Lets face it - it it was not for Willie Le Roux we would have lost the game today by the proverbial mile. So went went wrong today?
Two things are evident - the Welsh dominate the Springboks in virtually every Department of the game. The following questions can certainly besked:-
* Is our loosie combination good enough t go forward confidently?
* Is our tight 5 combination good enough to face the All Vlacks and the Autralians?
* Is our center combination good enough?
The Loosie combination'
I have no problems with Vermeulen and Louw - but serious problems with our no 7 selection. Granted Alberts weas injured early - but that happened in teh process of buggering up and the fact that Burger had ample playing time showed us that he is not the answer on international level anymore.
It is time that Meyer looks again carefully at the selection of the loosie at no 7. What is clear to me is that beeither Alberts - nor Burger is really the answer.
The Tight 5
Th Welsh Tight 5 out-performed the Springboks one today and I think the problems were with out lock combination. The situation is complicated. I was scared by the possibility that Flippe will get carded again - can he played without that? His ill-discipline level is clearly way too high.
Thje scrumming was good enough in the first half and early in the second half - but especially after the carding of Van der Merwe. Two poor scrumming locks clearly showed when Burger could not support the scrum when he scrummed at lock and Matfield ran out of steam early in the second half.
Matfield plays for 15 minutes and then he started looking old and tired. Can a player like him play in tests during two successive weekends and still produce the goods? It does not look like that to me. He did not do anything much other than in line outs this week. Matter of fact his carries were weak and one let to a penalty converted by the Welsh. Still think he is not strong enough to play a good enough role in the Tight 5.
The center combination
It is abundantly clear that Pietersen is not a no 13 center - his defense today was just not good enough. He remains a wing and his usage at center is a waste of talent. Something critical is required to get a good enough 13 in teh team.
Serfontein did not impress me today - he was solid - but nothing more. He was trying to make a try saving tackl after our defense around the fringes failed and for that it is clear that the Welsh decided to attack through the soft underbelly of the Springboks in the channel. That was successful and it cost us dearly. We definitely need a faster and more hardworking 7 and Morne Steyn remains a serious defense deficiency at 10.
It is a pity that De Allende will not be available to play this Saturday - since I woulkd have liked to see his performance before the RC but that will probably still happen.
What is to be done
Meyer has some serious house cleaning to do and I think he must really looked again at the team:-
* The center situation is with De Villiers and De Allende in a seriously bad situation - and I am sure it will improve with their return
* Morne was clueless today - put him under pressure and he starts making mistakes and there were serious mistakes today. His main aim today was to get the ball to Le Roux come hell or high water - without the dominance of the team as a whole. In any ga,e against Australia and New Zealand they would soon enough find ut about that one and kill the Le Roux benefit before it pays any dividends.
* Du Preez really was not good enough today - he certainly is not the player he was three years ago.
* Alberts needs to be phased out asap. He is missing crucial tackles and when he madse one came off the park injured.
* Iy really is time to change the lock combination - the present one is not working and it wweakens the Tight 5. Van der Merwe shows serious discipline problems and Mtfield is physically not strong enough to compete.
* Jannie looked good enough in scrumming today - but we need to look at other possibilities as well, because outside of scrumming he is a serious liability.
