How are the SH players in Europe doing?

[Stillknox]

In France:

Byron Kelleher: Was very good in his debut, with some amazing performance against Paris or Leinster. He's more average since a few games, and Elissalde seems to have the advantage on him, because of his vision and his goalkicking abilities. Still a good recruit, plus now that Elissalde is engaged in the 6 Nations he will be there for leading a younger team.

Smit: Some good appearances and then a big injury. And with a Mario Ledesma absolutely amazing (he's one of the best scorer for Clermont with 4-5 tries! And many of theam scored as a winger, lol) he's not very missed at the time...

Marius Joubert: Very good choice for Clermont. He's perfectly adapted with the offensive play of Clermont.

Willemse: I never found that he was so good, and I'm not surprised, he's average at the moment. By contrast Ngwenya begins to play well and to score some tries.

I don't have the chance to watch the ProD2 but I heard that Matfield was amazing with Toulon last weak against Metro Racing (a big rival for Toulon), catching all in lineouts, and making two decisives passes for the two tries of Dan Luger. (yeah, Luger, remember him ?)
Gregan and Merthens are solid too. Don't know about Oliver, I suppose he's doing well too.

Actually the best SH players in Top14 maybe not the ones you know the most: Brock James (Australia, Clermont) , Gerhard Vosloo (SA, Castres) Shaun Sowerby (SA, Toulouse)

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Agreed, i have watched Willemse 3 or 4 times and he has been shocking to be honest.He has done little in attack and his defending is usually suspect. Add to that hes bad under the high ball and his handling has been poor then you get a player short of confidence. Also in the Glasgow v Biarritz game he was left in the dust by Fa'atau.

To Steve O, Le Roux has been superb for Leinster from what ive seen. Good ball carrying and he is one of the reasons Leinster now paste pretty much every side they face in the scrum.

 

[stormmaster1]

Mauger isn't setting the world on fire at Leicester, but he the attack looks more organised imo since he came, which lifts some pressure from the distinctly average fly half. In that respect i think he's doing well, even if not linebreaking 3-4 times a match.



Haymans i'm not sure of. He got completely outscrummaged by Ayerza at Welford road, but then the whole pack looked lacklustre and like they didn't want to be there.

 

[dundeesmiffy]

I've only seen LM enough to formulate an opinion. I think he's finding it difficult to adapt to the game at times, he's had a few good moments and games overall but he's performing below parr for himself often, which on the grand scale of things isn't preferable but adequate none the less.

I briefly saw Kelleher on Setanta Sports post-pub a few weeks ago, against Dax I think it was but don't quote me on it. He came on at the hour mark or close enough, created a try out of a well timed pass but otherwise had a quiet game.
I caught another game a while go, my french is a little hazy but I'm sure the commentator reenfornced my intitial thoughts when I heard he was Toulhouse-bound, he'll in most instances be second strong to Ellisalde because of his kicking ability and national status. It'd be hard to usurp Elisalde from the starting 9 shirt because of this, plus he is revered so highly for his goal kicking in France. He can cover in at Fly Half from what I hear, but he is pretty much a mainstay at 9.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Mauger isn't setting the world on fire at Leicester, but he the attack looks more organised imo since he came, which lifts some pressure from the distinctly average fly half. In that respect i think he's doing well, even if not linebreaking 3-4 times a match.



Haymans i'm not sure of. He got completely outscrummaged by Ayerza at Welford road, but then the whole pack looked lacklustre and like they didn't want to be there.
[/b]

I have only seen Mauger against Sale for 20 minutes, in which case he created 2 line breaks. Maybe just caught him at the good time.

 

[KZNSharksFan]

Butch James has been a revelation for Bath, he is powerful, he is skilful, he links up very well with Olly Barkley (who has been on fire most of the season, bar the Saracens game where he was a bit under par...), all in all a superb all round player who has settled fantastically into the English Game, such a shame to see him injured at the weekend in the process of scoring his first Premiership Try, as for the others they really haven't had a chance to shine with the "World Cup Hangover"... or not from what I have seen
[/b]

Good old Butch!!! We'll miss him in SA and the Sharks, i hope Michalak is everything people say he is or the Sharks are in Sh**. Cheers everyone, thanks for all the updates on players, try to keep them coming if possible as i have no way of seeing the NH leagues anymore

Mauger isn't setting the world on fire at Leicester, but he the attack looks more organised imo since he came, which lifts some pressure from the distinctly average fly half. In that respect i think he's doing well, even if not linebreaking 3-4 times a match.



Haymans i'm not sure of. He got completely outscrummaged by Ayerza at Welford road, but then the whole pack looked lacklustre and like they didn't want to be there.
[/b]

Yeah but he's never set the world on fire playing for anyone, AB's included. His great asset is his near perfect decision making, superb pass and ability to set up his outside backs. He's not in the same mould as McAlister who is basically a battering ram of an impact player (maybe two battering rams with those huge legs)

 

[stormmaster1]

<div class='quotemain'>
Mauger isn't setting the world on fire at Leicester, but he the attack looks more organised imo since he came, which lifts some pressure from the distinctly average fly half. In that respect i think he's doing well, even if not linebreaking 3-4 times a match.



Haymans i'm not sure of. He got completely outscrummaged by Ayerza at Welford road, but then the whole pack looked lacklustre and like they didn't want to be there.
[/b]

Yeah but he's never set the world on fire playing for anyone, AB's included. His great asset is his near perfect decision making, superb pass and ability to set up his outside backs. He's not in the same mould as McAlister who is basically a battering ram of an impact player (maybe two battering rams with those huge legs) [/b][/quote]



That's why he could be great at Tigers, who have plenty of strong runners. Lets face it Howard never set the world on fire and even for a dominant Tigers side he scored pitifully few tries. Despite this and a lack of pace he was probably the most influential centre in English club rugby.

 

[Prestwick]

<div class='quotemain'>
Butch James has been a revelation for Bath, he is powerful, he is skilful, he links up very well with Olly Barkley (who has been on fire most of the season, bar the Saracens game where he was a bit under par...), all in all a superb all round player who has settled fantastically into the English Game, such a shame to see him injured at the weekend in the process of scoring his first Premiership Try, as for the others they really haven't had a chance to shine with the "World Cup Hangover"... or not from what I have seen
[/b]

Good old Butch!!! We'll miss him in SA and the Sharks, i hope Michalak is everything people say he is or the Sharks are in Sh**. Cheers everyone, thanks for all the updates on players, try to keep them coming if possible as i have no way of seeing the NH leagues anymore.[/b][/quote]

I had a good chat with Butch after the England vs Wales game at Twickenham and he was in good spirits. Looks like he is healing pretty well after his dislocated shoulder against Sarries and on the whole alert and sharp as a bull...almost as if he was expecting some Fijian to crash through the wall from the adjoining Beaumont room and chase him... :huh:

 

[shtove]

Howlett crushed a car before turning up in Munster, then slotted straight in to the HEC and played like a demon. Couple of errors, but overall exciting and inspiring with some good defensive saves. He's already an honorary Munsterman - once he took his first pass without dropping the ball, everyone just referred to him as Dougie, like he'd been there for years.

He's got Tipoki and Mafi in the centres to feed him, and they have gelled in the past few months. Dodgy defence for a couple of matches - a bit scatty - but that's tightened up and they regularly score through the middle.

 

[Charles]

The Nz contingent in the Ospreys has a huge influence on evry game. Marshall looks like is twenty PLUS all the experience, and how old is Filo Tiatia ? He's rampaging all over the place. Holah has been great as well. They just bullied Glawster.


Byron Kelleher has adapted very well to the Toulouse style, but form has been varying.

I've seen some Toulon games, they're pretty shocking, esp compared to the other sides. They're almost steamrolling every team. Seeing the pairing of Gregan-Mehrtens is already pretty special, plus Orene A'i, Dan Luger (!) Anton Oliver, Matfield, etc...Some kind of All-Star team really....
But they got a pasting in Agen with Big Ol' Rups scoring a hat trick !!!

Since all the Clubs buy SH players, I wish Toulouse would buy Nacewa, he's been in superb form in the NPC, he'd do great with Jauzion and Clerc , Heymans...

Can you SH posters give us a bit of update about Fred Michalak plz ?

 

[Steve-o]

Michalak hasn't played a competitive match yet. But according to news from the Shark Tank he is gelling well with the team in training and has settled in Durban nicely.

 

[Prestwick]

Don't expect too much from poor ol' Freddie. Quiet as a dormouse most times really...

 

[Charles]

We'll see...If he settles well in the environment, if he can hit his best form again, watch out.

 

[MunsterMan]

As George Hook said on Saturday the best Midfield in Ireland is Mafi/Tipoki. They are playing really well together. Dougie is an absolute legend as well.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Michalak is pretty crap really, he has never been anything like the same player as he was before the 2003 world cup semi. Before that he was one of the best players in the world. He is exciting most of the time but in general he is very inconsistent.