I see some saying the odd player here or there would not make the difference…….hellooooo, it’s not about the odd one or two players. Ten of the starting 15 last week were by no stretch the best in their respective positions, so it’s not about one or two players, it’s about two thirds of the starting side being incorrect. Add a bench that contains the likes of Mbonambi, Paige and Morne Steyn……less said the better.
With reference to the incorrect 10…….Goosen is a great rugby player but he is not a fullback, as much as he is not a centre…..he is physically not up to the role. He is a flyhalf end of and should be on the bench as our back-up 10. Willie should have been retained as Eddie Jones did with Mike Brown. Class is permanent, form temporary.
Habana is done has been for some time now, time to move on and moving on does not mean has been Mvovo…..the ridiculous squad selection Coetzee has made. There are better in form youngsters like Ulengo, Ismiel and Sergeal Petersen. Combrink, Senatla and Skosan are injured.
Hougaard has been in sublime form for Worcester at 9 and like Goosen is wasted out of position on the wing. Has never been a wing. He should be our bench 9.
De Jongh at 12 is an insult, how many more times do we have to witness this little pretender go AWOL at test level, problem is, he is a Coetzee favourite. Nice little player at CC level although he would never make my CC side as a centre. He is physically not up to playing centre at test level……cant impose himself physically in defence or attack……most of test rugby is played in traffic……de Jongh is only effective in space, with his step and technically efficient open field tackles. Operate him in traffic and he gets dominated. De Allende might not be in the greatest form of his life, but he has already proved himself at test level and has been effective carrying the ball up in traffic despite his form. As with Willie, you stick with class and you show faith. If you are going to make a change then make a merit change by rewarding the impressive Janse van Rensburg……how bloody obvious? Frans Venter and Odendaal are also far better options than de Jongh as is Mnisi. Serfontein is injured. Good to see Kriel back at 13 where he belongs, was by far our best back with little ball, but it was his impressive defence that stood out.
So in the backs, Goosen is not a fullback, Hougaard not a wing, Habana is past it and de Jongh is an insult of a test 12. Of the merit selections, Jantjies is struggling under the useless Coetzee’s direction as was the case when he played under him at the Stormers. His free spirited attacking style is supressed under the conservative Coetzee……we see no transition from Jantjies at Super level to test level as we see with Barrett or Cruden for the AB’s where patterns of play are mirrored. Same can be said of Faf, who started well but is now also being sucked into the uncertainty and directionless modus op that Coetzee instils.
In the forwards we have Beast bumbling along no longer making the impressions he used to and in the process keeping out potentially the best loosehead in the game in Kitshoff, what a bloody wasted talented this guy is. He should have long established himself as our starting loosehead. He always improves things when he replaces Beast. Nyakane is better than Beast these days.
Strauss has been poor all year it would appear that leadership burdens him and affects his form and he is an average leader at best. Currently the fourth best hooker behind Bismark, Marx and Akers, which says it all really
The biggest insult of them all has to be the selection of Adriaanse as our starting tighthead. No further evidence is required to define Coetzee as a coach with a selection like this. It’s a bloody joke. How in heavens name can a test coach bring himself to select the likes of Adriaanse at test level? Why was Koch discarded, where is Marcel v/d Merwe, what about Maks v/Dyk of the Cheetahs, hell even Nyakane or Thomas du Toit out of position would have been better options. It’s a bloody insult seeing the knocked kneed narrow shouldered old man shuffling about on the field. Geez Coetzee you are an idiot
How much longer do we have to endure average Louw, what exactly does he bring to the party? Turnovers, very few if any, nothing with ball in hand as you expect from a linking 6, so whats the bloody point. In Jaco Kriel, we have one of the best opensides in the game feeding off scraps off the Bok bench. The guy is so, so much better than Louw and its embarrassing that he has not spent the last few years starting at 6 for the Boks, its bloody insulting. Louw like Schalk was never built for 6, just like Marcel Coetzee is not. Playing average Louw ahead of Kriel sums the utterly useless Coetzee up just like it did Meyer.
Oupa like de Jongh is a nice little CC player…….good skills and heart but just not physical enough to be a test 7, not even close…..he is no bruiser, we need a bruiser at 7. There are many better options who sadly all happen to be white……Jacques du Plessis, Kirtsen, Elstadt and the du Preez twins…..not to mention Mostert who should be playing 7 given his size. But what does Coetzee do, he brings in past it Alberts who has not had a noteworthy game in two seasons. Has this idiot Coetzee learnt nothing from the clown Meyer?
Same theory applies to Whiteley…..plenty of talent but no grunt, you need a bit of grunt as a test 8.
So in the forwards we have Beast past it, Strauss our 4th best hooker, Adriaanse the biggest Bok insult since Braam at 10, Louw a never been, Oupa a pretender and Whiteley, well another pretender
As for Coetzee, has there ever been a more out of depth coach than this guy, we never thought PdV would be surpassed but I think Coetzee will be giving him a run for his money. He clearly cant select, it’s not so much the marginal selections like Habana, Beast, Oupa and Whiteley……it’s the selection of Morne Steyn, Adriaanse and now Alberts that has one reaching for the pills…..white players, not political must selections. How can you begin to select Adriaanse as your tighthead and why on earth take the massive backwards step in recalling the utterly useless Morne as your back-up 10?
Coetzee’s biggest failing is that he is a soft touch, he has no conviction, he is Mr nice guy. The public want him to play the Lions way, which is the correct way but he is not comfortable with that for its not his way and he is not astute enough to adapt and employ that way. With conviction he should be playing it his way even if it’s the wrong way, giving the side direction in that way, despite it being the wrong way. At least if they are going to play boring direct rugby, kicking for position then instruct the players to do as such…..don’t pick an attacking 9 & 10 and supress their free spirit, don’t pick a 7 & 8 that lack physicality if you want to play it short. Selecting Morne on the bench smacks of the Coetzee way, bring Alberts in smacks of the Coetzee way……it’s how Coetzee had his Stormers play……boring defensively minded rugby. So Coetzee is selecting players he is not comfortable with, cant instruct them to play the way they are used to playing and is therefore stuck between a rock and a hard place……….its the road to nowhere…….the players are directionless and the Kiwi’s will prey on this. The saddest thing about Coetzee is that we know he does not have what it takes to play modern winning rugby, something Ackerman and Swys at the Lions do.
