Raymond Rhule wins the MOM

After making 1 of his 5 tackles......defence is dead in South Africa, no Joggie Jansens, Ryk van Schoors or even de Wet Barries out there.

Living constantly in the past where attacking play was meaningless and defense was the only thing that counts.   Sorry to disagree but the fact is that Rhule was very good in most aspects of play ad if defense is the only thing that counts in rugby the game will be played in accordance with the principle of the dead backline norm.    

 
Mike ... come now ... Ryk van Schoors and Joggie Jansen are heroes. Heroes we can emulate when we ourselves have no clue how to go about a certain aspect of rugby.

De Wet Barry was also a fine example of how to hit a man and stop him in his tracks.

Rhule on the other hand blows hot and cold defensively. When he's bad he's really bad. I would think that he could learn a lot from our old heroes.

Let's face it, he has a ways to go before he can compare himself to those boys in their day.

 CC
All three mentioned by Mozart were centers - not wings.    Sure defense is important - but when it comes to that being the only norm in games it is becoming a real problem.   I am myself not sure about Rhule - but he is a damn sight better than the Stormers midgets.  
I would rather have Combrinck and Van Wyk on the wings, but we know that at least one wing will have to come from the quota system and if I have to make a choice between the midgets and the other wings I would rather have Rhule than any of the others.   The microlights have speed - but gets run over by stronger opponents all the time.    

 
Fair comment, Mike.

Not that a wing should be any less capable of defending properly.

It is after all a standard requirement and I think that is what Mozart was alluding to.

Another hard hitter was Mannetjies Roux.
CM I have to agree with your comment on the wings.
Combrink, Rhule and van Wyk are the type of players we need out on the wings.


 

Against the Bloos, Rhule 2 tackles made, 6 missed.

 For the record here are Rhule"s stats for the game yesterday:-
Scoring - zeroAttacking play:    R RhuleW0116240020DefenseR RhuleW1260
Very poor performance and one must wonder where we will find a quota wing to play for the Springboks.   There are promising cases - eg Tambwe and Nkosi - but they had virtually one or two matches only and the midgets are as bad or even worse than Rhule.

 
Why are you looking at those two when we have guys like Skosan and Ulengo?

Try to use a little more head the next time you post, Comrade.

 

 Skosan is a fine finisher with gas, Jamba has let himself down a bit but I still think he'll come good in a bok jersey.
Van Wyk has impressed with The Sharks but memories of his time with WP remain. Blew very hot and cold there.

 CC 
Both are defensive liabilities - Skosan is even worse than Ulengo.  
I think the wings should be Combrinck and Van Wyk - but that won't be allowed by the Government and their faithful slaves at SARU. 

 Nkosi from the Sharks looks a real prospect for the not too distant future.

Nkosi looks the most likely of the young African backs.....pace, size and seemingly good instincts.