The Marx Files 001

TIME STAMPS (NZL vs RSA) 

43:13 - SUB: S16-S19 come on; S2-S5 come off. 

Oh Saddex, you are so predictable. 

You are invested enough to be here, but have no ammo. Even someone with half a functioning game can say, "I saw x happen" and describe what they saw, then we can have a look at it. You are one of those people on here who never provide anything, yet always claim to know better. Imagine claiming to be the key witness to a crime, yet having nothing to say, but berating those who can provide some information. What's the difference between that and you and the other members of the insane clown posse? When all is said and done, you'd rather just talk nonsense and surround yourself with some yes men to agree with you. Soft. 

Had they started it would have indeed been a different game. However, it's unlikely we would have won. The second half Boks were thoroughly outplayed. The ABs were simply a class apart.

Willemse didn't play flyhalf. I've been very hard on him, but I simply cannot allow him to be a scapegoat for something he didn't do. He also looked like one of the few players capable of troubling the Kiwi defence. Libbok didn't merely look worse, he isn't fit to lick the dirty off of Willemse's boots.

True RG is the best Bok lock by a mile. Lood has never been good. 

Dud Toit is not better than Mostert. Mostert is a more secure tackler in space and a better lineout option. Mostert is also a better offloader as we often saw when playing for the Lions. 

The argument for Dud Toit is physicality….but there is no evidence to support that claim. He never breaks a tackle and rarely impacts a ruck. There has never been a feebler regular ball player in green and gold.

Dud Toit does have one trick…the pick and go. But Mostert has a far better sense of where the ball is going. Dud Toit can’t even protect his blindside as we saw against Wales in the WC and also against NZ a few weeks ago.

Blonde chaps are more noticeable….witness Schalk when he cut his hair, he suddenly seemed ordinary. Dud Toit has always been ordinary, but easy to spot and hyped to high heaven. The moment he comes on the park cameras are on him. It’s a delusion….don’t buy into nonsense.

Against  NZ 

Dud Toit….1 run for 1 metre….11 tackles made 2 missed

Mostert….5 runs for 8 metres…..8 tackles 1 missed

Against Australia Dud’s running stats were better, but he made 4 tackles and missed 4.

It’s all a myth 

Dave Dud Toit missed more tackles than any other Bok against NZ, despite only playing half the game. There’s your meaningful stat.

But I’m glad you are beginning to see Harrassmiss in a clearer light.

Steph definitely has some physicality, but he is not very effective due to a lack of athleticism and explosive power. He was one of the more effective Boks at the breakdown, but it was more effort than anything else. In a very poor second half for South Africa, where they were comfortably inferior to NZ, effort stood out that little bit more. He was reckless in his rushes though, but that's the ragtag way the Boks defended in general. We really rode our luck. Another day and it's a 50 point loss. As we saw in that putrid second half, a little Kiwi patience and it was exposed. They created, we didn't. The Boks scored a maul try from a bad ref call (Retallick turned it over), Kwagga war about individual effort, and the Kolbe try was about several uncharacteristically blown defensive duties. The Boks didn't even once look like breaking down the All Black defence to create a try. Back to Steph, he is heavier than Mostert, but Mostert is a pro athlete with skills and intellect. It was a lesser game for him, whereas it would be another day at the office for the more popular players. Mostert is one of the best Boks over the past five years. It's not up for debate. 

Dave you will never talk sense into Mozz and Deus regarding Du Toit. Du Toit won the International Rugby Player of the Year award. That is how well he performed. Yet these two were unashamedly trashing Steph. 

So now having had loads of egg landing they will keep on insisting DuToit is useless until at some point Du Toit retires or loses form and gets dropped and then they will say didn't we tell you years ago Du Toit is useless.

Imagine being so daft as to trash a guy winning the JRB Player of the Year award in the year he wins the award. 

This along with poor Rooitwit saying Luke Watson was better than IRB Player of the Year Schalk Burger are surely the two biggest rugby blunders ever made on this board. Bwahahahahahaha. 

You can't say the board lacks comedy! 

How does a player who literally ranked as the 17th best flank in SH rugby that year stand as the best? He ranked 29th of all top 30 South Africans by possession volume. Defensive stats were very low throughout the year. He didn't excel at anything. Explain these facts away. POTY is a popularity award. The best players seldom win the award. Take Du Preez in 2007, Brussow 2009, Marx 2016. 

PTSD with both arms tied behind his back literally wouldn't be a worse defender. Let that sink in. 

Lood and PTSD? Very funny. 

PTSD has the highest missed tackle rate of the Erasputin era and very poor carry stats. The man is a cul-de-sac who can't defend. Mostert has one of the highest tackle percentages of that span of time. He is also far more effective in general play. This is your opinions and (laughs to self)... "eye test" versus tangible facts and video evidence. 

Dud Toit can’t change direction so he is easily stepped. The man is a lock, it’s an absolute joke that Kolisi and Dud Toit have been our starters for 5 years.

You are correct, Steph is very heavy-footed, and immobile. He is like Damian, and many of our other lesser players, who can't quite pin down a position. He isn't enough at lock or flank. We can't keep carrying these inflexible and unskilled players. Lood is another who has exceedingly poor movement and thinks a few ticks after he moves. This makes for terrible defending. I let Steph off in my ratings, as the Boks were using him a lot to rush the outside support, but it could hardly be said to be accurate. The connection between the rush and the interior wasn't very good, and that could be said to be how poorly Steph and others read the play, and poor field awareness. Steph has time and time again been caught napping. Who could forget that play in the WC against New Zealand where he ran out of the line and took out a player without the ball? He was miles out of position and had one of the funniest brain farts I have ever seen in rugby. We often play poorly because our players are not very intelligent. Even when the Boks were coached by Snor, they showed quality, because they did possess skill, strength/power, and intellect. I'd say that was the last great generation of Bok talent. When I read the Bok team sheet, it reminds me of how I felt in 2001 and 2002, just names and almost noone you thought was really any good. This team is not far off that right now.