/10. More ball carries than all of his tests combined. He seemed to be all over the place. A few wayward lineout throws though. Lots some possesion in the tackle, although the Argentians were lying all over the floor when tackling him.

3. Jannie Duplesss- 4/10. Gave away a stupid penaly for a high tackle and made little contribution. Also another stupid penalty at the scrum gave away a good attacking move. I think some one else needs to have a shot in this position. 

4. Ezbeth- 6/10 Very Solid. Strong carries.

5. Bekker- 6.5/10. Excellant in the Lineout and made his physical presence all over the Pitch. When he left this field this was noticeable.

6. Cotzee- 7.5/10- Brilliant ball carrier- and gets the ball away in the tackle and before hitting the floor.

7. Alberts- 7/10- A donkey- but a very strong one. Lots of carries over the advantage line and the ball allways gets cleared from the ensuing tackle ruck quickly when he hits the ground- to enable the next phase of play to run off him quickly

8- Daniels- 5/10- Another game where Daniels did not impress. Meyer said that he would have to take his oppertunity this game to prove his is bok material. Substiuted around the 50th minute for the Missing Link(Potgieter), so looks like Meyer does not think he done much. Not sure why he plays so well for the Sharks, and seems non existent for the Boks.

9- Hougaard- 6./10 at Scrumhalf. 7.5/10 wing. Piennar gets the ball out of rucks much faster so less turn overs are allowed. 

10 Morne- 7.5/10. One of the best if not his best game for the boks. Pin point kick for Hababa try. Took the ball flat and got his outside backs into the game. Pole kicking excellant. Tactical kicking and touch kicking  vastly improved. Played a 15 man game. Although his combination with inside center- Fat Steyn was not great. 

11- Mvovo- 4/10- Did nothing. Could have got a try but Jean Devilliers destroyed an overlap instead of drawing the opposing backline players and creating space for him. Mvovo could have also run off Jean better once the space was closed by Jean in a scissors movement. 

12- Fat Steyn. 4/10  Looking more heavier and sluggish each match. Looked way of the mark. Seemed to be jogging around. Less Mcdonalds for Steyn and more time on tread mile. No way he could be playing fullback at the moment, he is not mobile enough

13- Jean Devilliers- 6/10 Good strong runs- still very fast. Howevee does still butcher overlaps- like the one when he should have got Mvovo into space

14- Habana  7/10- Not given much ball but made the most of his oppertunities- great try. This was clearly a practised move rehearsed at practise. The Springbok wings are usually good in the air, so will be interesting to see if the same move is applied against OZ and all blacks

15- Kirchener- 7/10. His best game for the boks. Got a good try- although I do not think this would have beaten an Allblack defence. Entered the backline on attack, safe under the high ball. Nothing spectacular but very solid. 

 Substitutes=

Ruan Pienaar- 7/10 Much snappier and faster at the rucks. Gets the ball out before it is turned over. Digs the ball out of rucks very quickly when it is not clean possesion.  A classic scrumhalf. He should start with Hougard on the bench or wing.

Potgieter -4/10 (The missing Link, Aka Yeti)- Proved he has no brains once again- ). Ran around like a headless ckicken making a few tackles but not much else. I think Heinrich Brussouw- if fit, would be a much better option from the bench. the rucks were a mess, he could have helped tidy them up. 

Flip Flop Van Der Merve- 3/10. This guys looks the part, but the only time I see him on the pitch is when play is stopped. I am not sure if he is fit enough for test rugby.

Pat Bambie- Not used. Pity would have liked to see him have a run. Still think he brings more to the table than Kirchner.

I like your summary Shark....spot on. The Bargies were not physically dominated. If their vaunted 10 landed his penalties, things could have become a little tight. But the Boks probably had another gear. In Bargie land the contest is likely to be much fiercer

 My MOM would have gone to Bekker or Coetzee.

Both were epic.

Coetzee impresses me more and more each time he plays for the Bokke.

I thought fat Albert also had a stormer.

In my humble opinion, I also would have given Lambo a decent run at ten or 15.

He is our future, so Heineke should give him opportunities when they present themselves.

Sharkbok

In essence I agree with you about your assessment.   However, we ere not strong in ball retention and although Morne had a much better game today than I have seen in a long time - our backline did not display any  penetration.   That is probably due to Franscois Steyn's sub-par performance.   I would not give him more than 3 out of 10.   What is wrong with him - he is slower than a snail?

I was not impressed by Daniel,   With due respect - he is good on provincial level - but really not an international level player.   Bekker was huge in the line-outs and tight phases of the game.    Coetzee was solid and played a good game.  

The Boks did not perform as well as I hoped - despite the scoreline.   Aside from the lack of penetration showed by our backline - there were -

*    far too many kickable penalties given away;

*   too many turnovers in maul situations; and

*   too many ball handling erros.

Unless they correct those problems - we are going to struggle badly against the All Blacks and Wallabies..

Let me say it again - I was very, very disappointed in the performance of Francois Steyn.    If this is the type of rugby he is capable off - we need a new center, 

A game that we won and won solidly but we were suppose to do that any how against a nation ranked 8th in the world. There were times when I really thought we were just going to run over the Argies and pile on the points but then our inexperience and composure played into their hands and out of ours.

Turnovers were an issue and this may be because we have too many ball carriers rather than a specialist and we may pay a hefty price when we face the Wallaby poacher and the AB cheat champ. We in theory should have run that massive Argie pack off its feet but sadly and worryingly we didnt and at times they gaind ascendency and parity particuarly in the second half.

I am not so concerned about ball handling issues as this hopefully will dissipiate after a blowout. Argentina proved enough to show that they will be a lot harder to beat at home but we will definately be better also after this game.

I think some of our Sharks boys may be feeling the burden of the semis and finals from the supper 15 and HM needs to be extremely carefule that we dont over play these guys when they come up against the Wallabies and AB's. Particuarly that the second tier playerswe have in our front row for example is not world standard that we need. Keegan Daniel sadly also went missing and I maybe he also is suffering from the big Super 15 series finals?

I agree also that Frans is looking a bit podgy lol...doesnt take away from his skill but he may find the Iaones and Daggs running around him. Hurry JP get well soon. I am still not convinced that Kirchner is our best fullback and as a few have pointed out on here the real acid test is yet to come.

On a scale of 1 -10 I give the Boks 5.....They should have scored a most important ponus point as I am sure the Wallabies and AB's will do so against the Argies on their home soil. So I believe we have missed an important point to take as it will be hard getting bonus points off the AB's and Wallabies.

We have to win all our games at home PERIOD!!! and then beat the Argies away and hope we can take down the Wallabies on an away game????

GO THE BOKKIE!!!

I would also say that Hougaard must start on the wing. He is much better as a wing, with Pienaar starting. Heinrich Brussouw could come back into the equation- not so much as a stealer of the opposition ball, just someone could clean out our own rucks to ensure less turn overs. Although is he can compete on the opposition ball for steals and slowing possesion without giving away penalties. Richie McCheat gets made brussouws bitchie when they play. No All black team has even beaten a bok team with Brussouw in it.

They way Keegan Daniels plays for the boks- may as replace one small player with another. Mccheat and Pocock will have a field day against us- with all the clumsyness at the rucks. Maybe Lambie will get a run next test at flyhalf or fullback- Sideshow Bob is more likely to make way than Morne. 

ratings was spot on....i do agree that franna had a rubbish game. i do not know what happend to be fair. he lost speed and lost his general passing game completly. looked like he was under order or maybe the pizza on friday night might have been not working so leke with his stomach. either way he does not played this way every weekend so he needs to step up next week.

i must admit morne played a lot better but the standard of the game for me was not that great. the pace of the game was very slow and i feel the argies left a lot of points on the pitch. they are ranked 8th in the world so the standard from a rugby view for me was not on par with the AB wallies game. there was a big difference in intensity and speed. one can see the players looked a bit flat. players like coetzee, bekkers,alberts and eben where on the standard again but there lacked that spark to really drive the nail in the coffin. to be fair we need the 5 points so we will need to improve a lot in the away leg. the rucks was a massive concern as i thought but the thing is the argies dont really target that area so we should be okish in the next game. against the high pace Ab and wallies it will be a different game completly

on keegan daniel he plays well in a high speed lose style of a game. in the slower trench like games he fades because it does not suite his skill set. he is a runner and ball player so teh HM style of bashing the other team like a ram wont suite him at all

i do think against the wallies or AB's he might be more effective.

My match summary

The Boks played shit.. Poor squad selection proved that it is poor.

Argentina didn't travel that well and considering the circumstances play average.

Unfortunately, the Boks playing shit are still better than an average Argies side. It should have been alot closer and score line flattered the Boks, who couldn't even get 4 tries.

Reading far to much into this victory Meyer and the public have gone Morne and Hougaard crazy again...

The Boks have successfully sealed themselves 3rd place this year.

i must admit i agree

one win against the new kids on the block now suddenly all the cracks that there were and still are just gone. there are a lot of issues to sort out but we will see how things pan out. i am just realistic and the level of the game saterday was not champ winning stuff. luckly for us there is a lot of time to improve.