Sacha from now on please

Can we now finally draw a line under Manie?

He was good for a part of the 1st half yesterday and then the frailty and instability that we've come to know him for came to the fore.

We need Sacha and we need Pollard. And Willemse can be the backup where needed. He's more than smart enough to come out and close games or continue attacking momentum where needed.

Manie just disappoints, over and over again.

For me, Sacha should have been starting most of the games this year with Pollard coming off the bench. Yesterday I'd have started Pollard, and would have had Sacha on the bench. Next weekend, in the second Oz game, I'd have started Sacha.

We do not need 3 x 10s.

We need to be giving the guy that looks like potentially one of the best 10s we've ever had as much game time and support as possible.

...or are there still those of you that have faith in Manie?

Well I don’t really understand why Sacha has fallen out of favour with Erasmus??

He was hot and new for a while, but then discarded because he had one off game.

And if you guys like it or not, Manie does have some good attributes. In my opinion he should be used strictly as a impact player and not as a starter.

I also think that we are low on Flyhalf stock. Erasmus should be on the lookout for new candidates.

One thing I have noticed, it looks like Sacha performs better under Dobbo and his Game Plan.

I think he gets more freedom to express himself. It will be interesting to see who gets picked for the second OZ test.

I think we will see Pollard and it might be 7/1 bench split, which means a tight game plan.

Kicking a lot and pressure on teams to make mistakes for counter attack opportunities.

Basically back to the original Rassie Ball. What do you guys think?

I said during the second half of yesterday's game that the Boks could have brought on new half-backs, just to change things up. Sasha might have added something different at a time when nothing was working.

Although I would not blame Manie, as most of the mistakes were down to:

1. Collapse of the breakdown
2. Poor 1-on-1 tackles
3. Shambolic lineout
4. A non-existent cover defence

Yes, Shark. I agree with all that.

...but a general should be able to asses what is happening and dictate from there.

That is the difference between a flyhalf and a one-trick pony.

Sach has excellent tactical awareness and he seems to get better when more pressure is applied. See his last game against the ABs and how he outwitted Dmac and BB to close out the game.

Pollard is probably more tactically astute at this point and I think he should be adding that knowledge to Sacha's inventory.

I'd make them roommates and force the two of them to spend as much time as possible together. Sacha already had everything it takes and more. All he lacks is touch of wisdom and he'll be our guy for the next 12 years.

Manie is a lost cause. A greyhound. Fast as all hell and hard to catch when he's in front but the slightest of touches and he breaks down, invariably cashing out.

These guys basically lay out what I'm saying above.

fgh

I've now listened to just about every postmortem on the game that I could. And the opinions are pretty unanimous...

I'll summarise.

The Boks went into an early lead. But despite being in an almost insurmountable position within 20 minutes, Manie never read the game correctly and continued to play as though were we chasing the game.

To a man, everybody out there is saying that a Bok flyhalf needs to be able to recognise the game situation and act accordingly. That when you have a big and healthy lead, you switch gears and make the clock your opponent's enemy. Kick deep, force set piece, cause them to chase the game and make mistakes.

This was my take after the game and it seems to be confirmed by every pundit out there.

...now, before some genius says "It takes 15 men to lose a game". Understand that such a statement only compounds the fact that Manie should have recognised what was happening and adapted. Once Australia scored early in the second half, if Manie didn't understand that he needed to switch gears and play territory, then it's like that he doesn't have the mental capacity to play at 10 for the Boks.

The problem was compounded by the fact the forwards were out on their feet because the kept being spread far and wide. Yet Manie didn't recognise that either. He kept playing as though the Boks need 20 points in 15 minutes.

He's weak in defence, a fragile kicker and doesn't have the mental edge to take the game by the scruff of the neck and control it.

I told you guys ages ago that Manie was done. That I saw no point to having him there.

And nothing that I have seen since has changed my mind.

Sacha and Pollard are my guys. And I say bring Wolhunter in now and give him some time with the Boks.

Manie has only disappointed and he had his chance. It's unfair to keep him there ahead of young players that are deserving of a chance.

I'm not sure I agree with that in terms of the rest of the first half, Plum. I'll have a look again at the second, but just looking at the last 20 minutes of the first half, we were still dominating when we had the ball and using our ball well.

Minutes 19 - 31 Aus had all the possession, we barely saw the ball.

Then at 31:22 Esterhuizen busts the defense open into the 22, we are attacking strongly and threatening the line until Kolisi runs obstruction 5m out, opportunity lost.

34:00 we have another long phase sequence that gets us to within 5m of the line where Esterhuizen is tackled, Arendse pushes the Aussie who gathered the ball into touch and O'Tief awards a weird penalty to Aus for I still don't know what. That should have been another attacking 5m lineout for us, so we can't say we're playing the wrong type of game at this point.

37:25 we have an attacking lineout again, so we're getting where we're supposed to be getting - deep into Aus territory - but we lose the lineout. JOC throws us a bone by kicking the ball dead from just outside his 22 and we have a scrum.

38:40 strong scrum, we attack and still have attacking momentum deep inside the 22 on a penalty advantage when O'Tief decides to blow the penalty - again, we're playing in their territory, this time the ref robs us of further attack

40:00 off the penalty lineout, Lood drops the ball and Aus gathers to kick out and end the half

Twice we lost lineouts 5m out. At this point that is a bigger issue than the flyhalf management because we were still making fairly easy ground into Aus territory playing like we were, but errors down there robbed us of opportunity. I'll run through the second half again and see, Manie's mistakes become clearer there which is why we needed a closer like Pollard to come on then.

But purely on first half evidence, I think we were still playing the right game at that point - we were getting into the Aus 22 pretty easily doing what we were doing.

It's more after the early try in 2nd half where I felt that adjustment was needed.

It's like the game was crying out to be slowed down but it never was.

I don't many issues with the first half.

Yeah that intercept pass was definitely forcing the issue when it didn't need to be forced.

I cant make the case for Manie being a Bok anymore.

It's pity because I was in support of him at the beginning.

Slightly different slant. I agree Manie is not astute enough to be a test flyhalf, nor does he have enough bottle and he is the weakest 10 defender I can recall playing for the Boks. He has been pivotal in losing many big games, notably in the URC.

But the tactics he was following could have been changed by the coaches. I see no evidence DrLucky provided that critical input…we blundered on.

This game was very much like the Fiji game at RWC 2007 when we tried to outrun the Fijians and were in danger of a shock loss. The coaches and captain made the adjustment and our pack took care of business.

This was in the first instance hubris on the part of the coaching staff, who were being praised to high heaven by our dumb rugby press before the game.

Once the Boks started losing the rucks and the Ozzies started dominating possession, the Boks could have committed more forwards to the rucks and reverted to a kicking game.

Bringing on Pollard, at this point, could have been a good option.

Although if the Boks never had problems with the rucks, Manie is certainly better at getting his backline running than Pollard, resulting in more tries.

Also, the bench has become a basket case, so they did not provide forward domination like a few years back

Okay, second half.

44:00 Fassi counters from inside our half, we end up 7m from the Aussie line where PSDT knocks the ball on in the ruck. Another opportunity lost through error.

46:49 Manie's first glaring error of judgment - cross kick that lands in Aussie hands. If Wright gathered it, it was probably a try at the other end.

48:06 we blow the try I've mentioned numerous times, yet again through error when we've all but had the Aussie defense beat

49:20 another phase attack on the Aussie line, Eben carries in, Hooper wins the penalty as Ox can't clean him out. Another opportunity lost.

52:23 we run from inside our own 22, a very viable option until Arendse throws the pass behind Willemse. It was a try scoring chance.

54:34 we attack from a scrum on our own 10m, put together the phases, end up 10m from the Aussie line again a minute later where Willemse knocks Grant's pass

57:31 comes the intercept pass that changed everything

Again, until that moment, it's hard for me to buy into the narrative that we were playing the wrong game as we were getting into the Aussie 22 with relative ease running the ball. The problem is every time we got there we made an unforced error. This was still a better tactic for me than putting up bombs and box kicks all the time, which is what we were doing by the end of the game and losing most of that possession.

I see he signed with the Stormers till 2029.

Nice, take Pakie. I guess it shows that one's initial impression isn't always fact based and probably more around emotion than reality.

But one has to wonder, if Rassie and company also watched the game over a good few times, why they opted for far more kicking in the second game.

If we if made two less errors in the 22, and scored tries instead, then would we still have completely changed our strategy and personnel?

Draad, I bet Sacha already got some very big money offers from France.

I feel like he's already worth more than most clubs can pay.

Would love to know what the Stormers offered him.