There are a number of issues raised in debates on team selection insofar as NH club players are concerned and it is time to look at those - who played for SA for tests during the past year.
In my review of the situation I am leaving out those players who only left after completion of the Super 15 this year and wish to concentrate on the players that played no Super 15 games. I would thus look at the position of only Francois Louw, Gurthro Steenkamp, Ruan Pienaar and Fourie du Preez - who in fact played tests over the past year.
Francois Louw
Francois Louw at 27 years of age is much younger than the other Club players. There is no doubt that he is a player who routinely produce very good performances and despite the criticism that he is rather slow for an open-side flank - he did not let his team down ever and he is a solid selection.
Gurthro Steenkamp
Gurthro is the bench loosehead player for his Club Toulouse and not in their starting line-up anymore. According to a French site member - he can play two or three games and must then be rested. Physically he is fat and overweight an of questionable fitness.
Meyer started with him in the Murrayfield test and after 15 minutes he was huffing and puffing being ineffective in the next 25 minutes until half-time when he was replaced. In the Twikenham test he actually lasted for about 30 minutes, and the he was replaced at half time.
That taught Meyer that Gurthro is not a starting line-up player anymore and in tests this year he was used from the bench - with mixed results. At the best of times he put in average performances. At the age of 32 years he obviously has serious limitations and it is time for his replacement - which will hopefully take effect from next year.
Ruan Pienaar
Ruan Pienaar (31 years of age) was called up last year - because of the lack of local experienced scrummies in the absence of Fourie du Preez. He was initially on the bench, but replaced Francois Hougaard, because the latter was a disaster in tests last year.
Pienaar was always a live-wire scrummie form his days as a junior and was very good in various positions in the Springbok team. However, playing for Ulster in NH conditions - he became a typical NH scrummie with a tendency to kick balls more than he passes them.
Pienaar was in the main solid - but showed some deficiencies in poor kicking and in a slow passing game - as well as reading of the game. Always a ball sense player that aspect of his game was coached out of him through the years.
I would say his performances can at best be described as average - with some deficiencies thrown in. Not really that much of a gain in using him.
Fourie du Preez
Fourie du Preez at 31 years of age had limited game time and there is only two tests which can be evaluated properly.
His first appearance was in the Pumas test in Soweto - where the Springboks ran riot and Du Preez came from the bench. He kept up to the frenzy play in the game and showed some outstanding plays - resulting in justified rave reviews.
That was followed by the test against the Wallabies in Cape Town against more sturdy opposition. Here he did his work well - but there were signs that he was not understanding his teammates well and two of his passes went astray. In general a average to good performance - but nothing really outstanding.
The next week he played in the Ellis Park test and he was nothing above an average scrummie in that game. It was evident that he was running out of steam and could not play successfully in two tests on succeeding weekends. He was caught in possession a few times, made 1 tackle, but also one missed one. Nothing to write home about at all.
SUMMARY
Looking at the above 4 players there is only one unqualified successful one - namely Louw. There are definite question marks in respect of the real value of the other three players. At best they can be described as average performers - maybe because of the age factor, or because of the NH playing conditions. For instance the amount of rugby played in Japan is limited and there are always question marks about the match fitness of players returning from there. That has been the case in Super 15 as well - Grant being a typical example and there are numerous other players from NZ where the cases have been similar.
That brings me to the Bakkies Botha and Jacque Fourie cases. I am looking forward to whether they are going to be in the same range as the above players - bar Louw. My own suspicion is that they are going to be bog ordinary in performances - with the steam running out of them under pressing test conditions.
