This is a MUST READ. The sometimes controvercial Media24 Sports writer has all WP supporters up in arms about an Article he has written comparing WP as “The Bafana Bafana of Rugby”… here is an extract from his Article, as taken from Sport24.

The Article starts off with a long-winded story about Eric Rush… but let’s cut to the chase of the Article, here it is:

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Something that is not one man’s opinion, though, are the SA Rugby Player Award nominations that were released yesterday. The SA rugby media share their nominations in the various categories, so it was a shock to see some of the names presented in some of the categories.

For the full list of nominees, CLICK HERE (link removed)…

Sure, one needs to accept the view of the majority, but some of those are beyond belief. For example: Team of the year – Western Province. What? How on earth did that happen?

I can understand the nomination of the Springboks, the Bok sevens side, the Bulls and Griquas. All have won something this year and actually have a trophy cabinet to prove it. But Western Province? Is finishing second in Currie Cup now the new first? Are WP the Bafana Bafana of rugby? Why not the Sharks if you wanted to use the Currie Cup as yardstick?

We have enough greatness in our game and enough teams who perform on a regular basis. There is no need to reward mediocrity.

Similar with the nominations for Currie Cup player of the year. We have three players from WP along with Sarel Pretorius and Stefan Terblanche. Really?

Juan de Jongh has certainly improved a lot and has become a very prominent player, Joe Pietersen played some good rugby, and Luke Watson scored a lot of tries from the back of the Province maul, but how on earth did they get nominated ahead of some very deserving players from the Sharks, Bulls, Lions and Cheetahs?

It is great to see Province finally making it into the top four as they have the potential and pedigree to be there all the time. But three of the top five Currie Cup players from one team? Again, are we rewarding second best? Has WP become the Bafana Bafana of rugby?

Some of the other categories will be closely fought. Fourie du Preez should be player of the year, but what a season for both Morné Steyn and Heinrich Brüssow! They certainly deserve a lot of credit for their first full seasons in Test rugby.

One could have easily nominated five more Boks, though. Jaque Fourie will be in the race for try of the year for his late try against the Lions in Pretoria. His name deserves to be in the player of the year category as well, but it’s not.

I thought Bismarck du Plessis had the best season of his life, but he was not nominated at all. Du Plessis was colossal in the Lions series and established himself as the best hooker in the world during the Tri Nations. He made numerous crucial turnovers during the season, was spot-on with his lineouts, and has often been a tower of strength in the Bok pack. He deserves to be there.

But then, that is only one man’s opinion!

Read JJ in Rapport every Sunday

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Reactions to this Article has been rather scathing… what do you, the RUGBY-TALK bloggers say about this Article of JJ Harmse, the objective Sportswriter… hahahaha

294 Responses to JJ Harmse endears himself with Bafana… sorry WP

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