I feel for the Bok frontrow

Given they will be lacking grunt behind them especially where Nortje is concerned

Moerat has respectable grunt but he is hardly Eben

So Thomas and Wessels will have their work cut out for them, compounded by the fact that Wessels of late has played most of his rugby at hooker at the Bulls and Grobelaar at 2 is not the biggest hooker in the business

And Thomas is a serial flop against good looseheads. Perhaps Kolbe could swop in on the critical scrums where the blindside is small.

Oh boy here we go again showing your rugby ignorance as ever

Fucking get with the times you fool - it’s been a few seasons now - is this an age thing that you can’t move on from your take 3 years ago

But if you are so insistent on the lies you tell, name a prop he has failed against in the last 3 years and provide us with the evidence you liar

So you admit he was vulnerable a few years back. Well here are the stats against mighty Portugooses. We were hardly more successful than our tiny opponents. But all the scrum turnovers we achieved were late in the game when the Tank had been subbed. Mighty scrummager hahaha. .. I thought you were into ice cream not egg!

Yes when he switched to tighthead he had to adapt just like Nyakane and Coenie had to - it’s not an easy change but he has been dominant at tighthead for the Sharks before he left - that Sharks frontrow of Ox, Bongi and Thomas kicked arse

At Bath he has been simply brilliant as I pointed out to you in an article which you acknowledged, but true to form you resort back to default with your ignorant bullshit regarding his scrummaging

As for the test against Portugal he dominated his opponent as mentioned in his player rating in that game - you are lying again

Did you watch the game against Portugal - clearly you did not

And yet his ‘dominance’ led to no penalties against weak opposition. …facts, not girly emotions.

3 Thomas du Toit

Came out and wanted to show Bloemfontein that South Africa has another world-class tighthead prop. He was solid in the set-piece, winning a scrum penalty.

Game set and match

3. Thomas du Toit – 6
Anchoring a good, if not dominant, scrummaging performance from his side with a 75% win rate in the set piece, the Bathtighthead had some moments where he looked like he might bust through contact for a decent break. Unfortunately for him, the moment never came for him to stretch his legs fully before he was replaced in the 58th minute

3 Thomas du Toit: A good return to the Test arena after a decent spell away for the Bath prop. Locked down the scrum and got himself involved in the battle in the tight. .

‘Without being dominant’ ….against Portugal. He has never been dominant. At best a neutral.

Bullshit that idiot is the only fool who says he was not dominant as the dumb fuck was too stupid to work out that Thomas had won a scrum penalty

But the worst thing about this is that you are so pathetic basing your take on what you saw 3 or 4 years ago - the real mark of a great rugby observer

Thomas du Toit 7: He put in a good show in the scrums, winning a penalty or two for his team, while he made the odd tackle, carry and clean. Was replaced just before the 60-minute mark.

Thomas ‘The Tank’ du Toit — 8/10

The 29-year-old reinvented himself at Bath this past season and he carried that form into this Test appearance. Immovable in the scrum, it was also his work in the loose that had been most impressive, as he does a lot of the hard yards in the close quarters.

Then there is this:

So Moreira, the Tank’s opponent who played the whole game, conceded no penalties. Whereas the Tank conceded one….but I’m not sure if that was his milk toast scrumming or in general play.

Ferreira the Goose tighthead conceded 2 penalties….seems your player rating moron got the wrong prop.

Stick with moz.

Well if you had actually watched the game you would know that Thomas won a penalty in the scrum but let’s not let the actual facts of the game get in the way here

I tell you what you stick to your childish out of date evaluation of Thomas it’s in line with your take on 90% of any SA player

We would hate you to change your negativity towards our players and coach at this late stage

Yes stick with it Moz - why you actually support SA rugby is beyond me - it clearly provides you with zero enjoyment

Thomas du Toit: 7

Stood strong in the scrums, and got his sizeable frame around the pitch on attack and defence at close quarters.

I watched the game and  the stats are far more reliable than your impressions or some moron rugby journalist. His direct opponent wasn’t penalized. Who did he overpower, the other tighthead, the lock, the frigging 8th man?

The Tank is not a great scrummager. He is too tall for tighthead. Only Hayman comes to mind as a successful tall man at tighthead . A shorter powerhouse like Ox would destroy him.

Just another player you rate by the lb….today’s version of Marcel van der Merwe who nobody could ever persuade you about. Until he imploded.

Dave I respect you as a rugby enthusiast, but man do you have difficulty figuring out what is actually happening.

You are lying Thomas won a scrum penalty and that’s fact. It’s also a fact that he had mastered the tighthead position as he demonstrated against Portugal, Bath and the Sharks before that

Moz I’d respect your opinions if they were actually based on the facts instead of outdated impressions

Lean to evolve man - stop making shit up it’s embarrassing

Stop being such a fucking negative SA rugby supporter - what’s the point of supporting our side if you don’t rate the players and the best coach we have ever had

We are number 1 in the rankings and have won back to back WC and all you can do is bitch and moan about our coach and players - it’s nauseating man

If Thomas won a Penalty or not, he could not push back or put that 38 year old Portuguese LH Prop, Francesco Moreira, under pressure.

Thomas scrums better at LH… he is not a specialist TH Prop like Frans or Wilco ….The real question is why oh why has Tassie not got Wilco in the Squad already?? Not very clever!

It’s not me you are accusing of lying Dave…it’s ESPN Rugby stats guru. They say his opponent never conceded a penalty. Good enough for me. What probably happened is the Goose scrum was penalized and one of our painfully dumb commentators gave the credit to Tank…whereas ESPN picked up the ref call.

Thomas is your next Marcel….Wilco is a far better option. The tank should have stayed at loosehead which is less technical and more about power.

Watch the game again Thomas wins a scrum penalty instead of pathetically relying on stats - the same useless stats that told us Mostert never missed a tackle in the 2019 WC final - give me a break

Dumb fucking Mpower is about as rugby astute as my cat - the stupid prick, like you have not watched Thomas at tighthead for the past 3 years

Thomas dominated against Portugal - go fucking watch the game

Your takes on Thomas scrumming is about as accurate as your complete and utter bullshit regarding PSDT botching tries

I watched him against Portugal and he was bog ordinary against a nothing opponent. And he won zero penalties.

Stop lying it carries no credibility at all

At least my ‘lies’ are all verifiable in the stats….your’s are just thumb sucks. 

No I know for a fact that he won a scrum penalty - you are just lying

The stats???? The stats that gave Mostert a clean sheet - give me a break

Minute 21 massive scrum by Boks - Thomas blows the Portuguese loosehead to shreds - penalty to Boks thanks to Thomas

Case closed - so who is lying here Moz

Hey dumbfuck Mpower - go watch that scrum and tell me Thomas never dominated

All preceding scrums bar the first one which was neutral were dominated by the Boks with a go forward but not enough to win a penalty as the ball is quickly moved by the 9

Scrum after the scrum penalty is again dominated by the Boks with Portugal going down - should have been another scrum penalty

Portuguese scrum under so much pressure they sub both props at minute 36

Scrum penalty just before half time

First scrum in second half dominated by Boks

Minute 48 scrum penalty to Boks - reason Portuguese loosehead collapse - 2nd penalty thanks to Thomas

Moz you are just a fucking liar bud - piss poor form

Once again…..the incident at minute 21….no penalty was given against Moreira the loosehead. The tighthead got two penalties. And he got the penalty in that scrum for popping out. Take another look and you will see him popping out and arguing the call. Once again you assumed and you assumed wrong. The abysmally  dumb commentators were so fixated on Thomas they missed the call, just as I predicted.

Fuck off you are a joke and a liar

Piss poor form

And for the record Frans Malherbe is 1.9m hardly short now is he?

Hayman the only tall tighthead to make it my arse

Scrum @ 21 min…only after Jan Hendrik Wessels put to much pressure on Porra TH and he pops, then the scrum looses its anchor and that is when Thomas are able to push LH prop back….rest of the game the Porta LH prop stands firm…Thomas is a better LH Prop and The TH position should go to a Specialist TH Like Frans , Vincent, Wilco and Sadi…they only play TH….this is also why Rassie will mostly start a Frans or Vincent at 3 for the Big games….so yet again you carrying on like a Nutjob , blathering insults and Profanity s, is not a Argument and it also doesn’t make Thomas stronger at scrum Time.

Shame Dave finally realizes the ESPN stats are right, the Argentinian loosehead was not penalized, the tighthead was. And so having nowhere to go he does a CleverMike and pretends it’s not happening. Calling those who explained  what happened  …liars.

If I’m a liar,  you are a short fat man who is obsessed with size…with a hilariously foul mouth. Hold on….that makes me a liar, haha!

You started the insults Dave , turnaround is fair play.

Moffie you are both a fucking idiot and a liar

No point debating with a fucking ignorant liar

Thomas won 2 scrum penalties you idiot go watch the game again

Fuck me the ref says as much and you are stupid enough to rely on stats

Fuck off did I start any insults I called you a liar because you are proven right on this thread

Mpower shut the fuck up you know nothing about rugby you idiot

Proven because you say so….the ref says nothing of the sort, nor do the match stats.  Your tough man tirades are really absurd.  

As long as the Boks have a decent platform then I'm okay with that right five. Not like Australia is going to dominate them and we have decent protection on the bench. Rassie is not afraid to pull the okea off after 10 min. He did to Dweeb and he did it to Bongi too. 

The good thing is that props is the one position you can swap back in given the importance of the other player is subbed off. 

I'm more concerned around lock. This is a make or break for Moerat for me and a chance for Nortje to live up to the praise from victor Matfield. 

I'm happy with the backline. 

I almost feel SA was too dominant they got decent scrum go forward ball but often they were going so fast that the 8 or 9 couldn't get a clean and steady base to get the ball away. 

SA must win, there is a a big chance that 70% of these guys will make the next world cup and our next pack 

"Moffie you are both a fucking idiot and a liar

No point debating with a fucking ignorant liar"

Indeed. I've often wondered why yo u expend the energy. Just treat Moffie as light comic relief. That's what I do.

Sure that’s why you spied on my daughters’ face book accounts, because you aren’t obsessed.

Ah ok so at minute 48 when the ref says advantage - number 1 collapse and has her hand up for a Bok scrum penalty - she did not really say that????

And at minute 21 after awarding the Boks a scrum penalty she does not say 3 was going straight through first??? Literally walking the loosehead backwards at a rate

The commentators never said ‘ special from Thomas the tank, he’s had a great season at Bath and now carries on in the same vein. Victor on the replay did not say ‘great work here from Thomas du Toit, you normally see the loosehead getting the upper hand but here he just comes straight through the middle’

Lies, lies and more lies

Gives us the next lie please

Minute 4.07. The first scrum is solid by the Geese.

Minute 8.23 ‘another steady set by Portugal….Dud Thomas has no effect at all.

Minute 20.44…..ref says number 3 comes forward first….that’s obvious. But she doesn’t award the penalty until the Goose loosehead pops out and he is the player who ESPN debits with the penalty.  And Thomas is simply the beneficiary of a Bok scrum which is overwhelming the Goose scrum. The only Portuguese prop that committed an offense was the tighthead, by coming up.

Minute 25.30….right under the Goose posts, the time to really turn the screws. But Portugal hold their own and clear.

Minute 32.09 …another rock solid Goose scrum

Minute 36.0 …Bok feed, but the Geese have subbed their two starting props, the loosehead looks like a scrumhalf….Boks get a scrum penalty, but the Geese aren’t happy Thomas looked to be down first. The penalty was given on the other side.

Minute 42…Both sides go down Portugal retain possession.

At minute 44, 15 metres from the Bok line the Goose pack  holds the Bok scrum very well. They did win 8 of their 11 scrums.

At minute 47 number one had been subbed, so it wasn’t #1down…it was 18 de Cunha,  the Portuguese 22 year old sub.

Minute 55 another rock solid scrum from Portugal.

So what do we have here….Moreira the starter is 5’11” and 115 kgs and within days of his 39th birthday. His sub da Cunha is 23 years old and apparently played flank for France U20.

Clearly we would expect a dominant scrummager in a Bok pack to blow these guys away.

Tank  was on for 10 scrums, although I could have missed one skipping through. Of the 10 scrums, Portugal were unpenalized and retained their own ball in 7. In one case the Goose loosehead was penalized for popping up. 

At minute 36 they were penalized having subbed their starters…but the penalty was on the other side. And it looked suspiciously like Thomas down on the other side.

At minute 47 the loosehead replacement went down.

Was this dominant scrumming….with the Geese under consistent pressure. Nope this very unimpressive loosehead duo were generally fine and conceded one penalty (the sub) on the loosehead, two penalties on the tighthead side,

Hardly impressive.

Absolute bullshit - the Bok scrum completely dominated, one penalty was awarded and attributed to Thomas as called by the ref, the second again attributed to Thomas given the ref’s call was that the loosehead collapsed - advantage was given and from it Sacha set up Mapimpi for his try

Both commentators were gushing over Thomas and there were a good few other scrums where we could have been awarded penalties through dominance

Thomas was dominant along with our scrum, not bad for a scratch Bok side - these are the facts and they paint a completely different picture to your utter and ignorant bullshit as always

One dominant scrum, by the whole pack it didn’t wheel, attributed to the the Goose tighthead….two techical penalties, one to the tighthead, one to the young, small,  converted flank. So one solely attributed to Thomas

In the other scrums Thomas could do nothing against two guys who wouldn’t make a Bok club team.

Bullshit two scrum advantages attributed to Thomas stop lying and for the rest the Bok scrum dominated and could easily have resulted in further penalties

These are the facts backed up by the commentators one of which was the legend that is Matfield so stop speaking shit

Unless of course you know better than Victor

Moz your attempt to devalue Thomas is both fucking childish, completely out of touch and unfortunately for you just another sad reflection of your pathetic negativity towards SA player

Go support another side I’m sure you would be far happier not having to follow our awesome coach which you ignorantly despise and 80% of our players

Rubbish….the commentators don’t make the calls the ref does and the refs calls are collected and reported in the ESPN stats. One call was attributed to the Tank against the loosehead replacement.

There was no penalty called against Francisco Fernandes Moreira his starting opponent. 

But to give you some perspective…,,here are his stats against  Wales in the WC. None via Thomas, 3 via the Wallie prop.

vs  Georgia: 3 more penalties and a yellow card, for scrumming?

Nothing against Oz which tells you how useless the Aussie scrum is

Against Fiji there it is again

The proof is in the numbers, a raft of penalties in the WC for Moreira, but nothing against Thomas. Once again commentator hype has misled you. Thomas was up against two very weak props with the whole Bok scrum behind him. And the results were underwhelming.

He’s a big bloke but nobody has turned him into a devastating scrummager yet,

You are speaking out your arse once again. The scrum penalty at minute 21 was against the loosehead as Thomas fucked him up. The ref says that 3 was scrumming straight

The second one at minute 48 was against the replacement loosehead who collapsed but we took the advantage and Mapimpi scored

Your view is a load of shit as always as are those useless stats - there is nothing accurate about ESPN stats - this is yet another example of this

But fuck it think what you like I don’t give a shit I’m sick of trying to convince a bullshitter otherwise - fuck me if i cant rely on the evidence of what the ref says and awards then there is absolutely no fucking point

The lengths you go to are fucking sad but that’s you

Anything the ref said would have been incorporated in the stats. No doubt 3 was scrumming straight….which the ref affirmed because the Goose  tighthead was complaining about the scrum. Complaining because he popped out and was penalized as is always the case when a front ranker  pops out the scrum. When last did you see a player popped who wasn’t penalized.

You talk about scrumming dominance…this is scrumming dominance, the Boks against England:

So are you saying the ref never said what I relayed to you and that therefore the stats are right huh?

Damn right the Portuguese loosehead was complaining as he had just had his arse handed to him on a plate by Thomas

Two penalties by Thomas alone is dominance and that’s a fact

You are either blind or deaf of that I am certain

Fuck me just go listen to what the ref says at minute 21 and 48 for fuck sake - Moz I know you are not stupid but fuck me you are coming across as fucking dumb

Two fucking things happen - at 21 it’s a big scrum win to the Boks attributed to Thomas and praised by Matfield

At 48 its penalty advantage to SA thanks to the loosehead collapsing

If you don’t get these two then fucking give up watching the game as there is no hope for you

You simply can’t challenge the call of the ref unless you are stuoid they are there on record. The game is available to watch so either you are lying or you have a hearing issue

Let’s assume you are right….that’s two scrums out of 10. In 8 scrums the 39 year old and the 23 year old retreaded open side flank were solid. That would fill me with no confidence.’

You don’t listen Moz there were a good few other scrums where the Boks pushed the Portuguese scrum back without them disintegrating or breaking their binds which of course does not lead to a penalty

But the point is, the Bok scrum was dominating

More to the point, judging by your take one would swear Thomas was poor in the scrums - quite the opposite but then again it would be impossible for you to admit that.

Instead you will bang on about how poor he is, referencing games he was not even involved in and telling us the ref said nothing of a sort and that Matfield the legend has no clue what he is talking about praising Thomas’s not Wessels the looseheads scrumming

No doubt today you will be hoping Thomss gets his arse kicked so you can tell me I told you so

I didn’t say he was poor….I said the opposition was poor….a 39 year old and a flanker. And in that light his effectiveness was underwhelming.