Thoughts on Boks

Yesterday's game was easily the worst of the season thus far for the Boks. Yes it was away from home, yes Argentina is far away, yes yes yes...

My least favourite bits...

The Boks appear incapable of passing the ball from 10 through the hands to the wing. Disagree? How many times did we see it? Maybe twice in 80 minutes.

On that note, I do not want to hear about how Tests are so much closer and tighter and and and... . Bordeaux would have won that game by at least 30 points. It's becoming embarrassing how we pick these explosive backlines and then can't ever seem to set AE up to run onto the ball at pace, Moodie gets the ball may 3 times in 80, Fassi isn't allowed to run anything back at the opposition and the entire backline are basically high ball chasers and rush defenders. It sucks, it's stupid and I can't understand why we do it...especially against such an inexperienced Argie side.

Reinach was damn slow and kept pissing away all momentum by continually taking his sweet time to clean from the base. I kept yelling at my TV "Hurry the F up and pass the bloody ball."

The box kicking throughout the game was atrocious. I mean, I know it was windy but for heaven's sake ADAPT!

There were a few more negatives but those are my main gripes.

Now for the positives...

Cam's stock rose massively in everyone's books. Rightly so. I remain in awe of him. He looks massive too. I think after his injuries he's been told to pack on some more muscle.

Fassi finally seems to be getting some of his form back. He was by no means excellent but he showed a few glimpses of the old Fassi. He made a few kak decisions, but at least he did a few very good things too.

Eben looked busy and strong. I like how he got through the game and I think he'll be ready for the ABs.

Porthen's star continues to rise. That step and the ground he made after, and his scrumming, I very much look forward to the next decade of seeing him do similar. He keeps looking impressive despite still being a baby. Does anyone disagree?

The contentious...

People seem to be down on BJD. I didn't think he did that badly.

Marco came on and provided some nice impetus, but I see a few comments about how he did nothing. Again, I thought he was somewhere between a 6 and 7.5.

Elrigh is starting slow. I don't have him pegged as a guy that will impress many in his first few seasons but I have a feeling that he's the attritional type that will gradually build into Test rugby and at some point we won't question his presence any longer. Just a hunch and just my opinion.

Quite a shyte game against a shyte team. Of course the YouTubers are all calling Argentina's performance mind blowing and amazing but they were bloody terrible. The Boks were just slightly less terrible.

I don't really have anything else to say other than Roos' stock plummeted on Friday night and Cam's shot up last night. That's probably a majority opinion at the moment. Roos needs to reinvent himself. He gone as far as this current incarnation will take him and he needs to re-examine his rugby identity.

Also, some lekker commentary on the match thread. Reading all the comments and making a few of my own certainly adds to the enjoyment of the game. Always a pleasure, lads.

Hi there Plumpster. I was hoping you would say AE showed he lacks the silky skills of Allende. We learned again why Kriel and Allende are out test combo.
In respect of the returning players the big positive for me was Eben playing a full match and playing well. Lood will not replace Nortje who has a phenomenal work rate lasting 80 minutes. But it's nice to have him back as an option.
Kolisi did well until his injury. Have to see what that is about.
Du Toit though didn't exactly shine.
Ethan Hooker looked sharp, nice pace and a thinking player. Could make the test team. Edwil is a quality player and never let's you down.
With respect to the other players, Reinach takes too long to clear the ball and Morne looked better. Yes pity about all those high balls. The backline didn't function well.
The Stormers lose forward trio as a collective look more effective. Has more pace and energy. Hanekom was good but oaks are going over board. I suspect some oaks are desperate to take credit for punting this guy. I did like the fact that Cam is a workhorse. A possible move would see him come on off the bench to replace Du Toit who could move to lock to replace Eben. We may even see Hanekom starting at 6.Also means you do not have to overplay Wiese.
Quan Horn needs to be given a shot at 15.
Playing Williams, Kolbe and Willemse boosts the backline attack as does Allende and Kriel.
All in all I would say that there were many positives. Kolisi hopefully will recover quickly.
Lastly, I wonder how Sascha would do at 12. He is pretty physical and has great footwork and pace off the mark and an eye for the gap. Good passing skills and boot. The NZ second Flyhalf type of player. A very different type of player to Allende. Give Manie and Pollard the flyhalf roles. Probably too late to experiment now.
We need a pack that is both powerful and mobile. Once you shut down the Kiwi ballarinas backline you are well on the way to winning.

I know and get the whole "play to your strengths" thing. But right now the Boks has the worst back play out of any of probably the top 8 test sides. It might work for us, but it's such a drag to watch. Especially when executed so poorly and there is no adjustment in tactics evident. Our reliance on the slow grind and conquer is going to bite us at some point. Scotland and England got physical parity or better with us everywhere except scrumtime this year. Yesterday we ended one decent pass away from a draw.

Right now Sacha for me is #3 in the flyhalf pecking order behind Pollard and Manie. He is a prodigious individual talent but he creates no structure around him and his tactical kicking is pathetic. He nearly tanked the Edwill try yesterday with that floppy dippy pass to AE, who sublimely rescued and recovered the chance. Pollard immediately brought a measure of order and stability when he came on.

The Boks looked disjointed. Great, we have enough depth for 3 decent sides, but all these different combinations every week can't possibly settle into a cohesive match day performance. It's probably okay, it's a long season and 4 challenging games (we hope) against the All Blacks are coming up so you have to do the old switcheroo so the guys get recovery time. But it's clear the combinations and timing and understanding were way off. Made me think of Aussie under a new coach against Japan on Saturday - you could see they were trying something, going for the razzle dazzle but the guys just weren't able to find each other yet.

For the Boks of course much of this should iron itself out when our regular starting side goes on again. So that per se, not too concerning. What I hate, and it's a personal peeve, is seeing how just about every other test side is trying to play a more expansive and flowing game. Aus yesterday ran the ball from inside their own goal area. I'm not saying that's a good idea, but god love them for the effort and the enterprise despite also being under the cosh and needing to perform. The Boks are stuck in the kick and pray and bash them rut. We box kicked on the opposition 22 for crying out loud.

Agree with most of the rest of your thoughts, Plummie. Don't know about Elrigh, whether he'll amount to a regular test starter. With Cam, P Divvy and hopefully Ruan when he's fit, it's going to be a hard nut to crack even after '27.