Mvovo, Alberts and Steyn the pick of the Sharks......

Mvovo is a much better player at fullback, under Jake and with some experience. Those who were howling for his Bok selection two years ago should ponder how much he has improved and reverse analyse how ready he was two years ago. Now he is staking a genuine claim for consideration....but the tests will be much more demanding. The conclusive proof is in the pudding.

 

Alberts and Deysel both had good games today. But I'd pick Alberts....he ripped a player off the line, beat the most tackles among the Sharks and took 3 lineouts. He was immense.

 

Daniels likewise made plenty of clever contributions....it was probably a positive switch when he came on for Coetzee.

 

The Sharks scrum dominated until Jannie went off for the OOM's pick Adriaanse, after that the Rebels pulled even.

 

In the backs apart from Mvovo, JP looked far more engaged.  In this mood he remains a top class player.

 

Jordaan had some nice touches but those who tried to finger an out of position de Jongh might have noted their man Jordaan being totally bamboozled by Sa'u.

 

And then on to Fransie. A lot of bs was written about his game...but it was his solidity that made the difference

 

1) On the JP try he accelerated the line instantly and offloaded at precisely the right moment....unlike Mvovo whose pass was probably a bit forward.

 

2) He took the Rebels number 4 head on, 5 metres out and dropped him....it's precisely that power that will help us in the tough matches.

 

3) His line kicks were influential....look at the match start, back to the 10m line or that brilliant low kick to the 22 that set up his ensuing penalty.

 

4) His goal kicking was confidence inspiring as was his decision making.

 

5) As always with Fransie there were a few missed tackles, a slip, an overcharge and he missed a player coming off the deck....but there was an excellent tackle closing the outside gap and lots of in close tough stuff.

 

6) I also liked the way he came off his right foot and kicked with his left or delayed the kick....he is learning.

 

 

The Frans Steyn experiment is totally worthwhile and the notion tiny, little Lambie will improve things bemuses me. Why? He has never had an impact going all the way back to last year's S15.

 

MOM Alberts 

0/000/3/7180402 10/23/00

0/0

 

Mozart 
Dimwit - did you actually watch the game?   That description of the wonderful things Steyn did is so added to that it is unbelievable.   He missed a few tackles - 40% of all attempted tackles is nicely explained away by verbal diarrhea.
The tackles made was over-emphasized as being ultra important - they were routine and if not made would have added to the otherwise disgusting defense record.
And then there was the kicking game - no mention of the fact that he routinely made bad kicks - like the penalty kick where he failed to find touch and the totally totally aimless kicks that flowed from his boot.
Obviously you also missed out on his inaccurate passing game and the ineffectiveness of the backline under normal circumstances.
The Francois Steyn experiment failed badly and you are too biased to realize it.  Every one else said it was a negative display as flyhalf - Mozart says it was wonderful,   What a load of bullshit!!!!!!!!!!   
           

Mozart
"Jordaan had some nice touches but those who tried to finger an out of position de Jongh might have noted their man Jordaan being totally bamboozled by Sa'u."
When did that happen?   He made some really saving tackles missed by others and his defesne was ten times better than De Jongh's standard fare.    

Two points...Jordaan was bamboozled by Sa'u. Find the incident yourself.  Secondly Steyn did exactly what Jake wanted....if he failed he would've dropped next week . He won't and he didn't.

Mozart
If White has no other realistic option he would play Steyn at flyhalf.   This guy does everything that a second rate loosie playing at flyhalf would do.   That includes aimless kicking and poor passing.   His reading of the game is at best poor - I would say nearly non-existent.    His defense is a nightmare - but you obviously missed everything you did not want to see.
If yo refer to the one incident where it can be argued that Jordaan missed a tackle - it was actually a misunderstanding between him and the inside defender;   The latter missed the tackle and Jordaan then tried to make a tackle - but since he was not really in a position to make a tackle he tried to grab his shirt, but was unsucessaful.  Jordaan then overhauled the Rebels player and put in so hard a tackle that the player lost possession of the ball and the moved ended in a scrum.  
The other incident was when Williams - not Jordaan - was beaten when a player broke inward.   He in fact beat Williamd on his inside and Jordaan overhauled him and made a very effective tackle.  He is not the defensive sieve De Jongh is.
However, a person cannot discuss things with a person so prejudiced that he only write gibberish and expect everyone to believe him.  Even Steyn's most ardent admirers like boglogic looked at the game and became disillusionedwith the constant bungling of Steyn as pivot.  So i am afraid the majority opinion is against you this time around.                 

 Moz, we are not scoring tries! With Lambie at 10, we were scoring a few tries early on. That has dried up..Lambie it an out and out 10! Frans to 12!I would prefer Frans to make way now though as he is off to Japan. Its really all about the Boks..