Warrick Gelant has an injury, so Willemse is moving to XV. He was good last week in patches when playing at flyhalf, but still needs more consistency to control the game at 10.
Swiel is probably a more reliable pole kicker as well.
Frans was abandoned after a few charge downs.....fixable....leaving the boot, the step, the physicality, the offload. Another stupid move to ignore his potential, but it had a lot to do with the insane idea that Lambie was a test player.
Frans was the best SA 12 up until a Esterhuizen. He was also a useful 10 . He was abandoned early at 10 because Eddie's big call, Pienaar at 10 ("South Africa's Larkham"), sparked a new wave of running 10 fever. Absolutely none of these flubs stuck. I still have Fans' stats at 10 in 2008 for the Sharks. The numbers he was putting out was obscene. Lambie, Goosen, Pienaar, Rose, Dollie, Bosch, Bosman et al never came close to it. He was our best 12, but to say he never offered abutting at 10 is simply baseless.
Sure Frans was the statistically the worst center in the country between 2012 and 2015 and never made the Springbok team as a result. Esterhuiizen was tried but failed at center and that was the situation in reality.
Agree with Dave - Steyn's reactions at flyhalf were too slow and his decisionmaking was not good enough - he was never a pivot same as Morne, But then your stats has been proven to be falsified and dreamt up by you and to even pretend that they exist is a joke. Anyway Steyn at center in 2013 was a disaster and it was clear that he was never a center - Plumtree clearly said that in an interview, For the rest of 2013 he played no rugby because of injury, The 2014 performances was so bad = he was rated as the 32nd rated player in the Super Rugby series by Fox Sport and in 2015 he was pout of contention because of a stupid red card he thoroughly deserved. He actually played very little rugby in 2015 when he was not a disaster,
That was the scenario of Steyn and my lasting impression of him was when he tried to tackle De Allende twice and landed on his backside on the grass instead. But then his defnse was extremely poor in Super 15 from 2013 to 2015. And Esterhuizen has no idea about the game as well and his defense was also deficient.
Keep it up AO - a nearly fell off my chair caused by laughter when I read your latest idiocies,
Between 2012 and 2015? Frans was the best 12 in the country in 2012. I have those games. He was the best in 2014 too, when he was the Shark's best 10, 12, 13 and 15. He comprehensively outplayed Damian throughout 2015 (statistically and factually the worst 12 in Super rugby). You are very, very easily beaten on these debates because you literally do not have even a basic understanding of the game. Australia humiliated Damian because they exploited all of the vulnerabilities he displayed in super rugby. Meyer, being the flexible coach that he is, implemented moves and shapes from the Stormers to accommodate Damian; Cheika shut all of them down. All of the vulnerabilities I was told weren't there were exposed for all to see, weak points that have persisted to present day. Weak points which Frans himself covered in the final last year. Ende. GG/NR.
No they are not. Jean was good, but didn't have the best hands, and was blinkered. Damian is the most fundamentally flawed 12 I have ever seen. Every aspect of his game is mediocre. Serfontein is a vastly better reader of play, hence his more successful stint at 13, however, he can't handle front-on physicality. Esterhuizen can stall an entire gameplan on his ability to read play and successfully rush. His physicality is much greater than peak Frans, and he is the best passing back we have, aside from Willie. His offload is phenomenal and his composure and decision making when play breaks down is elite. He is by some margin out best 12. I have gathered enough footage to debunk your Damian tripe, and show emphatically that Esterhuizen is our better player. Another gaff by José Erasmus.
Where Jean excelled was his durability and tactical awareness. He was a smart and instinctive player and his defence was consistently elite. Off the field he played a large part in game-planning. He had good leadership skills. Damian has never and will never match any of these attributes. Jean actually turned up in big-game moments. Damian doesn't have such a record. To date his great moments are running freely for a try against Wales and a try against the USA in 2015. Just like Steph, Damian is consistently at the scene of the crime when bad things occur. This has been well documented and you have never offered more than a garbled jumble of malformed and profane thoughts in response. Ende.
So Damian didn't show up to bash over 5 Welsh players to score a match deciding try in WC semi finals?
Du Allenda was the best 12 in game back in 2015 and pretty much owned the likes of Nonu and Sonny Bill only for dud Meyer dumb game plan.
He is a direct 12 that can tackle and half decent pass
It also depends what you expect from your 12
Australia use their 12s as a 2nd flyhallf and decision maker.
We had Willie and normally make most of our plays of 9 and 15 where the full back can join on the 2nd or 3rd phases.
SA also expected their 10s to be really physical and to exploit the gaps in their channel as Pollard has doen with the amount of line breaks he did
But we should compare our 12s and 10s against those that are currently playing
Bashed over 5 Welsh players? He got past the flyhalf who was trying a hold and strip tackle. He never stepped, accelerated, handed off ....it was just an awful tackle attempt.
After that no defender was in position to stop Dud. Nobody was more surprised that he scored than Dud himself.
But back to Frans. The Sharks in 2014 had the best record in Super rugby while Frans was at 10.....they beat the Crusaders while down to 13 men. And when Lambie came back that all imploded.
Frans had all the tools to be a dominant 10 with a bit of coaching help...but for some reason South Africans always saw him as arrogant, so the slightest mistake was seized upon.
