I believe that Statistics are useful in some aspects of player performances and could overcome some one-eye wonders going around criticizing players left right and center.
Whilst some players are severely criticized by members of this site - others are exonerated. I am glad in a way the Mozart in fact put stats on the table to confirm things and stop it from getting one-sided crritii=cism of specific players and praise of otherss.
Mozart himslf criticized Marvel Coetzee severely and then came up with further facts based on statistics - and then changed his mind about the player concerned. It became evident that Coetzee constantly was th best defender in the team and did carry balls on a reasonable basis - especially if the lack of support he gets from his teammates are taking into account. All criticism was directed at Coetzee, but not at the other loosies - especially Alberts who is way too slow to be a loosie - he arrives at breakdown points too late to be of any value and his defence is very poor. The stats confrim what I always believe to be the case insofar as Coetzee is concerned - my own eyes told me the facts confirmed by the stats.
Another problem is that stats do not necessarily reflect the actual situation on the ground. Stats in fact indicate that Morne Steyn was not as bad as the general impression of his performances reflects. In applying stats it must be borne in mind that stats do not tell you th real story - how effective was the kicks launched or passes made. If the outcomes of both were negative - then the stats do not tell you how effective a player is and the stats could be misleading. However over - say five matches stats coud be one of the formats used for player evlauation. My contention is that in the case of Morne Steyn - the stats issue is not really the final arbiter- despite reasonable stats he was in fact below-par in actual performances on the field.
Mozart's recent stats on Francois Steyn and De Villiers in fact confirms the really poor play of this center combination. The two centers both failed over a period of five tests that they were really very poor. Take for instance the case of Francois Steyn. In five tests he gained 88 meters. That means 17,6 meters per game. Say he received tha ball 6 times throughout the game. the actual distance gained by him is slightly less than 3 meters per case. That means he did not even get to the advantage line whenever he gets the ball. Is that really good enough? That coupled to failure to off-load balls effectively in tackle situations reflects badly on Steyn as a player.
Although De Villiers did a bit better than Francois Steyn based on the stats provided - the outcome was still inferior than what should be the requirements of a number 13 center.. De Villiers's poor performance was clear ro everyone watching and evaluating the games concerned.
I tend to agree with mozart's ultimate comments - the time for urgent chage is necessary. If the present trends continue - than both should be left out of the team.
