Year End Player Notes...Willie le Roux 8/10

Willie  sometimes is very good - other times less so.   I think looking at the way Sales uses him he should be better utilized - but it happens for too many times that players do not line up to support him in attack and he too often has to make rather ineffective kicks.

I would like to see him play next to a player like Muller du Plessis.  That would be very-very dangerous in attack with the latter on the wing.   A player like DH van der Merwe would also be a huge improvement on the present support runners.       

Under Rassie, Willie feeds our centres. He used to feed our wings. We are having a lot of trouble creating space for our deadly wings, which is a travesty considering that Willie's greatest attribute is space creation. This is a coaching error more than a personnel issue. We are the most rigid, pattern based top tier rugby nation. It stands out like a sore thumb. In the RC, we routinely got caught on the edge of the defence and struggled to retain possession. It improved somewhat as the season progressed, but still quite poor. Change is happening too slowly. We saw a shift from 12 to 13 on the EOYT, so maybe Rassie's thought process has changed. We won't know for sure until next year. Hopefully he finds better ways of utilising Willie. Our best try assisting players were Willie and Faf. If we are going to be successful, let at the World Cup, we must accentuate their strengths. 

AO

Another poof you are too dim to discuss rugby issues with,   In a rare lucid interval Mozart came very close to making sense.   Do you actually know which players are classified as Outside Backs and how OB's are supposed  to operate in both attack and defense ?