There can always ever be one answer - nobody was ever as bad as Meyer was. We are now in the 2019 RWC and one must inevitably think back to the 2015 WC. For that series Meyer picked 8 unplayable players and the result was a loss against Japan. After that test against Japan the 8 duds had very little playing time.
One has to think back and think about the SR season that year as well - when the team selected by Meyer lost all three tests in the series and ended the season with a negative point count of 23. One has to compare that with the fact that in 2019 the Springboks won the trophy with a positive point count of 51. Meyer's team buggered up constantly in the period 2012 to 2015 away tests against the Argentinians and even when they won it was by a very small margin. In 2019 the Argentinians were beaten by a huge margin.
One can also compare how the Springboks beat the Japanese two weeks ago. Was easy as pie with even two duds in the squad. Louw never really played anyway - he was on the field for about 5 minutes and got carded so the team for the last 11 minutes had to play with 14 players, The other dud was Steyn who made a total mess when he came from the bench.
It was amazing how Liza Page - supported by Strzok and Coey tried to prove that the 2015 teams of Meyer performed better in the tests they lost than the 2019 teams did, Twisted theya re and twisted they would always be.
This brings me to one of Meyer's worst mistakes. He picked two duds for the RC series and was worst in the 2015 WC. One of them was Alberts who had two short bench appearances during the whole WC. Alberts had three distinctions, he never made an open-field tackle (was too slow for that), he never made a possession turnover an breakdowns situations (was too clumsy for that) and his average meter gain per carry was 2,2 meters - in other words in the 43 tests he played in he carried the ball 95 meters,
So when Alberts were criticized for continuous under-performance he was always defended by Strzok and co, who came up with the weirdest myths imaginable. However, earlier in his career Meyer also picked Mohoje as a loosie. The latter was the routine bench player for the Cheetahs and Liza Page claimed that Mohoje out-performed McCaw as a loosie - weird, but true.
However, now back to the loosies with specific reference to Labuschagne as a loosie. Meyer never selected him as a loosie because he would not recognize a good loosie if it hit him in the face, So lets look at the situation again So what happened - Japan went off to play rugby in Japan, Since then he played in 4 tests in the Pacific Cup series - in one of those he was the captain. The stats on Pacific Cup matches is not available - but in the test against SA he outperformed Vermeuen and Kolisi and he carried the ball about 40 meters in one carry. Today in the Japan test his stats were as follow:-
Labuschagne 1/0 5 0/0/6 61 1 1 0 0 16/1 0/0 0 0/0
Alberts in his whole career did not make the meters Labuschagne made in to games and the highest number of tackles Alberts ever made in tests was 13 in one test - his average was about 7 tackles per test. Also he was missing oodles of attempted tackles.
So what happened on site? When I saw Labuschagne in 2013 for the first time playing for the Cheetahs in 2013 and mentioned that L:abuschagne is one of the best loosies I have seen for years - I was not the only one in that since Marshall repeated constant praising of Labuschagne during two games in NZ and keep saying "What a player - what a player" - our local "expert" Strzok (aka Mozart) went ballistic without ever having seen Labuschagne playing in a single game. In his normal style Strzok lied about Labuschagne's weight and started calling him "Liggies". Be it as it may Labuschangne was the best example of how Meyer buggered up his selections for years.
I myself is very happy I had Labuschagne as a loosie in both the fantasy competition I participate in and he gave good points in that regard.
Tomorrow is the real test for the Springboks. In the four years Meyer was coach the Springboks played the All blacks 8 times and the result was 7 losses and 1 win. In the test the Springboks won Matfield did his utmost to ensure a Springbok loss and he win only resulted from a 55 meter penalty conversion by Lambie. When Strzok made comments about pressure kicks I asked him about the penalty conversion by Lambie and he came up with his normal - it was not a pressure kick. What an idiot?
Now back to the Springbok - All Blacks test tomorrow. Under Erasmus the situation is that there were 3 tests played and the results were 1 test won, 1 test drawn and one test lost. That makes me quite optimistic about the test tomorrow and I give the Springboks a winning chance in the game. Lets hope I am right.
