Wales vs South Africa

[TRF_Cymro]

I did wonder if he was, but he looks big enough to be an 8 aswell. I thought he played right across the backrow? Surely a converted flanker is exactly what were crying out for? Someone who can forrage and ruck aswell as carry the ball!

He is a big lad. I do suspect he might move there to learn from Rush at some point during the coming season.

 

[Ozzay]

Its Wales problem at the moment, not enough competion for places and Gatland sticking to players who just ain't performing

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Have to say I don't know what to take from this match: Wales really blitzed us at the start but that has a lot to do with them getting ball and points from silly mistakes- early engagement etc with the cherry being John Smit passing the ball to Hook. The same can be said the other way around from about the 25 min mark and then SA let Wales back into it at the end where they really shouldn't have.

That said, I think both teams can be glad with the performances of some of the up-and-comers; for Wales, Prydie and Warbutton really impressed me and James Hook looked very comfortable at 13 even though he made a mistake or two. Always thought he was too talented a player to bench for Stephen Jones. My Stormers boytjies in Francois Louw and de Jongh repayed the faith showed in them but still Januarie keeps up his reputation for 2 great moments of play giving his supporters something to gloss over the fact that he is waaaaay off form and just so damn slow. Hope WP plays young Conrad Hoffmann ahead of him (though they seem dead set to convert him to a fly-half). Aplon, though he had a decent game shouldn't become a regular IMO; some of the aspects of his play that made him look ordinary against the Bulls in the final showed up but we do have many replacements even though we probably won't see them and lose van den Heever to the North. One has to blame PdV as he has the last say in selections. Some of these guys just don't cut it, even for a 2nd team.

To illustrate:

du Plessis, Liebenberg, Botha, Strauss, Brits > John Smit purely as a hooker but seeing as some of the senior players keep up that Smit is irreplaceable as a captain, guess one has to swallow that one. Ralepelle isn't even 3rd choice at the Bulls behind Botha, Maku and Kuun!! Might change that if he manages to get some gametime but can you seriously put someone with about 10min of rugby during the last 2 years in a national squad?

Dissapointed in the scrums and really worried seeing as I was putting alot of faith in BJ Botha especially after the way we came back in the scrums against Italy last year's end. With the Beast out we will thankfully probably see Guthro Steenkamp back and deservedly so. BJ should be given another chance IMO but we have promising young back-up in Werner Kruger and WP Nel.

Every starting S14 lock and most benchplayers > Hargreaves. I heard that he is close friends with PdV and that Snor has coached him since school days. Go figure.

No gripes at loose forward. Louw and Potgieter had good games and followed on from good S14 form and considering there is Burger, Brussouw, Smith and Deysel waiting in the wings.. sheesh, we are blessed. Van Niekerk had a bad game if you ask me and Kanko actually did some dirty work. No.8 is a spot where I think we can improve; Spies is the encumbant but has shitloads he can improve on. Still stuck on a great potensial no.8 but not there yet IMO. Kankowski and Vermeulen are way different and I would have liked to see both get gametime this gaem with Spies being rested to push for inclusion ahead of van Niekerk. We can always play Juan Smith, Schalk Burger or Danie Rossouw at 8 as well. Headaches.

Januarie's selection for this match was a joke. I could possibly have understood his selection for this match seeing as he does have 'experience' in the Bok jersey and played in Europe at the start of the year but at the cost of the 9's we have back home? Never. This test should have been used to blood Sarel Pretorius. Or Dewald Duvenhage. Failing that Pieaar was in good form at 9 and I was heartbroken for Peter Grant that the line-up didn't read 9 Pienaar, 10 Grant. Pienaar had a satisfactory game at 10, though but imagine if he had either Duvenhage or Pretorius service and added dimension at his inside..

Very glad the Butch James / Jean de Villiers thing didn't pan out because we wouldn't have gotten anything from that whether it would have failed or succeeded. Roberts and Hook are a class pairing to face and I think de Jongh and Fourie did admirably. Wynand Olivier to get a few games alongside Fourie and then we can see who starts. Jean de Villiers in the mix for depth with de Jongh a very capable 13, in fact that's where he impressed before moving a spot inwards to accommodate Fourie at 13 for teh Stormers.

Out back is probably where I had the most gripes with selections; at wing, sure Hougaard, Mapoe and Petersen were injured and Habana rested. Basson and Aplon I have no qualms with even though they stood start behing Gerhard van den Heever. Michael Killian another good winger. The Ndungane brothers are too old for S14 never mind test rugby and solid as they are in defense, they offer precious little extra. That try from Odwa almost had me crying as he didn't have to do anything to score it and it probably saw the end of a possible selection for a more worthy winger who might actually make it to the RWC in 2011. At fullback, Frans was nothing special. He needs to get into the game more but maybe the way he plays at 15 is the what the staff requires off him. Personally I wouldn't have wanted to see Joe Pietersen even though I concede he has potential. Not the potential of Lambie or Riaan Viljoen, though. Zane has been the encumbent with Frans gone and does more than enough but I can't help feeling either Lambie or Viljoen could and probably would do better. That said, I have no gripes with Kirschner; solid enough and the other two are probably less tested.

All-in-all happy with the win but can't help feeling a couple of chances went begging.

 

[Boggle]

apparently Jean De Villiers is set to announce resigning with the Stormers and WP !!!!!

In my opnion, we should have Fourie and Olivier as our first choice centers with De villiers as backup 12 and De Jonge as backup 13, my initial instincts would be
to simply slot De Villiers in with Fourie since they were arguably the best center pairing I had ever seen, but I haven't really seen JDV play this year and lets face
it, Wynand Olivier deserves the chance, he's been a brilliant inside center this year.

 

[User1245]

Manage to find a TV set in the middle of a game reserve so I watched.
All in all I'm happy with what this Bok showed on Saturday especially considering the events leading up to the game.
There was big drama with Steyn and his agent, then Butch was in and out if the team 3 times, then Bekker got injured and Matfield flew in a couple days before the game. To add to that we had 5 debutants in our match 22. And 5 of the players that were already capped had less than 10 cap under their belt. All of this with only a week to prepare and playing away from home... Really well done guys.

I am especially glad that Flouw had a good game, have always liked his style. Such a clever player. His size is often not factored in, he's quite big! Aplon was plucky and had an active role in the game. Potgieter was industrious and played a great linking and supporting role. Basson was very solid when he came on. De Jong had a great game and contained Roberts, and that step leading to his try!
I reckon Daniesauros has nailed the number 4 jersey for the Boks this season. Had a great S14 and has added a new dimension to his play with those offloads out of the tackle.

van der Linde, Kirchner, van Niekerk and Smit definitely had bad games. Chiliboy must excuse himself from the Bok setup, he'll actually get more fans that way. Januarie did enough, but lacks that tactical brain we need at 9.

PdV nearly threw a game away AGAIN with the barrage of subs in the last 10 mins, no surprise Wales scored 2 tries in the last 7 mins. Terrible habit of his. We could of made a real statement if we beat the Welsh by +12 points with a bish-bash team like this. We let them into the game again.

Overall I'm happy. Was an exciting and unpredictable game.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Januarie's selection for this match was a joke. I could possibly have understood his selection for this match seeing as he does have 'experience' in the Bok jersey and played in Europe at the start of the year but at the cost of the 9's we have back home? Never. This test should have been used to blood Sarel Pretorius. Or Dewald Duvenhage. Failing that Pieaar was in good form at 9 and I was heartbroken for Peter Grant that the line-up didn't read 9 Pienaar, 10 Grant. Pienaar had a satisfactory game at 10, though but imagine if he had either Duvenhage or Pretorius service and added dimension at his inside..

He was only in for the tortured look on his faces as he faced up against his old club. As, lets' face it, Wales = The Ospreys with the Kiwis replaced by Blues.

 

[Iron Mike]

JDV and Jaque Fourie the best pairing you have seen? They aren't even this decades best pairing. Nonu-Smith? Darcy-O'Driscoll? Nonu-Umaga? Giteau-Mortlock? JDV isn't even the best 12 in South Africa, Wynand Oliver is, I know JDV isn't in South Africa, but whatever, don't get technical.

Also, the SBW-Umaga pairing was pretty interesting and should be for Counties this year.

At above, I'm not a huge fan of Spies, I admire him as an athlete but I've always said he is too loose, needs to be a forward and get in rucks / mauls, which I may be wrong and someone will bring up a statistic from some website, but I haven't really seen him do either of those things. I'd prefer, with a fully fit South African team, Burger, Smith and Brussow.

 

[nickdnz]

JDV and Jaque Fourie the best pairing you have seen? They aren't even this decades best pairing. Nonu-Smith? Darcy-O'Driscoll? Nonu-Umaga? Giteau-Mortlock? JDV isn't even the best 12 in South Africa, Wynand Oliver is, I know JDV isn't in South Africa, but whatever, don't get technical.

Also, the SBW-Umaga pairing was pretty interesting and should be for Counties this year.

At above, I'm not a huge fan of Spies, I admire him as an athlete but I've always said he is too loose, needs to be a forward and get in rucks / mauls, which I may be wrong and someone will bring up a statistic from some website, but I haven't really seen him do either of those things. I'd prefer, with a fully fit South African team, Burger, Smith and Brussow.

I'd agree with Nonu-Smith as the best, but Nonu played wing when Umaga was in the Canes...

 

[Poezkaz]

JDV and Jaque Fourie the best pairing you have seen? They aren't even this decades best pairing. Nonu-Smith? Darcy-O'Driscoll? Nonu-Umaga? Giteau-Mortlock? JDV isn't even the best 12 in South Africa, Wynand Oliver is, I know JDV isn't in South Africa, but whatever, don't get technical.

Also, the SBW-Umaga pairing was pretty interesting and should be for Counties this year.

At above, I'm not a huge fan of Spies, I admire him as an athlete but I've always said he is too loose, needs to be a forward and get in rucks / mauls, which I may be wrong and someone will bring up a statistic from some website, but I haven't really seen him do either of those things. I'd prefer, with a fully fit South African team, Burger, Smith and Brussow.

Don't always blame Spies, I'm sure its all to do with tactics if the Springbok pack is efficient enough they can allow Spies to play more loose.

 

[Iron Mike]

I'd agree with Nonu-Smith as the best, but Nonu played wing when Umaga was in the Canes...

Sorry, didn't know that. Never seen them play together as I don't watch a whole lot of Hurricanes games. But just thought the two would be pretty lethal together. Was it Flutey-Umaga, Umaga-Smith then? I know Flutey was about 8 years ago, but just wondering how he fitted into the team?

 

[nickdnz]

Flutey mostly played Fullback for the Hurricanes, but moved around quite a bit from fly half, to centre etc.

 

[ranger]

Sorry, didn't know that. Never seen them play together as I don't watch a whole lot of Hurricanes games. But just thought the two would be pretty lethal together. Was it Flutey-Umaga, Umaga-Smith then? I know Flutey was about 8 years ago, but just wondering how he fitted into the team?

To be honest Flutey wasn't anywhere. He was used pretty much exclusively off the bench to cover every backline position including halfback. He decided to focus on first-five when David Holwell left except Jimmy Gopperth got the job ahead of him so he packed up and left. I think he got a few starts at fullback just before he went but i would be surprised if he started more than 10 games for the Hurricanes.