#1 Tah
Chilla Wilson (44)
Did any of you actually see how poor the All Blacks were against Fiji?
Lets not mention Samoa here...... Please......
Did any of you actually see how poor the All Blacks were against Fiji?
Smit made 2 tackles and missed 4 ...................... one season too many for the this guy, I wonder how many of the others can keep going until October
Steyne? Pinnear?Which others?
Which others?
Steyn, playing too deep
FDP -injury is catching up with him
Botha - he is struggling to play without being a penalty magnet
Springboks call for Mostert
ESPNscrum Staff
July 24, 2011
South Africa have called up uncapped former Sharks lock Gerhard Mostert following a succession of injuries to their second rows.
The 26-year-old will join up with the squad in Sydney on Sunday as a replacement for Johann Muller, who has failed to recover from a hamstring strain and will return to South Africa.
The Springboks, who lost their opening Tri-Nations clash to Australia on Saturday, are also without injured locks Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Andries Bekker while Flip van der Merve suffered a rib cartilage injury in the 39-20 defeat to the Wallabies in Sydney.
Mostert was part of the team's pre-tour camp as a precaution before leaving for Paris where he has signed for Stade Francais from the Sharks.
Just calling him a cheap shot merchant is a disservice to his defense. granted a lot of his tackles are of the "Look ma, No hands!" variety but he is a bruising and effective defender.
James's biggest problem is that he's too keen to take on the line himself. It seems like a massive waste though to put a ball-runner between the Bok forwards and their lethal centre pairing.
PdV can choose two uncreative but serviceable 10s Steyn (who merely feeds the man outside him way behind the advantage line) or James (never feeds the guy outside him, always makes the advantage line). Then again he could pick a young creative, urgent and threatening talent who combines the best facets of both players and a strong offensive awareness. Thankfully I don't think he'll make the correct decision.
I don't rate Butch at all. The Bok may well find themselves in trouble with the likes of Wales and Samoa if they start him at 10. As I said earlier I don't think they have the players now for their territorial and kick chase game which they perfected in 2009 and James is definitely not a creative 10 to get them over the line otherwise. Add in the fact that he was a cheap shot merchant and penalty magnet (has this changed?) and he could be a real liability at the RWC. Lambie is by far a better option, but IMO they have to get a better 9 and Pienaar.
Pinnear was awesome in a couple of ML games i watched this year. He's a good bench option for the Boks.
The guy that really has gone off the boil is Kockett. I was never a fan of his antics, but he was an effective halfback and had quickness to boot
Go to betfair and lay it yourself. If there's not market yet I am sure they will put it up if yo ask them. They are quite good with that sort of thing.Also Fiji usually play above themselves in the RWC, remember 2007? They almost beat the Saffies in the quarter final then...
Leads me to think with such a tough pool, what price odds for Saffies to miss the quarter finals? Anyone know of any juicy odds out there?
Which others?
I don't rate Butch at all. The Bok may well find themselves in trouble with the likes of Wales and Samoa if they start him at 10. As I said earlier I don't think they have the players now for their territorial and kick chase game which they perfected in 2009 and James is definitely not a creative 10 to get them over the line otherwise. Add in the fact that he was a cheap shot merchant and penalty magnet (has this changed?) and he could be a real liability at the RWC. Lambie is by far a better option, but IMO they have to get a better 9 and Pienaar.
I find it strange that people have this view of Butch. I suspect it's because most people like or expect to see a Quade Cooper style flyhalf, full of running and that is your definition of creative? Butch has never had quick feet but his best attribute is very quick hands and very good awareness of spaces on the rugby field. It means that played with some decent outside backs he is able to put the ball into the correct places. I'd suggest that no other flyhalf in SA has come close to his vision for years. His tactical kicking has also been good for a long time, and did come on further in the NH. TheNextBigThing, I think your view of him being a ball runner is completely false.
This image of him being just a cheap shot merchant has stuck with him, unfortunately these things are hard to shake. The interesting thing about it is people will call almost all his tackles as no arms tackles when in fact almost all are legal. This demonstrates the point that bad images are very hard to shake. He of course does have the odd illegal tackle which unfortunately keeps the image even more intact.
He of course does have the odd illegal tackle which unfortunately keeps the image even more intact.