In general I was not impressed with the Springbok performance in Mordor (Witbank) on Saturday and felt it necessary to bring out my own Rating of the individual Bokke.
15. Zane Kirchner – 7 He had his best Test yet and seem to be starting to get the needed Test confidence going.
14. Gio Aplon – 5 Nothing special from this diminutive wing.
13. Jean de Villiers – 4 I think the Butch James and Jean de Villiers experiment in midfield failed dramatically.
12. Butch James – 3 Butch can now safely be put to pasture as far as his Springboks aspirations are concerned, he earned a Yellow Card and the experiment between him and Jean de Villiers failed spectacularly, midfield continuity was probably the Bokke’s biggest problem on Saturday. He did not even impress at flyhalf either.
11. Bryan Habana – 5 Nothing special from the man we expect so much of, but he did score a try.
10. Mornê Steyn 7 He was one of the better Bokke on the park, scored a good try and his tactical and line kicking was on song.
9. Ricky Januarie – 4 After a good showing in the 2 previous Tests he was mediocre, knocked on and never cleaned the scrums and rucks effectively.
8. Pierre Spies – 4 Not his best performance by a long shot, once again his hands let him down behind one scrum and he never seemed to cross the advantage line as effective as he should have.
7. Dewald Potgieter – 7 I said to my son during the game that I was impressed with Dewald’s number of tackles, he was also one of the better Bokke on the park.
6. FrancoisLouw – 7 Francois keeps impressing me, he scored a fine try and was his busy self. Also one of the better Bokke on the day.
5. Victor Matfield – 6 Never shone but was his steady self and stole 3 lineout balls, I think. Handled the captaincy OK, but his failure to motivate the Bokke to better heights leaves doubt about his captaincy for the Bokke.
4. Bakkies Botha – 6 Bakkies was hard and industrious and for once his dicipline was fine on the day. He was sorely missed when Hargreaves replaced him.
3. Jannie du Plessis – 6 Not bad from Jannie, his side of the scrum held well and he never faltered in the dicipline department either. This game might earn him a Tri-Nations start over BJ Botha.
2. Chiliboy Ralepelle – 6 He did his Country proud, was busy in the loose and his lineout throwing was good.
1. Gurthro Steenkamp – 8 Old Shrek had the best game of all the Springboks, he demolished Castrogiovanni and his replacement when Castro went off due to an injury he probably sustained from being scrummed into the ground by Gurthro. Gurthro should be the only Bok who can be pleased with his performance on the day!
16. Bandise Maku – Not on long enough to rate.
17. CJ van der Linde – 5 He was solid and did what was needed, no more.
18. Alistair Hargreaves – 4 One could see the dip in performance when Bakkies was replaced by Alistair. He should not be near Bok colours at this stage of his career.
19. Ryan Kankowski – 5 I’m hesitant to rate Ryan because he came on at a very disjointed stage of the game, also only did what was necessary, no more.
20. Ruan Pienaar – 5 There seemed to be more zip in the passes to the backline when he came on but once again, he was only played when the number of replacements had already caused the match to become a sloppy and disjointed mess.
21. Juan de Jongh – Not on long enough to make a real impact.
22. Bjorn Basson – Not on long enough to make a real impact.
Kirchner you are too soft on him, he did what was required is all.
Spies, you are too hard on him, he had his first average game for a long time, but he was not below average.
too much was made of Butch’s yellow card, the ref penalised Butch and not the tackle, def a penalty but the opposing centre ducked under the tackle, thats why he got it around the neck.
I thought Jean played well, he made himself useful 6 at least.
Otherwise your assessment is fair…Rickly clearly showed he ahs been playing beyond himself on Saturdays performance, they must drop him now.
Nice to see Castrogiovani go backwards for a change, but he will be back, I think he was carrying an injury myself.
Off the rugby topic for a bit. See Portugal won 7 zip. That is a monster score in football. Then they never played a top team.
Pleased they won like that cause the game against Brazil on Friday will be top draw. Who ever wins that game will top the pool.
Think I will support Portugal on Friday. Seeing we have so many Portugeuse South Africans living here. So have to find a red top…hehehe.
Tomorrow will still support Bafana even though that will be our last game. Hope they go out on a high with a win.
Now onto the rugby never watched the game on Saturday but pleased to see gbs, you say he played well. So will take your word. He has had such a awesome season this year. So pleased he is still playing great rugby. Now really hope we can see Ruan start at scrummie this week. Think we will need him at scrummie for the Tri-Nations. This is the perfect time to test him out there. We know what we have in Ricky.
I cannot rate the Bokke midfield higher, this was the ONE PLACE where the Springboks were most disjointed.
About Kirchner, I expect the Sharks and Stormers not to rate his game as good, because nothing he ever does in Sharks and Stormers eyes are above average… touting too much for Frans Steyn from Sharks side and just not willing to give a Bull credit from Stormers side.
2@ Puma:
I agree, it’s time for Ruan to play a full game at scrummie.
@ Puma:Was talking about Steenkamp there in the first paragraph. 🙄 Left his name out there. 😀
Here I agre with 4man. Kirchner is / was only above average. He is to 15’s what Ricky is to 9’s.
@ grootblousmile:thats very unfair…you know that I am not biased when it comes to the National side. Kirchner is jittery when he plays in the Green and Gold, thats why I dont like him there. I actually dont like Steyn at fullback, but we havent got much else. He is a better centre.
Earlier on I put Steggmann in my Bok side and he hasnt even had a run for them….I would hardly call that biased, if I was, I would have said Deysel, who doesnt deserve to be there this year.
@ grootblousmile:3 gbs, Zane is a really good player. For now not a great. He might get there I think cause he will be playing at FB until the world cup. Don’t think PdV will select Frans Steyn again. I feel it is a mistake and NOT cause I am a Shark supporter just think he brings plenty to the game. We need him but he wont get selected. So for now we will have Zane and really not upset by that at all. He is a good not a great player yet, but will become far, far better playing there all the time. So have no problems with Zane at FB. Just would have prefered to have Steyn there. Not to be so if it is Zane fine with me. We will miss Steyn’s massive boot. Please don’t tell me Morne can kick that distance too. Cause he can’t.
7@ 4man:
I again, feel that Deysel is on of the unlucky ones to miss out on Bokke selection… he won’t let a Bokke side down.
Stegmann is the type of player where you have to believe in a loosie combination with a Fetcher-type who gets to the breakdown fast to pilfer AND to slow opposition ball down. I simply do not believe Snorrie believes in this type of opensider too much…. he was even hesitant to play Brussow last year until forced to.
@ grootblousmile:9 Agree about Deysel. He will never ever let a team down. Very unlucky not to get a chance. Also Stegmann should have got a chance.
If PdV does not believe in a true fetcher then he should also have given Deysel a chance cause he is a great ball carrier but can fetch too. Though Flo is playing superb. We have so much talent there.(Good for SA) Tough for some to be left out.
8@ Puma:
Do you think Frans Steyn has regressed in his play in the Northern Hemisphere?
I would come back to SA if I was him and specialise at Fullback.
@ grootblousmile: I dont know about Deysel, he often gets knocked back at S14 level…when the Sharks battled in the first half of the S14, we know it was because of the flyhalf shennanigans, but Deysel and Kankowski did not step up to the plate, tries were still scored and if they played like they can then those tries ouldnt have been scored…he is good, but he doesnt deserve it this year. Kankowski is also skating on thin ice…with Louw in the mix one of these new guys is going to back Spies at 8 soon if Kanko doesnt wake up.
I actually selected Steggmann ahead of Louw, I was thinking of the backrow combo…not first string, but Slangkos, Spies and Steggmann is as good as anything out there…if Schalk and Juan arent available for whatever reason. Juan must also be heading toward his sell by date. 1 more concussion then they will ban him from playing again
@ grootblousmile: this laatie is impressionable and he is listening to his manager too much….its about the bucks now, the manager gets more commission on overseas pay packets. I am absolutely serious when I say this.
@ grootblousmile:11 gbs, Yes I do. He has got slow but still can kick damn well. He should never have signed for 3 years. He needs SH rugby to keep up his standards. I do feel though once he plays with the Boks he will get it back. One game is too little.
Don’t think their is a franchise in this country that has enough money now to buy him out of his contract. He is worth a fortune in France.
13@ 4man:
Here’s what I think about Fransie Steyn.
As far as raw talent is concerned, I think he is far above his peers but I also think he has allowed himself not to settle in one position and therefore he has becone goodish in all the different positions he has played but not exceptional in one specific one.
In contrast players with less natural raw talent, like Zane Kirchner & Joe Pietersen have stuck to FULLBACK and made the most of the talent they do possess…. becoming better than Fransie in their specialist position.
So, Fransie must decide…. am I an inside centre, then specialise there… or more preferably… Am I a fullback, and specialise there.
Hierdie rondfokgedagte moet end kry… and he will have to get his head and prima donna ideas sorted out as well!
Sorry visitors back from the their day out. Will catch up sometime this week.
Cheers all.
For the record, this Stormers’ supporter agrees with your rating of Kuite’s game. He was solid, created a try for Habs and scired one himself. So, no problem – its a rating of the player in that specific game and not whether one rates him in general or on the Wales test where he was less than confident under the high ball. So, no complaints from me – might have been tempted to award him an 8 myself..
See what Tiger Woods is on the verge to achieve:
Rose, who fell out of favour and was dropped from the Lions squad by coach Dick Muir earlier this year in the Vodacom Super 14, is in the Cheetahs sights as they start moving to replace Lionel Mapoe, who looks almost certain to win his fight to join the Sharks.
Kirchner was shocking in the opening minutes but came back into the test impressively.
Guthro, Chili, Pottas and Louw, Morne and Kirchner the only Boks worth mentioning.
Our problems in the backline started at 8 and 9, both had shocking games and as with the Australian test the Boks simply could not build any momentum with ball in hand.
It is time to say goodbye to Ricky.
Thanks for al the great games in the past like the win against NZ in NZ.
He is simply on the downhill path and no longer has a future as an international scrummie.
Keeping him on, which I suspect PDV will do, is going to cost us.
17@ fender:
Thanks Kitaartjie, that was a totally unbiased and balanced observation regarding “Kuite”. PS! Why do you call him “Kuite”?
19@ Morné:
Must say cannot remembr that Kirchner was shocking in the 1st few minutes and to be honest I do not have the time today to re-watch the first few minutes to see if your assesment is correct, but like you said the rest of his game was good, specially that little grubber for Habana’s try.
Also agree with you regarding the guys you mentioned who were worth mentioning… my scores for the players concurs with those.
20@ tight head:
Ricky had a n off-day for sure but had 2 better Test days in the 2 previous Tests, except his kicking has been bad in all 3 Tests.
What did you make of Gurthro’s scrumming against Castrogiovanni and also of Jannie’s scrumming and the allegations that he scrummed illegally?
I think Gurthro has sorted most of his bad technique issues out from last year and I think Jannie did well under the circumstances on Saturday.
#21 GBS, I call him “Kuite” because he ain’t got any!
22@ fender:
Oh…. hehehehe
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