Thus ends a 50/50 year...

Compared to Meyer who had a lot more experienced players to use in 2012 and he only had a 58% win record - with no win against the AB's  - there is no reason to criticize Erasmus and compared him to the flop who in his last year from November 2014 to September 2015 only  had a 33,3% win record, you are on thin ice here.

The Springboks’ end-of-year tour ended on a sour note as they stumbled to a error-ridden 20-11 loss against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.

This was the fourth consecutive loss against the Welsh for the Springboks and confirmed why Wales are ranked third in the world, putting a massive dent on the talk of a Springbok revival in the 2018 season.

Wales confirmed their timely run of form, winning their ninth consecutive game on the trot and racking up their biggest scalp of the Autumn season as they easily forced the Springboks onto the back-foot and made them look ordinary all around the park.

In a game that was hardly pretty, Rassie Erasmus’s record was pinned back at 50 percent for both the season and the tour, and left more questions than answers with only four tests left until the Rugby World Cup for the Springboks.

To say this was the worst performance of the season may be cruel, but it certainly was the worst of the tour, and a disappointing way to end the season.

All the momentum and goodwill from the wins over Scotland and France and the near miss against England earlier in the month were turned to mush as the Boks lurched from penalty to penalty and mistake to mistake, failing to trouble the Welsh defence for most of the game and being harassed at the breakdown.

The Welsh defence, which was superb, totally dominated the Springboks at the breakdown, with Ellis Jenkins having a field day in that department, often finding the Bok runners isolated or forcing the Boks into mistakes when they were on attack.

Wales must have the best defensive side in international rugby at the moment, and their stinginess in not allowing the Boks metres also says a lot about the Bok method of attack.

With a willingness to restart the game quickly, they took away the Boks’ best attacking weapon in the lineout, negated them in the scrums and then bossed them at the breakdown.

With that in mind it was difficult for the Springboks to launch out wide as they weren’t able to get dominance up front.

Where Wales seemed to have players who attacked the ball all around the park, the Boks were left with only one weapon at the ruck – hooker Malcolm Marx, who succeeded in securing four turnovers, but was left to fight the battle alone.

And the breakdown woes were the start of the problems, leaving the Springboks with many questions – especially if they aren’t able to physically dominate a team with the pack that they selected.

MOMENT OF MADNESS

Ironically their best player on the park wasn’t even meant to play – with S’bu Nkosi injuring himself in the warm-up, Cheslin Kolbe stepped up to the plate and provided an inspirational performance, beating a number of players with his feet whenever he touched the ball.

But all too often the performances were individual, and while the Welsh defence may have creaked, it soaked up the pressure well, not giving the Boks any sort of comfort on attack.

To be fair though, the Boks did score twice – well, almost – as Pieter-Steph du Toit touched the sideline early on as he ran in out wide, and Jesse Kriel looked to have scored but the TMO ruled there was no clear evidence the ball touched the ground.

It was one of those nights, 50-50 decisions were going against the Boks, and the visitors did nothing special to overturn the momentum.

It raises a number of questions ahead of the World Cup, many of which will centre around the Boks' ability to break down sides with a good defence, and their ability to dominate when their pack can’t secure the breakdown.

And once again they had a bad start through some poor defensive work, and had to play catch-up rugby all along.

The first try came from a simple misread by Marx on Jenkins, who threw a dummy and found a gap on the inside of the Bok hooker, putting Tomas Francis over the line.

And the second, minutes later saw Aphiwe Dyantyi shoot inside and out of line, and when the pass went past him, there were a number of players lining up to score, which Liam Williams did to put Wales 14-0 up early.

A solitary Handre Pollard penalty was the only thing that the Boks could smile about in the first half, but things got better in the second when they started finding space in the midfield and after eight phases some quick hands from Willie le Roux flipped the ball onto Kriel on the wing who dived in at the corner.

A penalty by Elton Jantjies brought the Boks within three, but then some moments of madness handed momentum back to Wales and took the Boks’ chances of a late victory away.

Jantjies knocked on from an up and under, but didn’t play to the whistle with Wales kicking the ball downfield and despite Williams clearly diving on Dyantyi, the penalty went the other way and Dan Biggar kicked the first of two penalties to put the nail in the coffin.

Another break by Jonathan Davies led to the second penalty and Biggar added another three points, leaving the Boks frustrated and irritated at a loss they have only themselves to blame for.

Scorers

Wales – tries: Tomas Francis, Liam Williams. Conversions : Gareth Anscombe (2). Penalties: Dan Biggar (2).

South Africa – try: Jesse Kriel. Penalties: Handre Pollard, Elton Jantjies.

Meyer's 2012 surpasses Rassie's 2016. Meyer had a 100% record on the EOYT against stronger opponents. He also had less experienced talent. He had to rebuild. Rassie had to rearrange a few pieces. Rassie was also out coached in several tests.

Overall? Not good enough. This is a very limited gameplan which is not creating opportunities. Compounded by several selections which haven't worked at all, yet he keeps persisting with! I'd rate the season a C-.

It's clear that Rassie is a coach who works from a predetermined gameplan. He has a set way he wants his team to play and cannot adjust for personnel. He also hasn't selected the appropriate players at times to execute the gameplan. Very slow to react to poor performances.

He has also broken all of Mike's golden rules. 

Umm ... Mozart ... the comparison should be against the previous coach ... not Meyer, nor Jake, nor Kristie ... but against Coetzee.

Try to use your brain sometime, will ya?

There has been a vast improvement in personnel selection this year ... and one can see his attempts of playing toward a plan of sorts, which was completely absent during Coetzee's time as Bok coach.

We now have the makings of a front row ... in fact, we can easily say that our tight 5 is sorted.

Yes it needs a few tweaks in my opinion but that will always be the case with quotas like Bnngi and Beast coming into the fray. We all know that we have better boys to select from than these two tokens.

The only person deserving of his spot in the back row is Pieter Steff Du Toit. He is a class act and probably our best forward ... but as is usually the case, the don't see that.

Your hero Vermeulen has past his sell by date and is now just another spent force ... as I said earlier this year. Same goes for the pathetic Louw ...another favourite of yours, right? Yet again you seem to have mised that too. No surprise.

Kolisi ... well we all know why he's there. It has nothing to do with talent or merit and everything to do with the shape of his nose and the colour of his skin. A useless 6 ... a useless captain ... a second rate test player. He is Rassie's biggest mistake and I fear it may be long term. 

Both positions at 6 and at 8 need to be looked at properly. We cannot afford quotas and the elderly men of yesterday playing a role there.

Papier has done enough in my opinion to be part of the mix ... and at this stage in time we have no real choice but to go along with Faff as we have none better.

Jantjies is just another token ... a bad mistake that should be corrected promptly by his immediate dismissal ... however we can be thankful that useless Steyn duo haven't been brought back from the dead. Morne and Fats Fransie seem to be out of the picture ... finally. 

Our midfield is a disaster zone. Rassie hsn't selected a decent centre all season long. Esterhuizer and Am are not test midfielders. Jan Serfontein was a class act as a junior and solid at 12 and at at 13 when he played for the Boks.

Pollard seems to have matured and is looking the part now at 10 ... I believe Serfontein will also be a better, more mature player right now.  

Rassie has done well for his 1st season at the helm ...especially seeing as he had to start from scratch.

He brought in and tested a lot of players over the year and has wisely discarded most of them. Thankfully chumps like Chiliboy has been done away with. 

So from me ... "Well done coach Rassie" ... hope to see a few more improvements in the coming year. 

Andre and Am are test quality. Steph our best forward? I don't think our best. Not even among our most consistent. We can replace him. Test quality, but replaceable. Louw and Duane were good tour.

Coetzee's Boks used the ball more. Rassie's Boks are going to need to lean a little more in that direction. He has tried to reassert traditional strengths, which is commendable. However, he has made hard work of the season where he ought to have succeeded. Very st ubborn. 

Yes ... in your deluded mind, Poeps ,,, Am is an average club player and Esterhuizer is just another De Allende. Neither of them will move us forward positively. Simply useless.

Vermeulen has had a poor tour. You can understand why he ducked the All Blacks earlier this year. He knows he's best is behind him. It's easier to go on holiday in Japan than play real hard-mans rugby against the All Blacks. He's just cashing in now ... preparing for his retirement. 

Louw ... haaaaaaahahahahahahaaaaa ... can't even oust Kolisi the quota ... is very poor at 8 and I wonder if he can remember what it's like to play on the blindside. Useless.

Maybe we should have brought in Oupa Mohoje ... hey? ... He is after all an better loosie than McCaw ... right, Poepies?

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahaaa!!

The center problem is real - but I think Kriel will remain at 13.  But for the rest to listen to the BS spread by Mozart and AO is sickening.  there are major problems and I will evaluate the players in all tests objectively and see where the real problems are.  

Ja/nee, another disappointing season, beating virtually everyone but losing to even more . Therefore its a 5/10 for DiscoDassie ....... but one of the season's hilites must be not-so-CleanCut's return to the 'lager' ........ no longer talk of 'goats' in 'Goatsville' ..... now there's a profusion of 'we we we we we we' ........... welkom terug bro . Cmon u Boks.

AO

Esterhuizen and Am test level players"   You are known for spouting BS on site - but that is very near to your limitless maximum. 

Mozart

This is funny coming from you.    CC knows a hell of a lot more of rugby than you do - rest assured of that.  And Meyer and Coetzee had an idea of coaching backlines - funny haha!!!!  

Coetzee had more attacking output with a less experienced and established player pool. He also ended with a better record last year. So, yes, I'd say he does know more about backlines.

It's hilarious how Mike repeatedly returns to topics of old defeats. Time and time again. He never learns. 

Coetzee was pathetic. He set numerous records, and all but destroyed the Boks reputation as a rugby team. Record losses to Ireland, The All Blacks and even Italy. 

Rassie's first season was much better than Coetzee's first season because the team has been competitive in every single game. 

Rassie is clearly developing a team, where Coetzee was chopping and changing - so much he even brought back Morne Steyn. Rassie has developed a squad that can cover injuries with a limited resource pool- certainly less than Meyer. 

Meyer had a better backline on paper than Rassie, with Jean Devilliers, Habana, JP Pieterson. Rassie has no option at inside centre other than to make Pollard play the last 30 minutes at 12. 

Rassie is not going to make his quota target, as the depth of black players is not strong enough in enough positions. Some positions only have coloured and white players that are test standard at this stage, while a position like a wing has an unlimited amount of quality black players to select from.

No black locks, and very few quality black loose forwards. 

Lest taker Mozart's comments and see what is real and what not:-

Captaincy 

Agree - Kolisi ask the advice from everyone around him - and then take the advice of the water bottle carrier - since the other advisers (including Vermeulen and Etzebeth) are equally clueless.

Backline coach

Sure an improvement is necessary - same as was the case with all our four previous coaches,  After all White needs Jones and the other three was nothing better and nobody would have helped.

Kicking the skin off the ball

Still thinking that the kicking of balls is the main function of the halfbacks, so back to the aimless kicking game you want?

Center selection

Agree - but talk is cheap - money buys the whiskey.   Who would be a better combination at center and spare us the joke of Fat Fransie please.  I just saw the news and has enough of farce for the day, 

Halfbacks 

Nothing wrong with Papier - he had a good game yesterday 

Agree with you about Jantjies though.  Funny we have agreement on something at last.

Loosies

All of Kolisi, Vermeulen and Louw are worthless.   Have yo seen the tackle counts of those three and the fact that Louw made 3 possession turnovers in all tests he played in this year says it all.  He came off the bench three times and played about 50 minutes and made THREE tackles in those 50 minutes.   Vermeulen made 17 tackles and missed 4  in the EOYT matches - is that enough for an 8?   

No - the fact is that Du Toit was twice the player the other loosies combined were and  produced the goods as the best forward in the team.          

Tight 5

The usage of Snyman and Mostert is a major problem.   Mostert was the main reason for the elimination of rolling mauls from the Springbok game.   Etzebeth has become very passive - needs to buck up as well.

There is no problems with the props an d what made you change your mind on Thomas du Toit.   A week ago he was part of your constant attacks on performing players?  

No Mozart

I can see when a member talks sense - do not suck up to anybody.  I support sensible comments - not the BS you and you pal AO produce on site. 

Well, seeing as you are a sensible chap, explain this away:

What makes AO compare Coetzee SECOND YEAR AS A COACH with ERASMUS'S FIRST YEAR AS A COACH.  

This really showed how stupid the two dunces are.   . 

How many times Mike? Rassie didn't inherit the 2016 team. He inherited the end of Coetzee's 2017 reign. He even inherited established players from Meyer and Coetzee. A little rejigging. 

Haaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaaaaa!!

Poor ol Poepol!! The clueless sod is so desperate to come across as the all knowing expert that he's prepared to fabricate all kinds of nonsense.

First he tells us that Oupa Mohoje is McCaw's better ... then that the Nik Naks man, Kirschner is apparently vastly superior to Folau.

I  can't remember who he compared Dan Carter to ... was Jantjies? ... any way, Dan the man suddenly became Jantjies' bitch.

Oh I remember now ... it was Morne Steyn!!! The greatest fly half the game has EVER seen.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaaaa!!! It just doesn't end.

Now ... Coetzee is apparently God's gift to coaching and that we should be proud of his achievements. Funny ... all I can remember is Coetzee bringing Morne The Great in against the All Blacks and then watching them run up a record score against us. Our worst drubbing ... EVER!!!

Back to back thrashings against a struggling All Blacks side. Wow!! That sure is some incredible legacy we can all be proud of. Why oh why ... did we get rid of such a talented coach.  The same man that was basically replaced by Edie Jones cause he couldn't do his job properly.   

These established players that you're referring to Poeps ... who are they?

Listen fool

Take your own advice then and be consistent an compare the following:-  

*   Meyer's erformance in 2012 compared to De Villiers performance in 2010 (not to 2011 as that was a WC year)

*   Coetzee's performance in 2016 compared to Meyer's performance in 2014.

Nobody did it since it is totally useless as an evaluation tool.   

You have come up with BS about inherited players.   How many players used by Coezee more than twice in 2017 was in the 2018 squad.   Fact is you have not even looked at that issue =neither have you looked at who were the failures in 2017 and were the same in 2018.   

The whole issue is total BS since every coach must build up a squad and in the case Erasmus is not allowed that privilege in comparing his team performance in his first year as a coach compared to the second year team of Coetzee,  

Logic goes out of the window when it comes to any rugby thinking on your part - as is the case here.  Generalizing is the norm in your case and  facts really is out.   

CC

Don't ever expect a logical answer from either Mozart or AO.   They would never react to a  logical question  since it will expose their BS statements.

There is a  constant problem with you - circumstances change and people change their opinion on players depending on changes in performance levels.   

So what CC said previously iro players does not hold water once circumstances changed.   What is pertinent is what happened this year.   

You and AO stuck with Louw based on his performance in 2015 when he had the second highest possession turnovers in the WC.  In all the test this year he made three possession turnovers so is the turnover issue still pertinent?   Players like Du Toit has made more turnovers this year than Louw - so why the emphasis about Louw only.   Why ignore the fact that in the main Louw failed badly iro defence and ball carries - ie the basics of being a loosie when playing in tests this year?  

Then there is the issue of Vermeulen.   Vermeulen was injured in May 2015 and everyone in SA wanted him in the WC squad for obvious reasons - he was a top class 8.   He was rushed back into the squad and was kept out of the Japan test because he was not really matchfit.   Burger failed badly as the number 8 in the test so Vermeulen was rushed in to take over the number 8 role.  His only notable contribution was when he against orders off-laoded a ball to Du Preez - who scored the winning try against wales in rthe quarterfinals.  For the rest  his performances were nothing to write home about.

So come along 2018 and what happened,  He was lauded in the first two tests against England despite the rather inadequate defense:-   

10 June 2018   

Ball possession loss     =   1

Tackles made               =   6

Tackles missed             =   1

17 June 2018  

Ball possession loss     =   1

Tackles made               =   5

Tackles missed             =   1

The above is vey low tackle counts playing as  LOOSIE.  Be it as it may he vanished from sight in all aspects of the  game in the third English test - despite your denial of the fact.   He then went off to Japan and skipped the  RC completely and came back for the EOYT matches.   He badly failed in all three EOYT tests - for example he made only 17 tackles in the three tests combined and missed 4 tackles as well, CC had every right to change his opinion on the performances of Vermeulen.

As per normal you and AO defended Louw and Vermeulen as if your lives depended on it.   In the process objectivity went out of the window.   

Louw made at least 5 turnovers that I can cite off the top of my head. He made 3 against France alone. Your info is poorly gathered Mike. Your assessment of Louw has always been wrong. I suppose you are destined to be wrong forever. 

No AO

You cannot get away with vague skyscrapers - proof it by facts.  However, that is not all - which players Coetzee used in more than 2 tests in 2017 - which were used by Erasmus in 2018 as you claim as the reason for comparing 2017 and 2018 figures - which were totally misused by you anyway.  

You haven't the comprehension skills to interpret data of any kind. These topics have been explored at Greta depth numerous times, and you have yet to understand them.