Meyer is as per normal slow on the uptake. People like Saffex and myself have said that six months and even longer ago. But then Du Toit is a lock and that is where Meyer's knowledge of rugby ends. What about Serfontein? His rugby performances is being destroyd by him being forced to play outside of Morne Steyn - so his creative play is being killed slowly but surely by the dolts we have as coaches.
Sure - they did run the ball in the Cheetahs gane - but virtually every run was followed by crashballing, Morne;s passing game virtually assures that one. Their try was a flash in the pan effort by Vermaak.
And Morne's departure to France will make no difference. Even if he plays for the second team for Outer Mongolia he would still be in Meyer's team.
The biggest joke regarding this article by Meyer is that he reckons it would take 3 years for a player to convert from 4 to 5 as a lock, so we need to be patient. What a load of shit. Hell Steph du Toit has already played 4,5 and 7 for the Sharks. Does Meyer not realise that Steph du Toit moves to 5 for the Sharks when Bresler takes the field and makes the line-out calls when he does so.
I suppose a big positive is the fact that Meyer sees the value in Steph du Toit and is talking about him as a 5, which for most is an obvious given we have Etzebeth at 4. With Bekker out of the equation, Steph du Toit has to start at 5 for the Boks now. It is more than apparent that he is another Etzebeth and will feel right at home at test level.
If we thought Bakkies and Matfield were the best lock pair to play the game, my call is that Etzebeth and Steph du Toit will be even better. Etzebeth believe it or not has more grunt than Bakkies and in Steph du Toit we have the same athleticism as Matfield, but with added bonus of far more grunt. Neither will match Victors line-out prowess, but both are handy line-out forwards
Dave, credit to you for picking Du Toit, no offence, but in between the strond you pick hats off to you for picking him yonks ago. As for Meyer, well, he's shredded my faith in him and he has a long way to go in restoring it. I'm very disappointed.
No Denny, you will find that all my selections are spot on, you boys just need to absorb my wisdom and learn that Dave is always right!!!!!!
Of course Du Toit/ Etzebeth will be better that Bakkies and wee matfield 106 kgs. Bakkies could not be better than those two youngster all by himslef now could he!!!
A better comparison would have been Bakkies and Bekker (The man who missed out due to the hallucinations prevailing re matfield)
Anybody watching Du Toit for the baby boks knew he was a very fine player astood out as did Jan Serfontein. A big question mark has been removed by Bekker departures. I would otherwise have had Bekker and Etzebeth at lock with Du Toit at 7.
What a huge pity Bekker went to Japan. Even if he had gone to Europe we could still have had him. He has been the best lock in SA this season by some way.
Bekker has been great this year and will be a loss, but he might have done us a favour in that we should now see the Etzebeth and Steph du Toit combo sooner than later.
Snapster the only positive I can think of is that he may be preserved better playing in the gentler Japanese league and could be back for the world cup.
Think though of a young pack of Kitshof, Strauss, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Du Toit, Louw, Vermuelen and Elstadt by the time the WC comes . Its enough to even cheer up ou maaaaikie!
By the time we get to the WC, Steph du Toit will be part of the Bok furniture and Bekker will be in the wilderness.
By that time we will have witnessed what young Jacques du Plessis of the Bulls has to offer. Add this kids name to the list of my picks for Bok greatness
Oh well, at least Meyer's not putting any additional pressure on the young man's shoulders by talking him up as the world's best lock before he even has a half a Super Rugby season under his belt.
I'm as excited by Pieter-Steph du Toit as the next person but if it's true that Meyer is already shooting his mouth off about du Toit being potentially the world's best lock then that's really stupid. Quite apart from the unecessary boasting, why tip our opponents off? Why not let the Wallabies and the All Blacks find out for themselves just how good he is?
Now that's hilarious! The Wallaby and New Zealand coaches are suddenly going to "discover" Steph du Toit because Meyer said he could be the best 5 in rugby. These guys are watching S15 matches, their players are playing against Steph du Toit.....and now they are suddenly discovering him because of Meyer.
That just demonstrates what a terribly poor understanding of professionalism you have. By the time they play Steph in the FN they will have a complete analysis of him. And even if he was a stealth weapon, how long would that last....one game?
This statement by Meyer is typical coach babble, it means very little to anybody. Later in the article it's pretty clear he believes Steph needs to go through an apprenticeship, like Etzebeth did last year. No doubt if Steph is on the bench and not starting in our first test, which is likely, there will be more howls about Meyer.
But this criticism of the coach , for letting the cat out of the bag, has to be the silliest yet.
Mozart
Meyer has a talent for making silly comments - and one wonders where they will end - because each one is sillier than the previous one. Lets look at some of those gems of the past:-
* I realize that there are problems with Hougaard as to his kicking game - we will coach those problems out of him;
* We do not have backline players capable to play a passing and running game in South Africa
* I did not select Lambie because I do not think his kicking game was good enough- however he improved in that recently and I am now satisified that he can play at flyhalf.
* I have given permission to Lambie to play his natural game at Twickenham.
Now we have this gem about the statement on Du Toit having to tke two to three years to adjust to play at 5. Maybe some of the comments of members are silly - the gems of Meyer are ten times more silly.
Don't be so modest Oom Maaik you can be sillier than Meyer any day!
