If there is one thing certain about Mozart - it is his dislike without reason of certain players. When analysing his comments on certain players - especially those he dislikes - you have to analyze the reasons given by him with extreme care - since he tends to invent incidents with no substance to criticize players.
There are some campaigns that arose recently and some has been going on for years. Lets look at some of his favourite players first:-
Morne Steyn
For some reason or another Mozart believes that Morne is the best flyhalf in the country. For that purpose he has said that a flyhalf should always receive ball while standing still and that is the South African way of playing. He always ignore any criticism of Morne Steyn - take for instance Morne's poor defense in the Ellis Park test.
There are other issues with Morne Steyn he ignores as well - for instance his poor decision making (eg before the Messam second try at Ellis Park) and execution in numerous instances.
Let me give you a typical example. Lambie in a recent game of the Sharks failed to find touch with a penalty kick and Mozart went on a campaign about that one. Yet not a word about Morne failing to find touch once in the Brisbane test, twice in the Eden Park test and twice in the Paris test. Incidentally even though Lambie is severely criticized for the error referred to Francois Steyn did the same in the same game - and absolute silence by Mozart follows.
Any deficiencies in Morne's game is ignored or flimsy excuses and attacks on other players are used to distract readers from the real issues. The only real function of flyhalfs is to kick at goal - they can be average and even poor.
Francois Steyn
His Francois Steyn campaign is really typical. Francois Steyn had a good opening game in Super 15 this year against the Bulls and he played well in all aspects of the game - even though losing ball possession twice and giving away a penalty to the Bulls was in fact negative.
Since that opening game - Steyn's game deteriorated badly. His passing game deteriorated (often inaccurate and in some cases wild), bu running straight at defenders he shown no penetration in attack at all tending to die with the ball, his reading of the game became dismal kicking away balls where he should pass, His tackling became progressively worse and the number of missed tackles became endemic, and the possession losses and penalties given away increase in every game.
According to Mozart he was tops because his goal kicking was accurate - all the other negative factors in his game meant nothing. The latest baloney is that he took charge of the Sharks in the last 15 minutes of the game - but if he in fact did - the result was abysmal.
Victor Matfield
Mozart said it was bloody clear that the recent improvement in the Bulls game was due to the presence of Matfield in the team. In that he hides the fact that in the first two Bulls games Matfield was on the bench every time and came onto the field fairly early and the question remains - why did his second half presence not count at all in the first two games.
When it was pointed out that the Bulls revival in recent games stemmed from Potgieter putting on a good display at flyhalf and his accuracy at kicking at goal was the real issue = he ignored that comment and keep on with his "bloody clear" statement.
Meantime there were worrying signs of a lack of grunt on the part of Matfield in scrumming and other aspects of tight 5 play - for instance when he came from the bench in earlier matches the scrumming of the Bulls deteriorated. His big statement now is that the Bulls cannot scrum and he forgets about the role in Matfield in the relevant regard.
Now lets look at the situation as to players Mozart does not like - the list is too long to really write about in this thread and I will just pick a few names at random:-
Johan Goosen
Goosen is one of his pet hates because he represents a threat to his idols Morne and Francois Steyn. After each of the first four games in Super 15 this year - Mozart wrote dramatically how Goosen was injured and that it proves that he is injury prone.
That stopped after the fifth match and then was revived when Goosen twisted his ankle and went off. This happens to many players all the time - yet that minor injury is again blown out of proportion.
Mozart invented some stories about inadequacies on Goosen's part - that was just as flimsy as his reasons for Matfield's and Francois Steyn's leadership roles in their teams. These inventions must always be analysed, because he stretch the truth to seemingly impossible limits.
Damian de Allende
This player has an extreme negative insofar as Mozart is concerned - he is a threat to the return of Mozart's other favourite - Juan de Jongh - tot eh Stormers team.
Even though De Allende had very good games during the season thus far - he is rated as the second best center in the competition by Foxsport - Mozart went on the rampage because of one error De Allende made - namely a kick where he tried to get the ball behind the defensive line of the Chiefs and the attempt failed and resulted in a try for the Chiefs. No doubt the attempt failed - but at least De Allende tried something different.
He then went on to invent another try which according to him gifted a second try to the Chiefs - that was absolute false. The De Allende campaign is set to continue - since the defense deficient De Jongh is fit now and he is bound to be back at 13 - where he will do his ordinary - which in the long run is always poor and nondescript.
Summary
It is always clear when Mozart criticizes a player whom he thinks is a threat to one of his favourites beware - he normally is talking utter tripe. Same with his praise singing about his favourites - it is normally as false as his reasons for attacks on other players are.
