Matfiekd Returns to play rugby - The farce of the year in SA Rugby

It is official - Matfield is returning to play for the Bulls - and Meyer is over the moon about it.

But what does the public thinks about the issue - after all they ultimately are the funders of the game.  The following is the outcome of opinion survey on the issue:-

Awesome                         -     5%

Stupid                             -    72%

Rather stick with coaching -     9%

It will work if he is managed correctly - 14%

The 81% is correct - it is a bloody farce.    So what will happen as to the issueL   Nothing different from what happened in the case of Jacqye Fourie and Bakkies Botha after and during the EOYT.   Thee two produced below par performances - and Meyer praised them to high heaven.   It is only when we analyse the game and look at the stats that is it really clear that they were sub-par, but Meyer is so infatuated with the players he is acquainted with - he thinks we will all swallow it wholesale.

That kind of swallowing i s for the likes of Mozart and Sun Tzu - who fail to accept that the older the  players are - the weaker they perform.

I pity poor Serfontein and JJ.   Matfield real interest in rugby is to moonlight in the backline and disrupt backline play - so the two centers are buggered.         

APD - exactly - am with you in this case.

Just one thing =- I hope you joined the Test Rugby fantasy competition for the 6 Nations.  You are most welcome to join Superbru as well - to participate in result forecasting.   

 APD

My predictions on Superbru are as follows:-

Wales to win by 21 points

France to win by 12 points

Ireland to win by 16 points 

There are already nearly 33 000 participants on that site - so pleas join - it is easy and not taking time at all.

 Look let me b e quite frank - I have no problem with players based entirely on age only.  In the unlikely event of the older player producing the goods - then by all means he can be and should be selected on MERIT - not reputation.  

However, when there is no real performance - like happened in the case of Bakkies Botha in the Scotland test  - only utterances of Meyer to make Bakkies looks good - I do have a serious problem with that.   Selection should only be based on experience if performance between players is on par.

Sharkbok wrote about the performance of Kruger in the Ellis Park test.   Let me be explicit - Meyer selected Kruger for that test despite serious reservations expressed even on this site.  During his whole career with the Bulls there was one thing which was constant - Kruger had no grunt and was an average player at best.   He should never have been anywhere near Springbok selection.

There were at that stage at least 4 better locks than Kruger who could have and should have been selected.   To now raise an argument to the effect that Matfield would have been better than Kruger is really not the issue - since so many other locks would have been better.   Kruger is a very low bar to set in evaluation - in fact it is no bar at all.  

Lets accept one fact Experience should only be the deciding factor if and when real performance (not falsely accredited performance) is on par.  If Matfield in fact performs on par with present competitors - then select him - but that is unlikely to even be remotely the case.

I can see something coming.   Matfield will not start in matches - he will be on the bench for the Bulls and not really exposed to anything of substance.  Even then I do not see him lasting longer than two moths - and he is likely to then try for a Juan Smith venture.  Claim he is going to stop playing and ducking out to France  knowing that that would improve his selection chances by Meyer without the need to prove anything through performance.                   

 Beeno

Fourie was half-baked - everyone saw some good defence and zero attacking ability in him - probably because of deficient speed.   Bakkies stats proved that he did nothing during the Scotland test - he missed tackle ratio being 60% - worse than Jannie's - and that he was only slightly better in that during the French test.   No house on fire - and no reason to go into euphoria on that one.  Bakkoes was good 4 years ago - he is no good for test purposes at present.  

Beeno

Bakkies stats for the Scotland stats was as follows:-

Botha

0/0

0

0/3/6

2

0

0

1

0

4/3

1/2

0

0/0

He "carried"  the ball 6 times making a total gain in territory of 2 meters - in other words he went down the moment he got the ball.   He attempted 7 tackles missing three of those.   He took 2 line out balls against a very weak Scottish lock combination.     For the rest the stats are basically made up of Zeroes.   That alone shows Bakkies did not do well enough to be considered as an acceptable lock against top teams - Scotland is NOT a top team.

The French test Bakkies did slightly better stat-wise - his ball carries was ineffective - but at least he only missed 1 of his 5 attempted tackles and he took 4 line outs.  Slight improvement - but still nowhere near good enough.

As to Fourie - that run along the tryline was a delusion.   Fourie was going forward and at "speed"  and the opposition wing had to turn around and start his chase.   He beat Fourie by nearly three meters when he got the ball.   Fourie IS SLOW and his attacking play was non-existing.     

Saffex

Meyer is raving about Matfield - but he must have noted the fact that the public is not impressed by Matfield's return - so he is now adding that Matfield will have to earn his place in the Springbok team by performance.   However, we have been through that one before - Meyer selected Steenkamp, Bakkies and Fourie without regard to performance and invented good play by them after the games they played in so as to justify their selection.   Hope he does not invent so-called good pe rformances - so as to justify his selection of Mattfield.     

Saffex,

         I agree that Victor is over the hill and should not be selected ahead of the young guns  for the Bulls.

         I never did think that he was the Springboks  "lock" gift from God but many supporters did.

         He was a better backline player than a lock as per Bakkies remark which I agree with. 

Cloudy pleased to see that you are adding class to your posting by inserting a picture of a South African lass.

Cheers.  

Matfield come on with 30 minutes remaining to the delight of the crowd, replacing Grant Hatting. He started with a bang, stopping a Stormers runner dead in his tracks and looking at ease in the lineouts, where he took his own ball comfortably and even stole another as his team was in trouble inside their own 22."

 The proof of the pudding lies in the eating.   Matfiield was a good line out player - who otherwise moonlighted in the backline. 

How good will his performances be un Super 15?  That remains to be seen - I think he would not last long - but lest wait and see whether he turned out as useless as Bakkies was in his last two tests.