Morne had a poor game.....but, but, but

 He did not lose the test, though he could have won it with that last difficult kick.  His defence lapsed a bit and he tended to just pass the ball in regular movements. For sure he kicked too many up and unders. 

But the test was lost at the breakdowns, in the lineouts and in wider back play. Last week we saw already the turnovers every time a Bok back went hunting on his own. It was the same yesterday.

And it's not just the passer who is at fault for lack of penetration....where we're the players, Fransie in particular running lines to pass to? Choosing another flyhalf isn't going to fix that.....or the slow service he got. Some of those Morne clearances from the dead ball line, under pressure, we're actually superb.

I have no problem trying Lambie at 10, but he can't do it by himself.....and having Lambie do the kicking is scary. There is nobody else.

So it's not a great scenario. This test was lost by our forwards plain and simple. And if our forwards are eaten our whole model fails. We missed Bismarck. We missed Schalk....Coetzee was man handled. But the Bargies gave no quarter and exposed a team....not just a flyhalf....problem

Mozart

There is one thing I agree with - and that is that a flyhalf - any flyhalf - can only perform if the players playing both sides of him is acceptable performers.   Your description of Francois Steyn was perfect - for 79 minutes  he was sleepwalking in this test minutes he was  so for 80 minutes in the Newlands test.   The one minute he was not - he charged down a kick and scored.

The real problem was also Hougaard.   He is a fighter - but not a scrummie.  His sericce to the backline yesterday was poor and his kicking worse.

I am sorry to say - but Morne is easy to blame - while the other two are placed on a pedestal and above criticism.   That shows that the criticism is not always justified.   The Springbok backline had less spark than a broken spark plug - but it goes wider than Steyn.   What about the rest of the disfunctional unit?

Yes - Morne did kick a couple of good relieving kicks - but the best relieving kick was one by Pienaar.  The rest of his kicking games were utterly predicatable and aimless.    May I just mention - that Morne Steyn missed a relatively easy penalty early in the game - and a rather more difficult one later on.   Under pressure - like in the third test against England - his golkicking is a farce - and a bad one at that.

For the rest - the forwards were not up to standard and some changes need to be made..    

 Mike we have been here before....with Viljoen, Malllett, Destroyli, PdV. No SA coach, Jake excepted and then only for a brief period, has supported a 15 man game in the crunch.

They all fold under the pressure of winning. Malllett disgusts me with his criticism, when he went exactly to the same place. The myth that Honibal was a runner is so deal  seated.....but actually de Beer read the game better, Henry was a pure crash  ball player.....with a poor pass.

Do we have the guts to play an initially losing game at national level, that is totally disconnected with the game the Sharks, Bools and Stormers play. I can't see how.

Nor are there a tranch of players who will suddenly make this happen. Gooseneck may be a transformative player, but he needs time

Mozart

Honiball is also on a pedestal - but at times he failed miserably in kicking at goal.   In the game against the Lions in Durban - the Springboks scored three tries - and he missed 3 relatively easy conversions.   Was much of a crash ball player as well.

 Good one Moz, Coetzee and co were not man handled they were stopped in their tracks by the Argies and you reckon Schalk would have made a difference - how exactly, given Coetzee, Alberts and Potgieter were unable to breach the Argies defence. One would swear Schalk was more physical than these guys or a better ball player........Coetzee is a far better player, Alberts on a par with Schalk, with Potgieter lagging in the skills stakes.

Schalk would have made no difference at all. The Boks lacked a Brussouw and Bismark contesting the breakdown and they lacked numbers protecting the ball. Hats off to Hougaard who managed to get the ball way no thanks to his forwards. The lads service was outstanding despite the conditions.

 There are three fundemental problems I have with the current bok plan.

One off ala bulls strike runners in the 1 channel. How many times did we see the big loosies run at pace in the flyhalf channel only to be tackled around the ankles going head first into the ground. Hence the name Faceplant Potgieter. Once tacklers realise that I only have to grab them around the ankles as there will be no offload, the other players can easily tackle them.

9  and 10 is my other bug bear, absolutely no creativity, they are so predictable, flyhalf bombs the ball, scrummy tries to many box kicks and when he does get a chance, sloppy clearing from the base etc..

Defence at the breakdown, with no clear fetches in the squad, the boks are left vunrable in the middle, all the team have to do is just drive throught middle, keep the ball of the ground and persist with low risk off loads in the tackle. 

There is actually a fourth major problem, bulls players and staff. Sideshow, Kirchenr, Flip flop fastest penalty in 60 seconds, Faceplant potgieter, Clueless Hougaard, Robotto Steyn.

The other thing the argies did well was to run straight, hardly saw them drift in attack.

 King i am with you on most but for your take on Hougaard, who had an excellent game, where his service was brilliant

Saffex

You must be the only one in the world who thinks Hoyugaard had a brilliant game - if you call that brilliant - then Jean had a super brilliant performance.   Take the blinkers off and look at the real world.

 Their is no buts. Morne must be dropped. The guy cant even implement a one dimensional game plan. His kick and chase up and unders were all poor. 

 Actually thought Jean was the best of the Bok backs, Hougaard was average at best and F. Steyn not much better. 

Planet rugby ratings are about the same....mind you the gave Jean a 4 so I could be wrong about him.

Francois Hougaard: Made a couple of sniping runs, but often struggled to get the backline going forward because he was denied clean ball at the breakdown. 6/10

Frans Steyn: His try saved Bok blushes but he fell into the Argentinian trap and lost his head on several occasions. 6/10

 Rugby 365 ratings for the same players...

9 Francois Hougaard

Still too slow to the breakdown and clearing from the base.

5/10

12 Frans Steyn

The best Bok by a country mile and he missed two penalties. He saved the day with his charge-down and showed good composure to scoop up the ball and score.

7/10

Sapp you miss Schalks linking role. We had no loosie last night operating outside 10 channel. Schalk does. Face it Potgieter and Alberts were planted every time....just as Kincorn says. The problem wasn't their physicality, it was their elusiveness. Coetzee was simply over powered, something that will also happen against Oz and NZ.

Our loosies are a hopeless combination. We have doubled up on power running....added another runner in Coetzee just for good measure. Meanwhile we have no cover defenders, no lineout jumpers and no fetchers among the loosies.

Potgieter needs to go, Alberts has to  get serious and Brussouw must be brought back. I agree with Sap on that one. Whether that leaves room for Coetzee is not clear.

Mozart

I differ from you completely on this one.   The Argentitnians realized that Coetzee can be dangerous and concentrated their efforts on him.  The realized also that Potgieter is a one-dimensional useless player and that Alberts is not really a no 8.   It was relatively easy to isolate Coetzee and leave the other two ineffective players more room - because they would not really perform at all/

the pumas tactics were spot on against the one dimensional HM game plan. graham henry has pulled a quick one on HM.

tactics were straight forward. frontup to the forwards spoil the bok breakdown. wait for the ball seeing that if the pumas ball gets lost the aimless kicks will just give them the ball back. whip up the tempo of the game . break the forwards pack in 2 top ensure the breakdowns are quick and clean and the threat of the "power pack" is gone. run the fat boys of there feet defence will leak space = tries.

potgieter and alberts offer the same. that being said alberts goes have more skills in contact than GHD potgieter but with zero support play that offloads accounts for nothing. the forwards lost the battle and as a direct result the backs were not in the game

bekker was very very poor to mention. i dont know if his back is 100% but he was nowhere

Moz one thing Schalk does not do, is provide a linking role........Schalk for the most charges straight into the oppposition with little effect. The only true link loosie we have is Daniel

 Hell Dave if you were a NZ fan you'd be dropping McCaw for some youngster. The youngsters.....Mvovo, Potgieter and Coetzee were nowhere on Saturday. What we need is more experience and leadership.....not more school boys.

Actually NZ would not miss McCaw that much, his best days are done, but is still worthy given his leadership.

Mvovo was good on Sat and has been good all season. Coetzee has been a revelation and one solid test on Sat does not warrant any question marks against his name - not even close. Potgieter wont let you down, he just does not have the skills for test rugby.

The experienced old guys in the Bok side are letting us down.....our worst players have been Habana, Jean, Morne and Spies........what we dont need is these has beens, we need to move forward, we need to invest in our youngsters like we have in Etzebeth, Coetzee etc.......there are more of these type of players, Meyer needs to select them.

We have more than enough experience in JP, Frans, Hougaard, Pienaar, Beast, Bismark, Strauss, Chiliboy, Jannie, Bekker, Flip, Alberts and Brussouw to form our core........we need to supplement this core with our talented youngsters like Lambie, Mvovo, Jordaan, JJ, Taute, Serfontein, Goosen, Jantjies, v/Zyl, Coenie, Kitshoff, Malherbe, Steph du Toit, Etzebeth, Kolisi, Vermeulen, CJ Stander, Elstadt, Coetzee, J.Strauss etc 

 Saffex like your thinking.

But do you really think the Beast, Jannie and "penality" v d Merwe will be around for the next WC.

They are passengers at this stage already.

Drop them now and get the youngsters in the mix.

we have a very unique chance to blood these youngsters and build towards to RWC 2015. so if we dont blood them early the winning culture that the boks have builded up until now will all be lost at the rate that we are declining at.

the transition for a younger player is much easier in a settled enviroment but if the team is not performing they task of making sure the younger player develops is 10 times worse. the hasbeens need to be ousted and the younger performing players needs to be groomed as quickly as possible. at the rate the settled players will get axed leaving us to rebuild from scratch

 Well our B team was slaughtered last year leading up to the RWC.  In northern hemisphere tours they have been slaughtered by Pom club teams.

If you guys think the environment for the young players is not constructive.....try the environment without our last few experienced Boks.

Our problem is not the lack of new players....it's the lack of experienced players. That's what White taught us, but I see that lesson is already forgotten.

spot on moz but there was no player development so that is why were are at the cross roads. HM knew when he took the job that this would be the basic problem. the only way one can get that expierience is by playing.

a lot of white's structures that he builded up has been forgotten (specialsts in medical, traning and visual coaching) we pretty much start from scratch at every bok coach term.

white did not have it all hhis way we went on alot of bad games and poor tactics but i those years things were a bit different. even white is playing differently than before

they need to pick a squad and keep that bunfh of players together for as long as possible.

Yep! Above all White made the guys earn their Bok jerseys.....and he was slow to give up on players who had demonstrated success at international level. Most pundits want to do exactly the opposite.