Give the likes of Habana, Jean, Beast, Bismark, Flip, Louw and Alberts a break.
Play the following side:
15. Willie 14. JP 13. JJ 12. Serfontein 11. Aplon 10. Lambie 9 du Preez 1. Coenie 2. Strauss (c) 3. Malherbe 4. Etzebeth 5. Steph du Toit 6. Kolisi 7. Coetzee 8. Vermeulen
16. Ntumbeni 17. Adriaanse 18. Beast 19. Bakkies 20. Alberts 21. Schrauder 22. Goosen 23. Fourie
It's not going to happen....there will be a substantial group of experienced players, especially on the bench. HM wants to experiment a bit, he doesn't want to lose the plot.
I see JJ is still at 13..Doesn't matter what pack you play if they are breaking through out wider...
Expect Scotland to play the same way they did in SA earlier in the year. They will target the breakdown and employ their shady tactics again that the ref in SA let them get away with. For this reason, I feel Meyer will want Alberts and Vermuelen in there. Two hard men that will knock the Scots back all day. Remembering against Scotland in SA, we had Kruger at 5, Coetzee at 6, Arno Botha at 7 (he was injured early if I can rememebr correctly and was playing well until then), Spies at 8.
These guys are no way more physical than Bakkies, Louw, Alberts and Vermuelen. Coetzee is a good player but he does not have the effect Alberts does at test level and ditto Spies vs Vermuelen. We all know Kruger is as soft as you get for a tight forward.
I expect Meyer will look at that tape and take no chances of letting a bloke like Strokosch (if he is playing) get away with murder like he did in SA. With a stronger pack, the ref will not be able to keep them in it because he will be bullied out of the game in 10mins.
Would be nice to "rest" a few of the regulars but will Meyer take the chance? I expect changes but not a hell of a lot. Fourie must start at 13 to get up to speed for the French. If Fourie is not going to start at 13, we need to cut him loose from the squad and just persist with JJ. We need to show confidence in one of them!
I am going to be a false note here. we struggled against Scotland last year and the same in the June test. Last year we had as flanks the same loosie combination than we had this year if my memory serves me correctly - the difference being Vermeulen ahead of Spies at 8. In both cases the problems centered around the props and breakdown ball recovery.
We might as well accept that all the loosies at present in the squad has one thing in common - they are not good enough in that specific highlighted function. Vermeulen and Louw make some very rare recoveries - but by far not enough. Alberts, Kolisi and Coetzee never make any recoveries. Bulk means nothing in this case and bulk often enough entails clumsiness as well.
If we want to see a difference in that respect - players like Strauss and Du Toit could help, while Bakkies in such circustances will also produce nothing.
Basically playing Vermeulen and Louw would seem to be essential in combatting the Scots in the ball recovery situation - but who to play at 7 is in that case and for such a role immaterial. I would probably say Coetzee with Kolisi on the bench
Pine in Ireland
Just one question - have you ever seen Alberts, Kolisi and Coetzee achieve a recovery of a ball in breakdown situations? I am sorry - but I follow such things closely and that wonderful thing has never happened in the case of the three players mentioned That is no rubbish - it is 100% factual.
Clean Cut
Sure - he got some balls after mauls - but there is a huge difference between that and breakdown ball recovery. Mauls are a slowdown method in play - breakdown ball recovery is a continuation of attacks. That s where the Scots were better in both the recent tests - our loosies was not protecting the ball and if we have possession the ball takes a long time to come out the resultant maul - their loosies recover balls quickly and even manage to steal our possession at points of breakdown or get penalties as a result of lack of ball protection..
Pine in Ireland
Just one question - have you ever seen Alberts, Kolisi and Coetzee achieve a recovery of a ball in breakdown situations? I am sorry - but I follow such things closely and that wonderful thing has never happened in the case of the three players mentioned That is no rubbish - it is 100% factual.
Clean Cut
Sure - he got some balls after mauls - but there is a huge difference between that and breakdown ball recovery. Mauls are a slowdown method in play - breakdown ball recovery is a continuation of attacks. That s where the Scots were better in both the recent tests - our loosies was not protecting the ball and if we have possession the ball takes a long time to come out the resultant maul - their loosies recover balls quickly and even manage to steal our possession at points of breakdown or get penalties as a result of lack of ball protection..
Ceradyne
Have you seen the CC final - rat shit? I bet not - because if you did you would have noted - unless you were blind - that Alberts was standing around at the back of mauls 90% of the time.
He handled the ball 4 times in total -
* once from a kick in;
* twice when the ball was passed to him whilst standing around behind mauls; and
* once when he was in the maul - picked it up and carried it for about 3 meters.
For the rest during the game he made 3 tackles, assisted other players to make 4 tackles, and missed 4 tackles. That was his total involvement in the whole game - but the praise singing was endless.
Ceradyne
I will be nice this time around and tell you what I did. I watched the game three times and made notes of every time - with the time given and what happened every time Alberts -
* touched the ball and if so what he did with the ball during the match; and
* attempted a tackle and what the outcome of the tackles was.
I did it because the praise singing on this site was unbelievable. I then wrote a full report on this site giving exact time and occurrence and dare everyone to go and watch the game and prove that what I found and wrote were wrong. Went so far as to offer to pay anybody who could fault the findings and prove that I was wrong R500. The resultant silence was deafening - no more praise singing followed.
So your assumption is wrong - like it is always wrong when you try and discuss any issue on rugby on this site.
Saffex
You will never convince members on this site that Alberts is not the player they give him out to be.. I have analysed Alberts' games over a period of time and went so far as to write down with times given -
* every time Alberts touched the ball and he affects of it during the whole CC final; and
* every time Alberts attempted a tackle and what the affects were of those.
I then challenged the praise singing lot to go and check themselves what really happened and offered to pay nay member R500 if they could fault my summary. The praise singing die down suddenly.
Alberts during the whole game carried the ball 4 times with an average gain of less than 3 meters per carry. He made 3 tackles and assisted other players to make 4 tackles in traffic - and he missed four tackles. That could be regarded as average to poor in performance.
The same tendencies can be found in all tests when you analyse the Alberts performances carefully. His carries are always less than 2 meters and the mighty ball carrying by him is a spoof. His tackles are confined to tackles in traffic and he does zero about most aspects o play required from a loosie. The praise singing is unbelievable - but as far as I am concerned not credi ble.
Great trio can be made up of those Dave but its a pity all their hard work will be undone by your backline of
Hougaard, Jantjies, Volmink, Mnisi, JJ, Mapoe, Le Roux....
Never mind though..Your bench is looking uber strong with Sergeal Pietersen there..
YES..That is one of your many backline combo's..They do change hourly though..
Too scared to come see you?? Dave, pay for it and im there. I promise you. I am not wasting thousands to go to a place I have no interest in seeing. Pay for me and we can put this chicken thing to bed.
I tried to call you to make arrangements and give you my details for booking purposes but you watched your phone ring like a little bitch and made some balls story up about not receiving calls off witheld numbers. Dave, I cant "clout" you through the phone. You should not have shat yourself then. Maybe in person..
Chicken..ha ha very rich...Your phone is not the tv dave..Answer it!!
Sun-Tzu
You are right about the June test - but is likely wrong about the real issue. We are weakening our backline completely by inclusion of Jacque Fourie in the mix. He really was a joke in bad taste against the Welsh and will be equally so against he Scots. If JP Is playing it would be a further problem t o contend with. Both him and Fourie has gone backwards - playing touch rugby in Japan.
