The Nobble Prize

Shit happens.

 What a kak weekend of rugby ............... played 4, lost 4 .

 Building for next week Bob.

 Play 5, lose 5?

 Simple explanation Blob....no Stormers

We have lots of issues Blikkies. Our S15 teams are essentially bottom two thirds. And HM is expected to win with a bunch of newbies who blow hot and cold. Our cadre of true international warriors is drying up.  

Blikkies  
There is much to be pessimistic about and some real problems if Meyer makes poor selections and stick with some of the players he normally sticks with:-
*   We still has a serious problem at 13.  Pietersen is not a 13's backside and both Vorster and Venter was better than him.    Vorster is showing real signs of continued good performance.   However, the position is still a real headache.
*    Pollard had a solid match at 10 - but without Lambie being available we really have a problem at 10.  Jantjies was not as good as he was in previous matches and his decision-taking was seriously questionable.  Hias defense was not up to standard.  If Meyer selects Morne Steyn - we will be dead in the water before we start.
*    Our scrummie position is also not sound enough and Faf was yesterday not as good as he was in recent  matches.   I think Meyer will stick with Du Preez and that would be a gamble since he had no rugby since March and by July his match-fitness will be a huge gamble.
*    We have to forget about Jannie at Tighthead, but will Meyer forget about him.  However, we do have Malherbe and Koch to fell back on.  At least we do nto struggle in that position.
*    Our lock position is not sound.  We have a serious problem at 5 and Meyer's selection of Matfield is going to destroy our Tight 5.   He did take a surprising number of line-outs - but he was opposed by non-descript locks in that department of the game.  
*    Poc ock is in top form so he will always be better as an opensider - but I am less worried about that position than most other positions.   Where I would be seriously worried is if Meyer bumbled into selecting Alberts at 7.   Bad news that one.   We have much stronger candidates than him.
My problem remains - if Meyer does his normal and select some of his favourites, we might as well surrender in advance.
     
   

 Actually Jannie got the better of Ben Robinson, who taught Koch his lessons a few weeks back. Robinson leaked 4 penalties....Jannie was penalized once. 

 Surprisingly Jannie played well this weekend

Koch has dominated better scrummagers than both Robinson and Jannie, just because he struggled once doesn't make him worse than the two mentioned.
Poc ock is truly a World Class player, I've never seen a player perform as well as him after 2 years out of the game. How he stays on his feet to make turnovers would have you think he's never had a knee reconstruction. 

 Jannie did not last long on Saturday and for any player to play in tests or for that matter on Super 15 level - the props must also do some hard work in the tighter phases of the game.  That includes tackles and ball carries in traffic - where Jannie brings zero to the game.  His inclusion in the WC squad would be a serious mistake.

 Shezza I like Koch....he has scrummed  very well and plays an intelligent game in the loose phases. Still what happened against Robinson has to be noted. Robinson got him too low and he kept losing his feet....it was a technical thing, but points to his relative lack of experience. In a WC knockout it could have been enough to change the result.
Experience up front, particularly at tighthead shouldn't be discounted.
As an example take a look at our scrum on the Welsh 5 metre mark in November...3 minutes to go. Nyakane backed by Matfield surge forward. Marcel, backed by Lood gets twisted, the Welsh loosehead twists his shoulder down. Lonp gets squeezed out of the locking position and the Welsh pour  through our disintegrating scrum.
Of course Hougaard  gets tackled without the ball, but the bent ref who carded Hendricks misses it completely.
Still it's a great example of tighthead inexperience. 

 Pokok looks ok in Super Rugby and so is Hooper and Gill and the Rebels number 7

 Hi Denny

 Hi Hakwa

 Did u watch Gill in Reds vs Rebels?

 Gill was on fire.