Young guns or Jean?; Rugby 365

AussieBoer is so glad Heyneke Meyer 'listened' to his advice toexperiment with Jesse Kriel against the World XV.

Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende's combination and performances, are the most exciting aspects of the three games the Springboks played so far.

It is too early to compare any centre after two Test caps to the Boks and World's best No.13 ever - Danie Gerber.

However, Kriel is a closer protege than Jan Serfontein, who some claimed might become the new 'Danie'.

Serfontein is talented, no doubt, but he is an inside centre.

Although Gerber and Willie du Plessis played right and left centres, instead of inside and outside, at first, Gerber did 'specialise' himself in the outer channel later in his career.

Why is Kriel so much more of a threat than Serfontein?

Firstly, Kriel is a No.13 who has raw explosive pace over the first 20 meters and he has the ability and speed to take the outside gap - ala Gerber and Brian O'Driscoll.

Serfontein has a good rugby brain. However, at the Bulls he has become more of a one-dimensional crash-ball centre with his primary focus is just to get over the advantage line. Serfontein didn't let the Boks down, but, didn't excite or impose himself like the current young guns.

Damian de Allende is the most lethal SA player during the whole 2015 season so far.

Not only does he beat his opponents at will, he showed that he has great distribution skills as well. Yes, there are some critics claiming his defence is suspect, but, most tall centres struggle with that. That's where the coaching must play a role.

Bottom line is that Jan Serfontein's World Cup place in the squad is under pressure with Lionel Mapoe and JP Pietersen as players who can cover both wing and centre.

AussieBoer believes that De Allende and Kriel is the future and with Handré Pollard, Pat Lambie and Willie le Roux, future Boks sides could become as attacking as the Wallabies and All Blacks with the right coaching team.

Add Seabelo Senatla or Cheslin Kolbe, boy oh boy!

That brings AussieBoer to Jean de Villiers.

If, Jean is fit enough, he is a must to captain the Boks.

The Boks lost the last two Tests in the dying moments and many, even Meyer, believes it was due to a lack of experience. Jean has proven himself to be a great and popular captain on and off the field.

Question who is to be 'sacrificed'? De Allende of Kriel?

For this World Cup play De Allende at No.12 and De Villiers at No.13. De Villiers has played 10 Tests at outside centre and 14 Tests on the wing.

During the game he and De Allende can swap positions on occasions and do like Gerber and Willie Du Plessis did, play left and right centres.

Jesse Kriel can be on the bench with Lambie/Pollard and Pienaar/Reinach.

To be honest, none of the current Boks wings are great 'finishers' on current form.

JP Pietersen is lazy, Cornal Hendricks' defence is suspect and Bryan Habana always breaks inside or only score with and open tryline.

So, unfortunately politics won't allow this, playing Kriel on the wing is another option, admittedly a gamble, but not too farfetched.

If Francois Hougaard did it, why not Jesse?

Tana Umaga, Stirling Mortlock, Philippe Sella all had a stint on the wing at some stage.

Even Tim Horan has one Test cap on the wing.

Fullback, Kriel's position with the Bulls, often play on the wing - Serge Blanco, Andy Irvine, Ben Smith, Corey Jane, Israel Dagg all did.

For those who think outside centre is 'too far' from the game, wake up.

At outside centre you have more time to analyse the situation and what's going on.

Hookers and locks, for example, sometimes - before their heads are out of a scrum - a try have been scored.

They don't see the opponents' backline set-up, etc.

Tana Umaga, Serge Blanco, Brain O'Driscoll, Andy Irvine, Basie Viviers all captained Test teams from not 'close to the game/ref'.

Point is, that the vice-captain (most likely Victor Matfield, can make calls up front and motivate the pack) and De Villiers make tactical decisions.

De Villiers is charming and calm and refs and teammates like that.

AussieBoer (Kevin D)
@rugby365com

 I doubt this article will change many minds on the board but it's worth reading. 
Link to article with a poll to get fans views

IMO the Boks have to have de Villiers on the field they next his experience, captaincy & control over the back- line defence.

 I do not necessarily believe the result thus far will be considered as more than 58% of the participants favoured the De Allende - Kriel combination.  The next combination De Villiers and De Allende getting 17% and De Villiers and Kriel 10%
The great news for Mozart is De Villiers - Steyn who got the glorious combination of 1,3% and De Villiers and Fourie got 0,69%.  Wonder whether he and Disaster have voted for the combination De Villiers-Steyn?   Probably - because where will the combination get their votes from if not from those two?     

according to the commentators, kreil has played most his rugby at center.

the only reason he played fullback at the bulls was cos they already had an established center pairing in serfontein and jj.

meyer has already shown his true colours with his selections, and when JDV is fit and ready, either kreil or de allende will make way for him.
my money is de allende will be shuffled out so that JDV can go back to his fave position at 12, and kreil can continue to grow at 13 who is apparently a fave of meyer.

kreil also has a twin brother, a useless but interesting fact,

If the other Kriel brother played this weekend they would both be capped Springboks. Another interesting useless fact 

Kriel may not have knocked players over like Allende, but he has been the more effective  of the two in the tests. He runs into gaps rather than into players. Jean at 12 will provide offloads Kriel will exploit. Jean will also organize the defence, something Allende may never get. Put Allende on the wing....get him to attack the box kick. And use his power on cuts from the opposite wing.
In other words free him up to use his running assets, don't  expect him to provide tactical leadership.

Kriel can handle head on pressure, Damian cannot. Damian's only glimpses of attacking nous have all been in space attacking the outside. He plays like a wing/outside centre hybrid.

 BS

No contest......de Allende and Kriel make Jean look like an amateur  

 
"Jean at 12 will provide offloads Kriel will exploit"

Fraid your a little confused ... Jean doesn't provide offloads to anyone ... never has ... never will ...

He's the reason we've had such a poor back line these last few years.

He specializes in the intercept and that too has fallen away some.

If you must have h in your team then play him on the right wing but for heaven sake leave the center play to those who know how it's supposed to be done.

CC
I have to laugh at Seuntjies aka Mozart and Disaster about their comments on the center situation and their reasons for support of Fat Fransie at center.   They will always be toxic about De Allende - because he is obstructing the selection of Fransie to the squad.  You must accept that the campaign here is the same - so we should know what to expect from the two comedians.   

Yep Kriel's twin brother plays 12.....is bigger than Jessie....does not have his brothers pace or dancing feet, but is very good  

 I think he played for the Bulls in their runaway win in Japan.   It actually was a disgrace.  To think that there are people who rate players like Du Preez, Fourie, JP Pietersen and Frans Steyn - while they are playing in the weak Japanese club system. 
That is why they find it extremely hard to recover form when they come back to play test of Super Rugby games and rarely succeeds
Hansen would definitely not play Japanese Club players in the AB team .  

 Kaino played in Japan CleverMike.

Michael never gets his facts right. He doesn't understand anything about Japanese rugby, or culture. For speed and attacking structures, it leaves South African rugby for dead. The price you pay for such a league is less emphasis on set pieces and kicking for territory is an after thought. To say there is no benefit whatsoever is utterly ignorant. 

 And they win virtually nothing outside of Japan if Japan "is a nice play to become a better athlete and better more rounded player.was". 
Steyn and JP must have neglected the above training  - since they came back from Japan even with less pace than the minimal pace they had.  

 
Japan is the land of pretense.

They want to play rugby but have no idea how to go about it so they pay large sums of money to hasbeens in the hopes of improving their play.

One would think that they would've worked it out by now that learning rugby skills from the tired, the old, the battered, the past their sale by date isn't going to improve anything.

These guys are all useless and have nothing to contribute.

They play a soft brand of "rugby" ... and that's what attracts the hasbeens, the old, the tired and the battered ... because there in Japan they can pretend to be playing rugby ... while coining it big time ... see their  contract through while chilling and relaxing ... giving their battered tired bodies the time to recover abit.

It's a poor standard of rugby and recovery is inevitable.

I'm confident that our schools produce a far higher and better standard of rugby than what is seen in Japan.

Why Meyer thinks that these old and tired players can still compete in the international arena is beyond me.

Look at Fat Fransie ... he had talent ... once upon a time ... and then he went to Japan ... now ... he's useless ... soft ... slow ... out of touch.

Just the sort Meyer's looking for it seems.

 CC
Precisely - but some of the favourite players of Disaster  are moonlighting in Japan - so now suddenly he must invent a non-existent standard of rugby to justify selection of the has-beens he supports all-out.
Richard Kahui - who was a AB top class player - was asked on NZ TV why he decided to play rugby in Japan.  He was candid and straightforward about it - he said the rugby played is "soft rugby" and demands on players are vastly less than they are in NZ.  At the time he was playing for the Chiefs - got injured badly due to chronic unfitness - and went back to Japan asap.
Who should we believe - Kahui or the Disaster windbag on this site?           

Well at least they can keep the lights on.

I love how Michael comes out and finds a quote that confirms what I said and then gives himself a high-five! 

You never said they play sift rugby - you claim the players  are fitter than before they left SA and all kinds of garbage about the game in Japan.  Now suddenly you claim that you said the same as VV and myself said.  Are you on the sauce?
Then another classic - "Well at least they can keep the lights on."   That makes them eminently suitable to play for the Springboks.  That remark means that you are still  insisting that PERFORMANCE means zilch in team selection.  

 Did I not say it is less physical? Soft implies less force, which references a lower level of physicality! LMAO!!!!!!!!! Tell me this, does a faster league with more ball in play time not require greater fitness?

 A lower level of physicality is suddenly turned into soft rugby and the fact that a lower level of physicality leads to greater fitness is a definitely contradiction of fact.  it is a farce to say the least.  Every player coming back from Japan lost pace at an alarming rate and suffer from constant injuries linked directly to fitness levels - and they are fitter?????????????
What a joke - I really expect more from you than that garbage, but then what else can we expect from this disastrous clown?.   

 Once again your reading comprehension is letting you down. I said a faster paced game with more ball-in-p lay time tends towards greater fitness. Lower physicality was a separate issue that you merged into something else, because you are clearly confused and struggling to string a coherent thought together.

 
Exactly Mike ... it's just a matter of conjuring a whole lot of nonsense in an attempt to make his absurdity plausible.

Bottom line ... it's less physical, played at snails pace and just what the doctor ordered for battered body recovery.

In other words it's a nice little holiday ... away from where the real rugby's being played.

The players come away there unfit, far off the pace of what they were used to, well rested ... as we all do after a good holiday break.

 CC
Fact is they come back to play in Super 15 - slow and clearly not up to standard.  Being chronically unfit from the word, go they are more likely to be out with injuries - eg Steyn and Pietersen - but also Grant and a list of other players.
Some like Fourie and Du Preez comes back totally unfit and like Du Preez even injured in training because of unfitness.   If Du Preez was not a close friend,  Meyer would have given him the walking ticket - like he did with Fourie.  
But the site duds cannot see what is wrong - because of the reputation of players.  What a joke.