What can be said about Hougaard

He now has had two games on Super 15 level.   The Bulls were playing a weakish team and the performance Hougaard put up was way below par so much so that after his replacement at halftime the Bulls backline functioned better.

The other player that should have been replaced earlier was Mapoe.   To my mind he is very much like De Jongh - gets tackled and lose the ball in the process.   Happened a number of times.   Lightweight  players without ball sense is just not acceptable.  

I think the Bulls are in for a huge loss against the Blues - they did not have a team tonight - they were buggering around badly.    

Mike as you know I'm a bulls fan through and through! But I agree hougard was awful! I mean hi just struggled to get going! And also Mapoe is very average! I would rather have venter and Jaun seriftine! However Botha put in an amazing performance and so did the young winger! Mourne played average and so did others sad to see bassom get injured again :( 

 Fully agree Mike both are poor. That little wing will take a few hard knocks and that will be the end of him.

Force were much better than against the queens. Travel also effects guys coming here altough the effect I understand is less. coach also made good changes to force side.

Morne was really once more the man of the match.

The poor form of SA sides is worrying but things can only get better.

 What complete bullshit, Hougaard once again had a good game with pin point and great service to Morne, giving him time to execute and play his best game in ages.

The stupid Bulls coached subbed him at half time as he moaned that the accuracy of the Bulls kicking was poor - Vermaak came on and the Bulls fell behind and started losing until the final 10 min or so.

Hougaard's service was again the best of the SA 9's. Its just sad to see Hougaard not playing his natural attacking game - I want to see his great breaks of old

That is exactly the problem. Hougaard is an attacking scrummie rather than a tactical kicking scrummie. Yet he is not taking on the opposition with some sniping runs.

I believe the ou bulle have an ideal of what a scrummie should be and that is Fourie Du Preez. But is no use trying to make Hougaard into Fourie.

The two best scrummies were in fact Groom and Sarel. Are the coaches to blame re Reinach and Hougaard one asks.

 Bloody hell Pretorious was a liability - the guys service is awful. I can now see why the Tahs never started him. Groom had a good game, but then so did Reinach.

Yeah I hate the way the Bulls play, it is really stifling and I fear for a player like Jan Serfontein.

They way they just kick the damn thing all the time is so boring to watch - its the same crap we see from the Boks under Meyer.

Thing is Hougaards box kicks for the Bulls on Sat were fine, so I dont get what Ludeke was on about - the real issue was Kirchner's pointless kicking from the back - but Ludeke is too stupid to pick up on this

Dave, Hougaard's box kicks were crap . . . as they always are.

Hougaard is a supremely talented scrumhalf but he's going to waste all that talent at the Bulls where he is expected to kick everything. I fear he may already be a lost cause as kicking has become his first instinct when his first instinct used to be to run at someone. I'd already be looking at Cobus Reinach as the first choice Bok scrummie.

PS I agree that Sarel Pretorius was nothing short of pathetic. The worst scrumhalf performace of the entire weekend . . . his decision-making was extremely poor and I could just about live with his bad habit of taking 3 or 4 steps before every pass if his passes weren't bouncing in front of the receiver every time. A truly pathetic performance from Pretorius. Anyone who rates that performace is a blithering idiot . . . oh, hang on . . . someone just did! Wehe!

 Well I'm judging his box kicks in line with our other 9's who's seem no better or worse. He never kicked many and I recall his first one as being described by the commentator as being perfect.

But you have a point with him playing for the Bulls - its just pathetic how they tend to resort to kicking as a first option and they wonder why they struggled so against average opposition.

Hougaard should have moved on from the Bulls.

Reinach looks a good prospect but has some way to go to challenge Hougaard, only because I'd have Hougaard play his natural game and only employ the box kick on vary rare occasions. His service is great and we need him playing with his usual free spirit. Its sad to see him stifled on attack under Ludeke and Meyer 

In 2011 ....playing on the wing Hougaard was a dangerous runner. By 2012 playing on the wing, he was milk toast. All these great breaks you guys are waiting for aren't verboten at the Bools. F du Preez broke often and well. The plain fact is Hougaard has simply lost his edge....why I have no idea.

Saffex

You really are talking shit in capital letters,  A backline player that had a good game is not subbed at half time.   Hougaard was replaced because he was crap - and that is a fact,   His service was anything but satisfactory and I believe the Bulls would have lost if they kept him as scrummie.   There really was no improvement on jis performance last year - for some reason or another he bcame clueless over th e past 18 months and he is still clueless.

I doubt very much whether he will be in the starting line up for the game against the Blues - he was just not good enough yesterday to justify selection.

Wrong Duncemike, he was not subbed, he has an ankle injury. Vermaak was poor when he came on, taking steps before he passed, but you are too stupid to pick up on that

Saffex

I watched the game again and found three real mistakes made by Hougaard - two of which probably contributed to his replacement in the second half.

He was caught in the first half twice in possession - because he was slow in passing and did not really know what to do with the ball.   The second one resulted ultimately in a penalty converted by Ebersohn.

He was cut off from the backline after a scrum  and threw a wild pass to the wing and the ball went out of play.  The pass was inaccurate and hit the recipient on the shoulder.

Hougaard and Vermaak was basically on par in the passing game with the slight difference that Vermaak never hessitated before passing and Hougaard seems to hessitate and delay passing by a second or two.   Must admit both were not really up to standard.

mike as you know i love hougie and as much as it pains me to say it! your right! but hougie has nothing short of one of the worst games i have seen him play! also the fact that both of his last two preformances have been a bit lets say lack luster against 2 weak teams! makes it even worse cause you really start to worry how he is going to cope against the harder teams! the blues next week showed world class against the crusaders! so to say im worried for the bulls is an understatement! however you do have one thing wrong houige wasnt subbed due to him playing poor there was a worry he may be injuryed! so took him off to save him for the tour! he will return to training on the saturday! look up on supersport or bulls website if you dont agree with me :)

also beeno! that little winger wil take on or to hard knocks and that will be the end of him! hahahahaha man at this level as a little winger you have taken your fair few hard knocks on the way up! btw do you think a simular fate awaits the youngster peterson?

Spot on as always mike. to be fair hougaard has not had a decent game since the RWC. the fact that he is not the number one no 9 at the bulls has really given him a maybe a false sense of security as i for one cannot understand hey hougaards game is so rubbish. he enjoys more a unstructured type of game but the bulls play and the stormers play could not be worse off the be honest. nothing of how these teams play realy makes any rugby supporter really feel comfortable.

as i said last year on this forum players like serfontein and co will be programmed to be donkeys and there natural talent will be wasted at unions like the bulls and stormers. jaco taute and jantjies look like useless haspeens at the stormers.

old coetzee and co are the past master of how to uncoach talent i really feel for these players as they are capable of so much more but will never reach a level that will make SA rugby a force again.

serfontein needs to get out of his contract to either the sharks or cheetahs maybe maybe his own chances to play for the boks will be so much more. i hate the game patterns that the coaches are playing and it makes me sick to my stomach if one has to look at this rugby on a weekly basis

Oh what complete bullshit, scrumhalves get caught sometimes. Hougaard went blind, when he could not break he passed the ball on, was not his fault Mastriet dropped the thing.

Duncemike, what part of Hougaard having an ankle injury do you not get? That is why he was subbed - wake up

i hope hougaard comes right, it his attacking abilities which is what makes him a great player, but i cant help but wonder if hes changing his game to suit meyers Bok masterplan.
i hope not cos hougaards attack was a refershing change from the usual mundane pro boxkickiers of the past, but whatever it takes to be a Bok seems to be the flavour of the month.

You are right Sas, its sad watching him stifled in that all he seems to be doing is passing the ball. But his service has been absolutely spot on dispelling that crap made by some posters last year saying his service was poor.

His service without question is the best of the SA 9's - Morne is loving it and its giving him time and space on the ball. I bet Morne would credit part of his rejuvenation on the time Hougie is giving him on the ball with the service he is receiving.

We need to see more of Hougaards attacking skills for when on fire no scrummie in the game can touch him. He seems to have lost his spark and is only doing the basics and playing to a Bulls kicking pattern.

I know he has been embroiled in the Oscar saga so this too may account for that lack of spark.

But his game is solid unlike the crap Duncemike tells us

When last did we see anything....and I mean anything....extraordinary from Hougaard on attack. My guess is the match against Wales RWC11. The lad has lost his mojo.

Agreed he has lost his mojo and the combination of being shifted to the wing last year and the Oscar crap this year must be a contributing factor. Add that to the kicking pattern of the Bulls.

A good coach would have Hougaard playing with free spirit - Ludeke does not strike me as that man

Saffex

I have to admit I did not know about the injury to his ankle - no game stoppage for injury treatment and I was unaware of it.

Now about him getting caught in possession - he was caught because he was hessitating as to what he has to do with the ball.   And a hard pass hitting a recipient on the shoulder can never be anything but a wild pass.   Not really the best scrummie around this week  - after a rather mediocre performance last week as well.  

I think you are probably correct about the coaching requiements of Meyer and also Ludeke.   Even Lambie is affected and he showed really minimal skills this week.   Nobody can ever accuse Meyer of not coaching the skills out of players.

Crap, there was nothing wrong with that pass, Mastriet lacked awareness and should have caught it with ease. He went to break blind, was caught and he passed it to his wing - its called a normal passage of play. Everytime a player attempts a break, does not mean he gets away with it - hell if that was the case, the game would be an easy one.

You are speaking complete crap about his performance this week and last, where his service was outstanding.

Yes, read the report on the Bulls on this site, Basson is out for two weeks and Hougaard has an ankle injury

Saffex

It is very easy to make you go ballistic with regard to things.  A person only need to go for Francois Steyn or Hougaard and it is like a red lag to a bull.

Now lets get back to reality.   I said elsewhere that Steyn really is the only option we have at 12 - since I do not believe that De Villiers at his age would take the battering.   I also said that the future 12's are likely to be Serfontein and De Allende.

Insofar as the scrummie is concerned - I believe we only have one option and that is Hougaard.   However, there are some elements of his game where I would like to see improvement - even though I was niggling you in his case.    There are however, signs that there was improvement to what was the case in 2012 - but I sincerely believe that he is our only option at 9.   When I am critical of him I do so because I believe he can do better.

However, there is indeed a complicating factor and that is the game plan of Meyer as also applied by Ludeke.   Both are very successful in killing positive and natural ability of players.    I wish Hougaard would forget about their rubbish and play his natural game - but that I suppose is wishful thinking.

This story about Oscar and Hougaard is almost eerie. I was just remarking the other day how alike they are facially, long before I knew there was any connection.

Mozart

You got me there - what is the connection between Oscar and Hougaard?

Just google the two names Mike, I also never heard about this until I saw Dave's posting above.

 Rumour has it that Hougie was texting Reeva and that is what sparked off the domestic. I think Hougie used to go out with Reeva.

Yes Moz they do look alike, its uncanny

Saffex and Mozart

Thanks for that - I did google that and they said that Hougaard used to date Reeva Steenkamp.

Call me a male chauvinist pig - but why are beautiful woman always the source of serious trouble?   Helen of Troy, Anthony and Cleopatra - you name them throughout the history of the world and TROUBLE is always in the vicinity.

Because Mike, nothing beats the touch of a beautiful woman - or should I say touching a beautiful woman!

Saffex

Now let me try and say something without getting into really hot water all round.   Having sex with a less attractive woman is often better - because she tends to give her all in the process. 

Mike that is not a very nice thing to say about your wife!!!

So Mike, why would a very attractive woman not give it her all and enjoy the experience as much as a less attractive woman - that makes no sense to me?

Surely a very attractive woman would turn you on more and thereby heighten the experience for both of you - or would it be a case of you spilling the beans too quickly!!!!

Oops - I landed myself in the poo here