The Francois Venter file

A decent S15 player and leader, is this chap and are many of his contemporaries really international class? Today against an aggressive Rebels centre pair, he made only 8 of his 12 tackle attempts. And was horribly skinned by Hodge for the match deciding try.
On attack, time and again he crowded the players outside him, never beat a tackle and frankly looked very Stepfonteinish.

My conclusion is he may play a few tests but won't survive in international rugby. Sadly that is true of many of the players Fantasy Rugby selectors are so sure about.

 Mozart
Although you may not realize the difference - Venter is really not a 12 - but a 13.   He is not as good at 12 than he is at 13 and that is where he should play and have played for years now.  
I for one would not select him at 12 - he is not physical enough for that position.  However, he is a much better 13 and I doubt whether any of the fantasy selection participants have him in their teams at present.  The whole issue has nothing to do with fantasy competitions at all - but with player performances.
     

That would be the same as playing Step at 13. Putting a player who can't accelerate the backline in a position where speed counts. Putting a player at 13 who wasn't able to deny Hodge the outside gap. Nope, his only hope would be to play 12.

 BALLS as per normal.  Can you think of anything logical to say.  And then you support the useless De Jongh at 13 - so what else can one expect from a rugby illiterate?

Veneter looks like a12 to me  Useful player but not a great.Kriel looks like the guy to me and mapoe also is no slouch. Vorster could do well at 13.

 The bigger problem really is not making use of the offload and having players ready to receive the pass. Those skills are at an acceptable level at the Lions but other franchises, although improving and still a behind the curve.
The pass i s the easiest way to beat the defence. 

Moz you are completely wrong about Venter......he has been good all season......today was his first average game.....he is allowed to be average once or twice.
One of the standout centres in the comp todate......there have been no better Kiwi or Oz centres......not bad for a player playing in an average side.
His strength is his rugby brain combined with a good skill set.
Your biggest fault is that you tend to define players by a mistake or two......look no further than defining Lood's WC by that early game missed tackle in the semi.
Mike is speaking utter crap......Venter has played most of his rugby at 12, necessity had him move to 13 for a bit.....he is not quick enough for 13, his skills are there to create, which is what he does, runs great lines, has a good sense of awareness......does the right thing at the right time most of the time.
Adds depth to our centre stock.....easily good enough for test rugby, has been for a few seasons now.
By the way Serfontein is playing good rugby as is Kriel.....they have the freedom to express themselves under Marais  

 Dave
Since the departure of Ebersohn Venter has more or less all the time being the no 13 for the Cheetahs,
I think for some reason or another the Cheetahs had a poor game against the Rebels.  They are playing the Reds in their next game - so we will see how they do in that game.  Could be the travelling issue that affected them - it happened in the past also.
You must know the story by now - De Jongh is the center he supports so the best thing he dies is to find fault with other centers,
You should know after all the rugby shown over the past weekend that he would look at the matches played and identified positives as well as negatives.  However, he started two threads - the one condemning Venter and the other De Allende.             

 CleverMike, de Allende did not have a good game against the Reds from what I saw.
 I don't have the stats but there were missed tackles, a charged down kick & a knock-on from what I remember. At least one of those mistakes resulted in a try for the Reds.  I know he is coming back from injury but so far he has not impressed on this return.

Venter should be matched up on Kerevi at least a few times this weekend. Will be interesting to see how he handles it. Not a nippy evasive runner like Hodge, but plenty powerful.