I have not been very impressed with Paul Jordaan this season. Allot of hype about him from last season but he has done nothing so far. That tap pass against the Stormers he done was very poor.
On current form Dejong is better at outside center
It's been disappointing. He is a superb runner in space, but he is not competing and doing the basics
Yes, he has been hugely disappointing. Lacks the physicality to impose himself. Time to move him to the wing and play JP at 13, with Frans at 12
agreed JP at 13 and Jordaan on the wing. Jordaan is probably a faster runner and he is smaller so makes sense to have JP at center.
JP may need to learn the defensives patterns of an outside center, but on attack he will be a success.
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Frans was looking pretty good today.
My only concern with him at center is that he sometimes hogs the ball too much.
Sometimes a centre just needs to shovel the ball along to the player outside him, especially on multi-phase ball until a gap on the outside appears.
Bosman is poor but at least he meets this one facet of a center,
I'm guessing that if Plum entrusted Frans back to 12 where he belongs, Frans would not resort to hanging onto the ball or just taking the direct route as he did against the Kings and Brumbies. He needs to play it as he did in his first two outings of the year, where he beat players, took contact and offloaded.
If they could get Frans to execute in this fashion, with JP on the recieving end, the Sharks would have some real clout in midfield
Saffex
I do believe and has said so recntly that Jordaan is not performing satisfactory - but to blame one player for that deterioration is not really realistic. Something seriously went wrong in the performances of the Sharks backline backline and they have deteriorated badly in attacking play.
The problem was thought to be Steyn - and the latter did not do anything to enhance the backline performance at all - but I really believe the problem goes deeper than that and Plumtree will have to do some drastic thinking on that score as well.
Lets look at the situation and see what went wrong:-
Flyhalf
Last year the Sharks played michalak at fyhalf and I believe his roole in attacking play was never appreciated as much as it should have been. We all thought that Lambie would continue in similar ways - but despite his earlier signs of good performance as a flyhalf - he has not been effective in that position this year. Matter of fact - he has become more of a kicking flyhalf than an attacking one. You may differ from me on that score - but I do believe that is really the case.
No 12 center
I firmly do not believe that Steyn helped the way the Sharks backline performed this year. He was admittedly out of form and I do share Mozart;s viewpoints as to him being better at full back - he did have a very good game yesterday in that position. However, Bosman is not the answer at 12 either - he had an atrocious game yesterday for instance. I am not sure what Plumtree is going to do next - but something drastic will be needed in this position. Hope Whitehead can make a difference.
Jordaan
After being largely starved of possession in the first five ganmes this year - Jordaan is not performing at all -even with the small number of balls he received. He is an alarming number of errors in his game - and it is evident that he is playing a bad game with those balls. I believe he is trying to do things which does not help his own game and often enough works against the game of the team as a whole - much like Quade Cooper. In doing that he makes too many mistakes.His off-loading of balls deterirorated badly from what he did last year and he stopped running at angles making defence against him easy.
Saffex and Mozart is on about his defence in ONE game because he missed a tackle on Fruean. . According to ESPN Scrum - there is nothing wrong with his defensive game. In the competition thus far he made 57 tackles and missed 4 in all the games he played in. As an example I looked at the stats of two other outside centers as well this year and hey are as follows:-
Engelbrecht - Tackles made 47 - Tackles missed 7
De Jongh - Tackles made 24 - Tackles missed 8.
There is really a lot that needs to be done to get Jordaan back to what he was last year - but fixing his situation only is not going to make a difference to the Sharks backline. A much more comprehensive review and upgrading is necessary than just concentrating on Steyn and him in an effort to determine what really went wrong. Steyn yesterday showed that he is going to be the best full back in SA if he concentrate on playing there.
Mike the issue is simple, Jordaan is not up to it physically as a 13, it has nothing to do with the players around him. Jordaan is too small and therein lies the issue. In order to make an impression Jordaan like de Jongh, needs space. You get very little space at centre these days.
For that reason Jordaan needs physicality in order to make a difference, he does not have that and will never have it as he is a small guy. He might be muscled up, but fact is he is small. His future lies on the wing, where being slightly smaller is ok.
I dont care what ESPN stats said, I am telling you Fruean completely humiliated Jordaan and proved in that one game that Jordaan is not up to playing 13. You cannot have your 13 run over like that.
As for the Sharks, the obvious thing to do is get rid of the useless Bosman in total, why on earth Plm thought he would be the answer is beyond me, Bosman has been around for years and we learnt long ago he has very little value to add. Frans must return to 12 where he belongs and JP needs to move to 13, with Ludik back at 15 and Jordaan on the wing.
I don't entirely agree that a 13 needs to be big. Two of the best centers in the last decade were all of average height and size. Look at O'Driscoll and Conrad Smith. They are both under 95kg but have proven to be extremely good at defence.
Players such as Bastaraud and Tuilagi are great runners and good at breaking the advantage line, but these players would almost break tackles at will. They are effective at 13 as they have the explosive power to get through the tackle and the skills to offload. It comes down to technique and positioning at the end of the day. Fourie, even though he was big, always cut down his openents space by going up in the line.
What I do need to stress is that in order to have a successful midfield then you need to look at combinations and how long players have been playing together. Look at when the boks have been successful who was playing. De Wet Barry and Marius Joubert. Jean de Villiers and Jacque Fourie. When you try to mix them up, problems start to happen.
I have to agree that I like the look of Steyn and JP. Not because of their size but the fact that they move extremely well. JP in space is fantastic at breaking the line. Steyn, when fit can be devastating. They are both the the same age and have oodles of experience. They would be my combo for the boks for next four years.
My point is, at the moment the only centre combination I can see at the moment for SA is Ebershom and Sadie. If plummer put Steyn and JP together then they would be my choice but they need to play together towards the latter part of the Super rugby comp.
My preferred Combos
1. Steyn + Pietersen (Only if they play together)
2. Ebersohm + Sadie
3. De Allende + De Villiers
4. Serfontien + Jordaan
5. JP Du Plesis + Pat Howard (This kid can play)
The best combo we have seen this year I believe is Jean and Allende. The other quality centers right now is Serfontein
Ebershon has been playing well but one wonders how he would fare at test level. JP does have a few defensive issues but other than that would make a fine13. Jordaan on the wing is the right idea..
Sorry but even as a Frans fan I am not happy to see his getting a place on potential. Let him produce the goods first.. He needs to know he has not got a divine right to a Bok spot. Currently he is not good enough.
Sadie is not at this moment a test class center. He appears to lack a bit of pace?
I would really like to see Du Plessis and Howard get a shot. Probably will in the Currie Cup.
One thing to bear in mind re Ebersohn and Sadie - they play in a functional backline.
JJ is improving and De Jongh looking a bit better.
Essentially this year it boils down to who will partner Jean?
King, for a start O'Driscoll weighs 95kg's these days and Smith 94kg. Both are exceptions to the rule in terms of size, but then again they are hardly small. Both are at the end of their careers in terms of age, so do not really represent the modern trend in terms of centre size.
You have left our best 13 out of your list of centres. At the moment JJ Engelbrecht is our best 13, Serfontein our best 12.
Pat Howard is being wasted at WP and is currently being wasted on the wing in their Vodacom Cup side, he needs to move to another province where his talents will be appreciated
Saffex
Your idea about issues are a bit blurred by the size issue - that really does not make he grade in a lot of cases. In the case of Steyn size may be in his favour - but the rest of the game at center is not. If I refer to slow I also include his passing game - or rather deficiency in that respect. Steyn in many ways is one-dimensional annd slow in decisionmaking - whether you like it or not. At full back he is not in that situation and h has more time to decide and act. I agree entirely with Mozart on this issu and I think that is how Plumtree sees it as well.
I know you do not accept the issue of stats - because it does not provide "context" - but over a period of many games it does provide an indicator as to what a player is likely to produce. That is why I looked at all games of outisde center this year and the results were clear - there is no way that Engelbrecht in restricted space produce enough to justify his selection at center and even though you do not accept it - his defensive game is not up to standard. ot only does he miss tackles - but opponents find ways of outeitting him in which event he is not in a position to make tackles. The latter was really evident in for instance the Crusaders game this year.
I have writtn elsewhere extensively about Serfontein. If there is one center needing a move away form a franchise and playing next to a functional flyhalf it is Serfontein. Playing next to Fouche was a big difference - eg the Reds. Playing next to Morne is a kiss of death.
All in all - read again what I wrote about the backline functioning and tell me then that evrerything will be 100% in moving Jordaan away from outside center. There are things wrong as described and to hide away from it i going to ensure continuation of an unhealthy situation.
Mike, last thing I would do is re read your shit on centre play - its out of touch and complete rubbish. The way you go on about de Jongh and Frans is laughable. We all know Frans has all the skills of a centre, more so than most centres.
Plum just got it wrong, evidenced my moving the useless Bosman to 12.
My ideas are not blurred by size, size is a reality.....one only needs to look at the size of modern test centres to confirm that. Jordaan is not big enough for centre - FACT and the longer he stays there, the more he will be exposed.
Your take on JJ is the biggest load of shit I have read all year - man you really are ignorant
Saffex
Ha-bloody-ha. Was the Springbok backline not as dead as a doornail lasty year when Steyn played at 12? It was and nothing you say can be proved otherwise.
And De Jongh missed half of the tackles he supposed to make - so I am talking shit about him? Who is doimnating him? Another ha-bloody-ha.
Wake up from your dreams and be objectice - then people will appreciate your rugby knowledge. At this stage all a person can see if they read your comments is bigotry - sometimes based on preconceived perceptions - nothing real about it at all.
No DomMike, the Bok backline last year was dead because it was hardly used. Frans and JP were the only two backs who scored highly in terms of player ratings.
The issue with the Bok backline, was game plan you fool. We played 10 man rugby, with our forwards bashing it and our 9 & 10 kicking it - wake the hell up you bafoon. It had stuff all to to with Frans you ignorant twit.
