South Africa - Team of the Week

 Vermeulen was massive. A great game by a great player.

 15. Kriel

14. Combrink

13. Mapoe

12. De Allende

11. Basson

10. Jantjies

9. Faf

8. Vermeulen

7. Jacques Du Plessis

6. Kriel

5. Hattingh

4. Etzebeth

3. Koch/Malherbe

2. Strauss

1. Kitshoff

Kebble is a loosehead.

Hattingh I am afraid reminds me of Juandre kruger. T he chances are he will not cut it at test level. 

The trouble with the above is that its one thing running gainst the Lions and Cheetahs and quite another against the Stormers or Bulle. zPollard is undoubtedly our best flyhlaf but against the Cheetahs, lesser opposition, jantjes did very well. All this amkes selections like these difficult. 

1. Kebble is a 1.2.Schalk was better at 7 in a poor game. Duppie wasn't too bad.3. Basson was lucky. 4. Jantjies was lucky, is good, but no Bok. Polly is still the MAN!!!5. Dreyer, Malherbe, etc. were good, but Koch is Tha MAN!!!6. Strauss is the best 2 by default.  If Bismarck can get his shit sorted, he'll be better.7. Kitshoff is the best 1 in the world ATM,  by a country mile. GO ROOIES!!!.8. Hougie and Hendricks were the best wings.9. 13 is still a huge problem.  De Jongh is the best of a poor show. I like Sadie, but didn't see him tonight. Liked the Cheaters 12 though!

 For me the situation was clear.   My TOW from the SA Franchises is as follows:-
15  Joe Pietersen14   Ruan Combrinck13   Johan Sadie12   Harold Vorster11   Bjorn Basson10   Handre Pollard 9   Faf de Klerk 8   Duane vermeulen 7   Warrick Tecklenburg 6   Jaco Kriel 5   Grant Hattingh 4   Eben Etzebeth 3   Frans Malherbe 2   Adriaan Strauss   * 1   Steven Kitshoff
*   I came very near to picking Akker van der Merwe in this case.
I differ substantially from you insofar as a number of players are concerned and I would like to provide some background.  
*   Pietersen today was outstanding - his line breaks and contributions to two Cheetahs tries were outstanding.   Kriel had a much quieter game and I think Coetzee's contribution was good - but Pietersen was better.  
*    For me there can be no doubt that the contribution made by Combrinck to the Lions performance was in fact decisive insofar as determining of the match outcome is concerned.
*    Mapoe and Sadie was more or less on par - I would not really quarrel about that one.
*   Jantjies made two very good line-breaks, but I think as much as he contributed to the team - as much did he bugger up his passing game.   I dealt with that aspect under a different thread - and  definitely did not rate him for that reason in my TOW.
*   Frans Malherbe was made MOM for one thing more than anything else.  He destroyed Greyling and four of the scrum penalties stemmed from that.   The 12 points stemming from conversion of the penalties he caused to be given to the Stormers was decisive in the outcome of the game.     
       

 Moz, Thormeulen was robbed of his rigntfull place of POTY last year. Brody wasn't bad, but he didn't dominate the opposition lime Duane did. Read was God's gift to rugby until Duane showed the way. Never to worry though, he will lift Bill later this year!

Oh please Sadie was stepped on the crucial Lions try....pointing away and Combrink took him on the inside. For the rest he scored an overlap try.
Faf de Klerk badly missed joe Pietersen to let the Cheetahs back in the game, that said he was probably the best of an unimpressive group.
Schalk was huge in much tougher company.

 Faf and Sadie are class acts. 
Those thinking our backs cant get creative need to think again. 

 Schalk perhaps played in tougher company - but he made an aweful number of mistakes.  He carried the ball a number of times and virtually everyone of those ended up poorly for the Stormers.    I hesitated on that score to select him.  He played at 6 and so did Jaco Kriel who was ten times more effective as a 6 than Burger was.   Maybe Schalk should play at 7 or 8 - a 6 he is not.  

 Changes made where they're necessary. 
Mapoe was by far the best 13 today, no questions asked.
A part from scoring a try Hendricks was invisible and really isn't good under the high ball.
Pierre Spies played well today, not as well as Thor or Whiteley, he really got stuck in and got his hands dirty.  

 Shezza 
For me Jacques du Plessis is not a loosie - he is a lock.   The Bulls loosies with Labuschagne at 6 and Botha at 7 functioned better as a combination than with Du Plessis at 7 and Stegmann at 6.   The latter is a village idiot whose most important contribution is giving away penalties to the opposition.     

 De Allende...over 100 metres gained at over 6 metres a carry. 4,defenders beaten, 1 clean break...5 offloads. Voster was good against poor opposition...de Allende was a force against very physical opposition.

De Allende and Vorster is a flip of a coin, it's just going to have to be a matter of opinion. The Stormers - Bulls match really wasn't a game for running whereas the Lions - Cheetahs match and that's what the backs are really judged on. 

 No, it's not a flip of the coin De Allende is the best 12 in the game ATM. Tha Bools/Stormers clash was never gonna be a showcase of running rugby. The bools pressed them hard, but WP was always gonna win this game...yes I know I'm bias.

 I would under present circumstances always go with De Allende at 12 - but there is one case as to who was the best 12 on the day and it was a close call between him and Vorster.   I rate Vorster highly - while saying that he has now shown in a series of matches that he its good enough to be an outsider insofar as Springbok selection is concerned.
When it comes to Mozart - he went bananas about Odendaal and wrote a praise song about him,  as it gave him a whip to use against Serfontein.    Odendaal was rather invisible yesterday.
Incidentally there is another problem in this case.  This year in the absence of De Villiers there was very little criticism by Mozart of De Allende - last year De Allende was attacked by Mozart all the time.  If De Villiers comes into the picture - Mozart's vicious attacks against De Allende would resume.                

I never went nuts about Odendaal. I simply said he has been much more effective than Steppie and played creatively rather than doing crash ball. About de Allende last year, I said his defence wasn't up to international standard....all accurate statements.

You should try the truth sometimes, you know, just for a change of pace.