Selection isn’t the problem….game plan is

We have a team without a fetcher, without a forward running game, without an inside centre. How did we end up missing these three crucial cogs in the machine? Let’s take them one at a time:

1 The absence of a proper fetcher among the loosies as been disguised by playing crash ball rugby. If you offload, if you try the wider channels you move away from the pack and the Bok strategy has been to ruck over the ball on the deck. So you keep the ball close to the pack which means Marx and Bongi can play fetcher. They couldn’t if the breakdown was in 13 channel.

2 A forward running with clever offloads is simply not possible with Dud Toit as your ball carrier. His long shanks are an easy target, he never breaks a tackle and he never offloads. But by and large he hangs onto the ball. A few token charges at the opponent and we do what we always wanted to do….kick the up and under.

3 Do I even have to spell out why we live happily with Dud Allende at 12. He crashes it in, we ruck over it….rinse and repeat. Who needs a centre being turned in open field….remember the JJ disaster just before the half against the ABs in 2013?

Nope it’s a simple game, which means we have players who delight in a simple mission….charge up into the opponent and hang onto the ball. But we were a little lucky it worked at the WC and we are at best 50/50 against the top teams since then. The strategy is old, stale and well countered as we saw with the ABs when they stopped our maul.

We badly need a playmaker at 12, to allow Faf to play his Lions game, to find a forward who can add pace to our running game… our Savea. And to make that work we need a more mobile fetcher than  Marx. 

But you see, the moment you change the game plan selection comes into focus. And there are 3 players we need to find….the sooner, the better.

"And to make that work we need a more mobile fetcher than  Marx. "

Deon Fourie is too old...there's no one else ATM...SA tends to play two 7 flankers...the hooker and our 8 does the fetching.

The 8th man has his own role to play. It's not that of a fetcher.

Kolisi's inability to do his job at 6 forces other players to take up the slack.

Marx & Wiese's primary role is not to get to the breakdown ahead of everyone else. 

It's not to go to ground and compete for turnover ball. 

They may position themselves over a tackled opponent and challenge for the ball, while waiting for the ref to blow his whistle.

That Draad ... is not fetching.

It is not per chance that the fetcher's role has been handed to the openside flank. 

There's a reason for that.

His position in the scrum set piece is perfectly suited to break loose from the set piece ahead of everyone else and to chase the ball to the next breakdown.

Top class fletchers have been known to run as much as 7 - 8km flatout in a single match. 

Their purpose is to go to ground ... wrestle the ball out of the opponent's hands ... make it available for the scrummie to distribute ... and then to get up off the deck ... and to do it all over again ... all match long.

The fetcher in my opinion is the most important player on the park.

Kolisi is too busy appearing in TV ads to bother committing himself to his role as a fetcher ... He knows he's a sure thing ... and besides that, I doubt he can run much more than a km before running out of puff.

Sooooo .... please don't dismiss the importance of a specialist fetcher. 

There's a lot more to it than merely positioning yourself over a tackled player and waiting for the ref to blow his whistle.

"His position in the scrum set piece is perfectly suited to break loose from the set piece ahead of everyone else and to chase the ball to the next breakdown."

Only from. scrums... you are right, but strangely South African coaches don't buy into that philosophy...when last did we select a classic openside?...barring the reluctant selection of Brussouw...even Schalk in his prime wasn't a classic openside...we tend to buck the trend.

Burger may not have been a classic fetcher ... however ... his work rate made up for that big time. 

He was all over the place all match long. All he needed was to go to ground and he would have been the perfect fetcher.

Marcell Coetzee was selected by Meyer to play as a fetcher ... and he did relatively well, when he remembered his role. 

He was however a better blindside flank in my opinion. 

Shows you the quality of our coaches over the last decade. 

How any of them got appointed beats me. 

...almost as we are already pacing ourselves for the world cup...approaching every match as a part of a marathon that ends with the world cup instead of playing every match on its merit... aiming to win every last match with maximum points...

Planning for the WC and ignoring the present has long been the plan and the excuse of Bok coaches.

You fucks don't know anything... a fetcher doesn't run around chasing everything you stupid assholes! They target specific rucks. Lets say that you know fhe opponent is going to have a starter play off a luneout involving player x... well, you will have your fetcher attack that fucking ruck. Or maybe you know they have an exhaust pattern going to the left until the touchline... so you know they are widening the field to reload on the opposite direction through their freed up backline... now you know you can fuck up their crash ball to the middle of the field. Fetchers aren't about distance travelled but rather economy of movement around the field. Good fetchers know how to conserve themselves and when to attack. Of course, stupid fucking yarpies think it means going AWOL for 1 billion miles in a single test, attacking every fucking ruck. But if your players are trained to attack exposed slow ball... do you need a fetcher? It's basically a numbers game and knowing when ball is vulnerable or not worth contesting. The Boks don't need a fetcher.... they need to be smarter about sussing out these opportunities! Fucking Mozart... who got his ass kicked about Ebenezer... now links a fetcher to crash balling... a fetcher is a defensive weapon you fuck nugget.... not an attacking weapon. That shit is about how the team organises its phase play and it's fuckong pods to clean attacking ball. You fucking yarpies should be paying me for these nuggets of wisdom! I could be writing articles for Bark to read and apply incorrectly on discussions! XD!! 

Don’t get your tit in  a wringer Mrs Searle….fetchers have both defensive and offensive duties. Want me to explain?

What a week you Poms have had in sport.

Clobbered on the cricket field by an innings inside 3 days at Lords, by who.

By that yarpie team from South Africa.

The Great Joshua comes short in his attempt to regain his World Crown.

Plus shows the Pom's sportsmanship by dumping two belts out of the ring after the decision.

Now you want to provide advice to the Springbok rugger boffins.

Sorry Pom..

Best to provide you sporting knowledge and advice to the locals I would suggest.

Grow up Pom, we are tired of seeing your moms wrinkled old udders.

4 out of 5 you ignorant dunce! I'll teach you retards how to play a sport you can't fucking play in. Weaopon #1... hope you are fatter than the opposition so you'll out heavy them at set piece time... fucking losers! 

"You see it too, Draad?"

There's something to be said for staying within the bracket of favorable averages, but it bothers me if we are going half motivated into test matches.

Those of us who follow boxing, have our favourites in most weight divisions.

The heavyweight division is usually the division we select our top 5 all time greats from.

Going all the way back to John L Sullivan, Jim Jefferies and Jack Johnson. 

Tyson Fury has been made to look better than he is by the shoddy competition. Personally, I don't think he would have stood the test of time against the likes of George Foreman or Jack Dempsey.

Give me your top 5 best heavyweights, Plum.

Mozart

What game plans did White, De Villiers, Meyer and Coetzee  had to score tries and defend against attacks?    

Don't you mean Coetzee?

‘Soccer tries’ ?…I think ‘goals’ is the more usual term.

I think he meant "score", Mozart.

Haaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha!!!

Ok, Stupid ... if you say so.

Dve 

According to Mozart there are only two players in the Springbok team to criticize and his criticism is based on prejudice without any regard to reality.   He lied constantly about what happened in games insofar as the  two players are concerned.   Everytime he describe an incident involving the  two players he lied about the incident and that is a fact as well.   

Take for instance the case o the ball carry of  Du Toit he said De Allende stopped  to fellow up - while De Allende was deliberately bumped into by an AB player - for which he should have been penalized.   But Mozart pretended that the interference of the AB player  did not happen and consequently lied about the incident.   

What now???

I agreed with you, Stupid!!!

De Lindy is the best 12 in the game ... and so is PSDT. Uh Duh!!!

Why distribute the ball to our star at 13 when you can go to ground with it and keep the entire backline out of the match ... right?

We don't need a specialist openside flanker ... and fetching is the mere act of positioning yourself over a tackled player in front of you while waiting for the ref to blow his whistle.

I mean it's an absolute waste of time getting to the breakdown 50m away to compete for the ball, right?

Besides ... I'm sure Marx who's still tied up in the scrum will have ample time to get their and position himself over the tackled player.

Duane Vermeulen is only 36 years old. The geezer is fit enough and just as quick as he was 10 years ago to get to the breakdown 50m away, right?.

I really must stop worrying about these issues.

Thank you for clearing it up for me, Stupid.

Forgive me ... I'm such a dumbass at times. 

I mean who needs a fresh approach, right?

Rassie's got this.