This centre pairing can't win the WC

Allende tractored away, beat a few tackle but so slowly loose scrums formed around him. Then he missed 30% of his tackles, was never in position to help when Scotland broke and showed no urgency about the field. He is going to be carved up by better teams.
Kriel is an earnest kid, but almost every option he took out there was wrong, including the time he tried to grubber through and missed the ball completely. He looks uncertain of his role.
WCs are won by experienced centres...... Horan, Greenwood, Fourie, Smith.

Our guys may excite the fans but they are way to o green to get the job done. The pressure on these kids in the QF is going to be painful. What an awful mistake HM made not bringing in a field leader like Frans to partner with one of the green horns.

 Duplicate 

 

 I think they can Moz; there's work to be done. But they're capable. Also, bear in mind that at the time in 2007, Fourie wasn't overly experienced, he was more experienced than our current pair but he wasn't experienced in his own right really.
I still think they show potential together, whether it will click in this world cup we shall see. I hope it will, I like both players.

 I don't think they are mentally ready....they simply don't read the game well enough. Physically they have the goods....but it's a chess game out there.

I guess we'll see, they're not the complete article yet. 
2015 we shall see, but in my humble opinion they'll be huge in 2019.

 Mozart
One question - in your infinite wisdom (according to you yourself but nobody else) - what was Meyer's game plan yesterday insofar as center play is concerned?    

 
De Allende is a world class center. He showed that once again yesterday. Powerful man. He's going to go far.

Kriel on the other hand was rather disappointing ... again. He just looks out of place at 13.

I hope Meyer's replacement will make the necessary adjustment and select a specialist 13, instead of yet another plastered over outside back.

Congratulations to the Goats. They looked good against Scotland's second stringers.

Oh and Dave ... I'm sold ... Lood is a class act. He has impressed and deserves his spot in the Goats team. I hope he can deliver the same standard of play against the stronger teams.

Both he and Eben had crackers yesterday. I think the Goats' lock pair is no longer an issue. Now to move on to other problem areas.

Jannie is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay over due for replacement. How much longer do we as rugby supporters have to endure this chump??

 De Jager made more plays and yards in this game than Greybeard has made in his career.
Still with Meyer around De Jager will still have to play second fiddle to Greybeard.
Unbelievable but true unfortunately.
Jannie, Greybeard and Louw should be made to row back to SA.

 
Haaaahahahaa!!

Hopefully through shark infested waters.

I was thinking a life sentence for each on Robin Island but why waste tax-payers money when we can solve it in a more cost effective way.

 What a load of horse shit.....not worth trying to counter

 i do agree with the sentiments guys but i do think meyer's emotional decision making has once again limited the scope of players he could have chosen.
francois steyn should have replaced de villiers but obviously there is some bad blood and now we are sitting with 3 centers that have collectively 30 tests maybe between them. massive problem in my books. meyer did not plan for this but just as many great players were not picked the lack of transparency from meyer is just one of his many flaws as a coach

Compa ring Damian or Kriel to Fourie can only be interpreted as a bad attempt at humour. Laugh politely and walk away quickly. 

 Duplicate BS

BS? Care to provide any details? Or are you suffering from amnesia today as well?

 Fourie was a good 13 was not very skilful was a good finisher and had the knack of being able to slip tackles. Kriel is a far far more gifted rugby player. His pace and feet are going to rip defences apart in years to come.
Hell even clueless Meyer has gone on record saying Kriel will be our best 13 since readmission.
As for de Allende given his freakish power he already has a foot ahead of most given the greatest asset in modern rugby given the tight and structured defences today is power. Add de Allende s good skill set and you have the real deal.
Just watched the game again and the utter bullshit written about DA defence is embarrassing. His two missed tackles were so innocuous that they are not worth a mention . The supposed third miss I could not even find. I can see why the observer said his defence was solid.
Hell Schalk s two missed tackles on the half were so much worse than DA s traffic bumps. His first in traffic was when he went high on Denton and got semi handed off only to have Lood smash Denton within seconds.
The second miss was a joke. The Scottish hooker in traffic bumps into him and spins only to be smashed by Lood.
Not one single open tackle miss...both misses were nothing....no different to the number of misses by most the Boks.
What a load of crap. Fact is DA was solid in defence, effecting 2 turnovers in the process and he was physically imposing with ball in hand in a game where open running rugby was not the order of the day.
Kriel got all of about 4 balls and beat the first defender with speed and a step once or twice. His defence was spot on.

Damian has won zero power battles. He battles to battle in that department, for someone supposedly so powerful he is a very weak defender. Kriel has speed, not skills. Fourie was of the classic Aussie style centre. Big, powerful, runs great lines. Brutal defender. Vastly more intelligent than Damian and Kriel combined. Better skills. 

 Duplication - Standard B S

Damian was great, except he averaged2 metres a carry...and nothing he did had any influence on the game. You have to laugh.
Dontcha get it? Tractoring past a few tacklers in low gear is not going to achieve diddly?  

They used him from first phase to target the seam and it worked, mostly working in tandem with Willie to lure a defender out of sync. He can cut a fine angle very quickly, but he likes to stop and do this weird hop before he can decide what to do which wastes precious time. This hop fools nobody. 

 D uplication - Standard BS.

Delande is not showing the same form he was at SuperXV level. He was playing better than Sunny Bill was this year- and maybe Nonu as well.
The defenses are better at international level and when he gets the ball even if he steps one defender the 2nd is their very quickly. He is also not shaking off would be defenders like in the Super XV.
Hopefully he gets into form and does better. 

Damian wasn't doing anything particularly better, he merely got more space out wide. Give him the same space, he will do the same things. But the attack will be more lateral. For test rugby? You need more power. 

In the S15 he impressed by taking the tackler and offloading. That was his main thing and brought the comparison to SBW. Now he is running more like an 8 th man...no explosiveness. Just a bunch of tractoring with no offload.

 Dof things
I asked you earlier what Meyer's game plan yesterday iro the centers were and I never got an answer.   Are you too dim to give me one?  

I have not seen Delande offload a bok level yet

 You missed a lot in the AB and Aussie test then SB.  

 Well of course you are only going to gain 2m a carry when you are playing in traffic. Point is he bears defenders in the process something other centres can't manage. He achieves this through sheer power.
One would swear that the likes of Nonu, Conrad Smith, Kurandrani and Giteau were achieving greater heights than our centres. It's NH conditions in toughly fought contests. It's not conducive to open attacking rugby for centres.
de Allende is beating defenders all the time...3 last game 7 against Samoa in one half...Wake up to a bit of reality....go check what the other centres out there are doing

Sharktwat what exactly are Nonu, SBW, Conrad Smith, Kurandrani, Giteau, Basteraud, Fofana, Joseph, Barritt, Roberts, Williams, Bosch, Hernandez, Henshaw and Payne doing that is better or stands out from our centres exactly this WC huh?

 But all was going to be well if we chose Allende/Kriel....it was going to spark our attacking game. Instead on Saturday Habana, JP and Pollard were our main attacking threats. Our centres were slow to react and lacking in confidence.

Make no mistake Kriel and Allende are not playing like guys who think they belong. They are playing like guys who hope they aren't going to make a mistake. And if that's the case against Scotland....what will they be like against NZ in a semi.

These two kids are going to be the reason we exit.....they are not ready. You cant win the WC with hesitant centres.

 Duplicate crap BS - not worth readin g

 Well here goes:
At 13....Kriel ran the ball 4 times, gained 33m and made one clean break
Kurandrani ran the ball 9 times and gained all of 10m beating 1 defender
At 12.....de Allende ran the ball 10 times, gained 26m and beat 3 defenders
Giteau ran the ball 9 times and gained 32m and beat 1 defender and made 1 clean break
Kriel was the most effective in terms of productivity followed by de Allende given he gained all of less than 1 metre per carry than Giteau but in the process beat an extra man.
Kurandrani pretty much did stuff all.
Nice bit of reality there.

Mike 
Grow up

When did he offload a lot against Australia and New Zealand Michael? If you don't like the truth, just make it all up, eh? You already unbelievable. 

Damian has made only 15 passes in 6 tests, 0 offloads. 
Against Aus: 1 pass, 0 offloadsAgainst NZ: 6 passes, 0 offloads Against Arg: 3 passes, 0 offloadsAgainst Arg: 3 passes, 0 offloadsAgainst Samoa: 1 pass, 0 offloadsAgainst Scotland: 1 pass, 0 offloads
As a point of contrast - SBW against Argentina earlier this year: 14 passes, 4 offloads. That's more total distribution in one test than Damian has done in 6.

 Well here's Pollard....he beat as many as Allende did in 6 runs vs 10, and unlike Allende he made a clean break. I know these stats are new to you Dave, but do try to be fair.
In truth this is much more about confidence and  knowing what's required. You have the centres you were pining for.....before the WC is over they will be exposed.....they simply aren't ready.

Where has Damian shown good distribution skills? And when has he physically dominated anybody? Answer me please mein Lehrer.