Numbers back Fransie

With three defenders beaten and two offloads, Steyn had a pretty good afternoon. He was powerful in traffic and put himself about. Not a clean performance and there was that silly last penalty....but improving I think.

Bosman has brought a lot of width to the Sharks game with his excellent passing and today, three offloads. Meyer is never going to knock your socks off, but he adds value.

For the rest I echo the view that Mtembu was very impressive. One of the headiest games from a new player I can remember. Minnie brought an edge to the Sharks and Daniels had some good moments.

Pieter Steph du Toit came back to Earth. As predicted, pure energy was never going to prevail the whole season. His feeble missed tackle on Messum resulted in a try....as did his dribbled pass when smashed by Rettalik.  After his interception conceding a match winning try a few weeks back, PS is becoming a bit expensive. Looks like my initial, later reversed,  call of a few years out may be right. Terrific for a 20 year old, but still maturing.

Most critically, welcome back Pat Lambie. This heady young guy was a constant contributor to the Sharks cause....stepped nicely a few times.....and showed great timing and awareness in the pass. By far his best general game of the year, and none too soon as the Morne Steyn challenge picks up steam. We have two test class flyhalves here.

Moz you are wrong about that Steph du Toit tackle on Messum. Go take a closer look. PSDT has Messum at first but before he can get a grip on him, Messum turns at the same time PSDT is taken down by Clarke from behind.....should have been a penalty to Sharks. You can't tackle a man without the ball.

Smashed by Retallick? Retallick tackled him around the ankles. I have no issue with a lock being involved in general play like that, I rather see PSDT with ball in hand than have him be another passenger in the side. His pass was hindered by a good tackle by Retallick, fair play to him.

Not sure what pure energy has to do with the first 15min of the game. The kid has had a great season todate and has yet to be exposed in the physical stakes which is the big positive. Errors will occur. With Bekker not available PSDT will play 5 for the Boks and rightly so.

Agreed on Frans, just seen his first 15 min and both times he smashes the opposition players out of the way in traffic

 Looked to me like Du Toit was trying to hold up Messam and create a maul rather than make the tackle, he got on the wrong side and the combination of Messam's leg drive and Clarke joining from the rear caused him to lose the player. Should have been more intent on getting him to the ground.

The loose pass picked up for the try was pretty inocuous and looked more like Retallick's hand hit the ball as he was wrapping him up - could have happened to anyone but a second "intercepted" pass for a try in as many weeks seemed to rattle PSDT's confidence as he became much less prominent in the game. Hope the kid takes it in stride and keeps playing aggressively - can't be afraid to make mistakes

Would like to see more of Mtembu. Looked strong, like Kolisi.

Exactly Oi.......PSDT does not get a grip on Messum, he holds him up with flat hands, Messum twists at the same time that Clarke hits PSDT from behind. Clarke prevented PSDT from getting a grip on Messum.

His game after the intercept was solid enough.....he continued to run it up, tackle, clear out rucks and take his line-out ball. 

He has been one of the finds of the seasons. We cant expect him to stand out every game. 

 He just missed the tackle Dave....that's the first order of business

No he did not miss the tackle, he held the player and was taken out from behind illegally before he could effect any further attempt to bring the player down. He shouts at ref when on the ground as it should have been a penalty to the Sharks

Fat (oops) lot of good that did with the Tahs over the line and Stef on the deck.

Dave I don't think PS is as evolved as Etzebeth was at this time last year. Nor should we expect every good young player to be a super nova.  All that means is he will probably play bench, with Juandre Kruger starting.

Mozart

The numbers in handling balls in trsffic of Steyn  looks good - but what happened then?  8 crashballs and 2 off-loads was not at all awe-inspring.   His defence remains wicked - 3 tackles made and 1 crucial one - leading to a Chiefs try - missed.  And the final situation has not been clarified - he was cited for dirty play - Greyling style.   That penalty given that stretched the Chiefs lead to 8 points and cost the Sharks a bonus point was actually the result of Steyn's actions - although not reflected as being caused by him.

His constant breaking in potentially cost the Sharks a try - there were two Sharks players towards his outside and a two on three situation - when he decided to break inwards - stopping the movement and at the resultant maul the Sharks lost possesssion of the ball ten meters out from the tryline.    His forward pass to Viljoen also cost them a certain try.   His decisionmaking is poor insofar as playing at center is concerned and he should perhaps play at full back - but I personally think that Le Rouzx is a better proposition at full back at this stage.   

Steyn is too slow to be a proper full back and unless there is a miracle improvement in his performances - he should not be anywhere near the Springbok team.   In any event that improvement is unlikely to occur during the present Sharks visit to Australiasia and Steyn is likely to be sent back to SA after the hearing - 2 weeks suspension is most likely to happen.  If it does it shows irrespnsibility on his part - knowing that his team is in desperate troule with backline injuries in any event.

Decision making is definitely not his strong point.

Yes decision making is a problem. Which is why he has to play 15....where he makes decisions for himself and by and large doesn't have to factor in players around him. As I said, it wasn't a clean performance, but he was powerful in contact, and I don't think the missed tackle was easy.

Man DomMike your grasp of the reality of rugby is non existent. If Frans beats a man in traffic by taking contact and is then met by other defenders, he has two options, pass it to a person in a better position than himself or set up a ruck and recycle the ball. Frans did just that - your issue with his decision making is a load of bloody shit. What else did you expect Frans or anyother player to do in that situation.

Rugby is a real game, its not some bloody fantasy where centres glide through defences greating momentum at will - wake up.

Frans is a 12, its his best position and its where he will be playing for the Boks this year and rightly so.

 Moz if Bekker had been available for the Boks, I would have been happy to see PSDT start on the bench. But to date he has had a great start to S15 rugby, sure he has thrown the odd pass that has gone astray, but that's hardly a measure of a lock.

For the rest, he has been damn good making the S15 side of the week on a number of occasions now. He has been strong with ball in hand, defence and clearing out rucks. He has been far better than Juandre Kruger who apart from Sat, has been pretty much a non entity for the Bulls this season. But more importantly Kruger has been average at test level and for this reason PSDT has to partner Etzebeth as he offers the physicality we require.

Agreed, PSDT is not up there where Etzebeth was, but then again no lock is. Etzebeth is a physical freak, but PSDT has stood out and is a close second to Etzebeth at the same stage of development.

Kruger is not good enough to start for the Boks, PSDT is and tests against Scotland, Italy and Samoa will ease him in nicley

Saffex

I think that the problem is not when Steyn is in traffic - where as you rightfully goive the limted options available to Steyn, it is a problem he has when he is clear of the traffic and then decide to run into traffic situations and not use players outside of him that in fact is in a better situation than himself.   It has happened in the game against the Stormers - as well as in the game against the Chiefs - in other words it is not just a once-off situation.  Both cases happened inside the oppositions 22 and both could easily have let to tries since there were overlaps.  

There were also cases where he kicked balls away when he should have kept the ball in hand (eg the Brumbies game)  - as well as the game against the Kings where he had the full backline next to him - while the kings backline was not really in position to defend against any real attack.  

Although I have pointed out the above examples - there are other cases where serious questions can be asked about his decisionmaking and even the citing case is another example of poor decisionmaking on his part.   The above examples reflect what is meant by defective decisionmaking on his part that Mozart has also commented upon. 

In the meantime I am hoping against hope that he is cleared of the charge - but there seems to be evidence that he did charge in needleslly into the ruck and that Willims was injured as a result - so I do not hold out much hope that he would be cleared.