The geriatrics and past it players so beloved by some of our members

There are a few members who live in the past and who dreams about the elderly and refuse to see the famage they do to the Springbok team.  
So lets look at the worst problem cases in the Springbok squad and see why they are indeed the worst:-
JP Pietersen
Pietersen was never a speed merchant - but he was speedy enough to play on the wing.  However, his Japan stint was harmful inasmuch as he lost his pace completely and is now totally ineffective on attack and defense - and he shirks away from adding value by looking for work as well.   He has become a passenger and showed that up in games thus far in July and in the past two Super 15 tournaments.
Francois Steyn
Steyn came back from France in 2012 - fat and unfit.   His pace was gone.  In 2012 in tests he was so fat he could not see his feet when kicking the ball and he was a real nightmare.  In 2013 Super 15 he was so poor in both defense and attack - he was told he was no center and dropped to the bench.  He was even fatter than in 2012 and his defense and attack was shot.  No attacking ability and his defense deteriorated to a 3/10 level.  In 2014 he was no better - a dummy in both attacking play and defense.   He made some long range penalty kicks - but his kicks out of hand was an aimless and inaccurate  joke and a real means to hand over possession. He developed a whacky knee - likely because of overweight - and he was really sub-standard in all facets of play.  Believe it or not - he was even worse in 2015.  His pace is gone and with it his defense.  A player who matured early and went to pieces early as well.  
Morne Steyn  
The traditional match-loser - robotic and clueless.  His main problem is his decision-making which is on the verge of non-existent. The worst defending flyhalf we had in the professional area and known as never attacking anything.  His execution of kicking out of hand is shockingly poor.   Fortunately he has not played for the Springboks after his Perth disaster and hope he is sent back to France asap.  His Stade Francais team has a problem - they need a flyhalf to warn their bench.
Ruan Pienaar 
He is the slowest flyhalf in the squad.  He is totally unable to read games and is a great neutralizer of backline play.  He does things over and over even if it does not work he keeps repeating it - "Forgot to switch on the Lights" is an apt description fo his efforts.   His defense is a scandal - it is totally absent from his repertoire.  
Fourie du Preez
The great hope of most members - but with a huge question mark over his physical condition.   In the middle of the club season in Japan in 2013 he played well in the first week and was barely average in the succeeding game - it happened in both the RC ad EOYT tests.   The fact that they only play club rugby every fortnight showed that he is incapable/not fit enough  of playing in succeeding weeks.   In 2014 he was patently unfit in the Welsh tests in June 2014 and was very very average in performance - unfitness was in evidence and caused an injury in the second test against Wales.  Out for the rest of 2014 - he played nine games for his Japanese club.  He did not play for three months - went back to his club for training and was injured again.  Based on his past history since 2013 - is he going to be good enough in the upcoming WC - bearing in mind he would not have played any rugby since March and will play in zero matches before the WC and for a 33 year-old it is very hard to get match-fit.   A huge gamble at best 
Willem Alberts 
The slowest, most clumsy and low work rate loosie in world rugby.  He has a reputation for bone crushing tackles and strong ball carries - but th ose are virtually not in evidence anymore.  He is normally unfit and has played very little rugby since June 2014 - when he was injured.  Whenever he did play in Super 15 matches this year he was totally non-productive and utterly useless.  Injured again and fat as always - not a loose forward backside.
Victor Matfield
He had the reputation of being the top line out jumper in World rugby - but that is not in evidence anymore. since he calls line-outs to anyone - but himself.  Loafs around/moonlights  in the backline where he makes some tackles but has no grunt and is useless in Tight 5 play.  The magician who turned the Springbok Tight 5 into a Tight 4.  A real handicap in the Springbok team at present.  
Jannie du Plessis  
Was horrible in scrumming in the tests last year - especially against Argentina - and seriously defective in Super 15 this year.   Was very average on Saturday barely holding his own - despite all the plaudits.   Produces nothing outside of scrumming and has a tendency to give away penalties in scrumming as well as a result of blood rushes to the head.  Not reliable at all - we will have to see how he develops, but I have my doubts whether he is still test material.                     

Don't you ever get tired of posting the same old sh*t?

 Pakie
No - I love to irritate some of the members and remind them constantly in their idiocy in supporting some of the players who should have been out of contention for years.   That send them spinning yarns like it is unbelievable.    

 
All the above mentioned players should not be playing test rugby any longer.

Not only are they playing test rugby but they are preferred by some, including our coach as our best starting 15.

Incredible!!!

 

And according to Carbuncle we should have, guess who.....Maakniks. You are a tonic!

 Mozart
You are indeed my favourite poster.  I love all History - you love Rugby History, so much so that you persist in living in the past.   That makes it very interesting on the site - to hear how you persist in claiming that the good players a decade ago - are still a good as they used to be.   They have reputation - so you believe unfailingly that reputation is all that counts.  If they make a mess - your easy way is just ignore it and go for the jugular to discredit potential selection threats to your heroes of the past.
  
  
 

Tokkie you are about as subtle  as Kobus Wiese in denims. But here's a friendly suggestion why dontcha just file your initial post and reproduce it on  here the three or four times a day you need it. Save the typing time.

 So I am \the one who is wrong to write the obvious truth - just accept what I write as a true reflection of the situation in rugby at present and I would not have to counter your misrepresentations in post after post.  However, that would be boring - I lov e absurdities and what you wrote is absurd.  
Have you written out your notes already about what happened in the test tomorrow?  Let me make a suggestion - just make copies of your past comments on players and after the match make extracts from those past comments and paste them as a thread. Your only problem would be to manufacture incidents in games to match up to your descriptions.   If that cannot be found a little lie here and there is perfectly justifiable.   
      

I "loe" absurdities. Is that love or loath..."is" hard to say. But I'm guessing it's love because you are certainly absurd and deeply in love with yourself 

Mike you are both boring and childish.....I'd appreciate you drop one...

 @Denny. This is Ou Tokkie for you. He quoted Butch on this thread and then latched onto Butch' opinions.

Let's give the old codger the benefit of the doubt and say that he has probably never seen this article.

Butch backs 'old' campaigners

Pretoria – Former Springbok pivot Butch James on Thursday gave a strong endorsement for the seasoned campaigners in the South African set-up ahead of the Rugby World Cup later this year.

James said the lack of experience was evident in the final 20 minutes of the Springboks’ 24-20 defeat to the Wallabies in Brisbane over the weekend.

“It is great to have that mix (of experience) and we probably missed that in the last 20 minutes of the match against Australia and obviously Schalk Burger was leading the team but one out of the 15 is not enough,” James said at a Laureus Sport for Good function in Pretoria on Thursday.

“The more guys you have the better it will be in those close situations come 20 minutes to go.”

The Boks squandered a 20-7 lead in the last quarter of the match which James accounted to the lack of old head's on the park.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, however, has copped some criticism for selecting so-called 'old' players but James believed a good mix of experience and youth was needed going into the World Cup.

James, who boasts a 2007 Rugby World Cup winner’s medal, emphasised the value Victor Matfield added to the side in terms of securing good attacking ball from the lineout.

The 38-year-old Matfield is still one of the greatest lineout exponents in world rugby.

“I enjoy Victor there, the lineouts didn’t go as smooth without him there, he is a genius at the lineout which is the best attacking ball you can get,” James said.

“For me, he (Matfield) is a shoo-in, his presence in the change-room before a game is huge, I would agree with the coach and get those older guys in there.”

James believed the current Springbok side had more in terms of experience than the 2007 team, and he believed they had the ability to win the Webb Ellis Trophy in England.

“There is a lot of experience in the side at the moment, this team is probably more experienced and I think they can surprise a few teams,” James said.

“I think they are a team that can go all the way, we saw glimpses of that on Saturday and they just have to build on that and by the time the final comes they should be peaking and it is in their straps.”

With the two sides likely to face each other in a World Cup semi-final, James said Saturday’s clash between the sides at Ellis Park had even more riding on it than just the result.

“If things go according to plan, we play New Zealand in a semi-final, so knowing how to beat them eight weeks before is a huge advantage,” he said.

“It is an important match for the Springboks not just because of that mental edge but also building that momentum.”

 Cerdunce
Non of the above remarks deals with the performance of the players - and that is where the crux of the matter - experience is wonderful but only if the experienced players have an acceptable level of performance.  
The only reference to Matfield was is his line-out play.  That was true in earlier years, but is it true at present?  There are serious doubts about that as well.  Matfield takes in line outs have decreased markedly over the past year.  He started well in the June 2014 matches and took his line-outs.  In the subsequent tests he took less and less line-outs.  In the EOYT he took line-outs in the Irish test and deteriorated badly in other tests.  His trick was to call less and less line-outs to come to him - but to anyone else.  That became clear also in the AB tests last year when he fluffed one line-out he called to himself Wellington) and lost a line-out (Ellis Park).  He did the same in Super 15 - where when Du Toit was lined up next to him the line-outs went elsewhere.   In that game he took 1 line-out on own throw - when he moved to the front and Du Toit did not follow him - the other from opposition throw-in using the same move.   However, that was only one example - the ever-decreasing number of line-out takes in Super 15 was significant.   In 17 minutes in the test last week - he took one line-out only on own throw-in.  For the rest all the other calls went to other players.   The one impression one gets from the above is that Matfield is not up to competition in the air against stronger competitors anymore.
                

 clevermike

Status: Hall Of Fame
Posts: 18038 RE: The geriatrics and past it players so beloved by some of our members
July 25, 2015, 13:28:30

 Cerdunce

Non of the above remarks deals with the performance of the players.

Spot on. Now would it be great if you could  get behind the context of  what he was saying............. In both articles. Let's see how you go on that one.

 Ceradunce
What he was saying was there is the need for experience in any team - but he did not deal with the issue of experience coupled to performance.  One could assume that he means that performance is to be the born in mind insofar as his comments are concerned.  However, where he went off the rails was when he referred to Matfield and his line-out performance.   
What I pointed out and proved by facts - is supported by stats as well.  Unlike in the case of earlier in his career Matfield's present line-out performance is very average and nothing better than any other lock.   He is just not physical enough anymore to compete in the air for ball possession and that makes him a very weak opponent in line-outs.  His lack of grunt and physicality is the major issue that weakens the Tight 5.        

 Ag ou man. Ek gaan nie eers my tyd mors nie. You are talking a load of kak and you know it.