No, no he wasn't. There is a case to be made for Mogg staying at fullback, but don't overegg the pudding mate. You can't be 'very good' if you never take the ball into contact.
This argument shits me. It isn't the fucking under 7s. 'Get their spirits up'??? Really?? Are they that fragile that we need to ensure we 'get their spirits up' before we drop them??
And the Springboks are hardly easybeats, you make it sound like we are playing Namibia.
This is test rugby. You pick your best 15 players, and when they are no longer your best 15 players you fucking change it. It is now clear to me that JOC (James O'Connor) or Folau would offer quite a bit more than Mogg. So he has to go, at least to the bench.
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I see your point, and after the saffer game if it's still the same i'd agree with you.
However, for the first time since Latham we have an enormous boot at the back, something that will assist us greatly in maintaining good field position. Izzy's strength is his running and high ball work, so keep him in the 11 jersey and tell him to go looking for work. Mogg hasn't spilled a high ball yet at the back, the only thing he's not done well is kick and defend strongly. He's been average at both, but certainly not terrible. He absolutely played better than Genia or Moore, both of whom are above him on the ranking scale on teh front page.
Yes this is test rugby, but it still boils down to having a team. NZ play almost the same team week in week out, which is why they are so dominant. They don't just shitcan somebody after a bad test, how the hell do you build continuity if you do that?
Building a team is the same at test level as it is in club rugby. You need everyone to know each other's games intimately, feel confident and respected by all and sundry in the set up, and you need to work on the teams game as a TEAM.
Play the saem team this week, and if they're still not gelling, THEN look at doing a bit of tinkering. Everyone said before the first NZ game that this was the best team we've selected in 5 years. So what now, suddenyl after 2 games against the best national team in history, it's suddenly made up of poor selections and we got it wrong?
No, its' the best team. So stick with it, and let them work on what they're doing wrong. They've got 2 weeks before the play the Boks, our bitches, a team that they don't have a mental complex about playing. So let them play the boks and see what they can do.
