I am even though I have tried to see this in a positive light, of the opinion that Lambie is being set up here to fail.
Since joining the Bok setup Lambie has been coached to play differently, and also one can see his kicking style has changed, as well as his tackling, another thing of course as mentioned he now stands deep in the pocket.
Now for me it is no use telling one player he can play his natural style and not the rest of his team mates who are not used to the style Lambie normally plays, bar of course one or 2 of the players.
If one looks at the forwards it is easy to see why a plain running rugby style struggles as the ball in phases are always slow as the tight 5 are not hitting a ruck as they should.
The looseforward trio, although playing well and defending well as a unit, are very slow in getting to breakdowns thus most of the ball has already been slowed down or been lost.
In the previous matches, to take Juandré Kruger as an example and as I re-watched the matches again, where one is not all nervous as to who is going to win et cettera, it was interesting to see how little this player was doing, how many tackles he missed (7 in 2 matches) and also how poor his attention to what his job was at the broken play.
By the way, on 3 of the 7 missed tackles it was Lambie who had to make the cover tackle for the tackle missed by Juandré.
Now getting to the backline, who again are nowhere and this is where my biggest concern is and why I have this feeling Lambie is being set up to fail.
Firstly the players in the backline are not honed in to play an attacking running game as has been seen so far, and all one has to do is break up the backline into individuals.
Zane Kirchner, all be it he has been secure on defense and the high ball, is not even an integral part of the backline. He never joins the backline and he never runs running lines to create overlaps, he never hits the line at pace thus leaving the backline a man short whenever they attack.
Wings cannot be blamed here, as it comes not due to the lack of coaching and although JP Pietersen does do this, one hardly sees Francois Hougaard do anything besides defend, who by the way is very poor under the high balls.
Centre play is a huge problem and it matters not how many passes Lambie makes, but if the ball is not passed further that the No 12, no move will be successful, Jean de Villiers just does not pass.
I do not really want to lay blame at the feet of Juan de Jongh here, as even though he is known as a ball hog too. He had his first match and actually played well but never received the ball to be able to pass it to the next player.
Now to scrumhalf, where Ruan Pienaar also seems to be under some form of coaching and under instruction to play a kick-and-chase game or who knows what. Ruan, when he came on as a substitute in the English tour to South Africa series in June was in the situation that his service was snappy, yes he had faster service than Francois Hougaard and his option taking was good.
Suddenly Ruan is slow behind the srums and rucks and kicks 90% of possession away – and a kick one must remember is only as good as the chaser – and in the case of the past two Test matches it became an attacking weapon for our opponents against us.
Lambie is clearly very unsure as to his role and has looked out of place, something we don’t see when he plays for his provincial team, this also does not help towards flow in the backline.
There is also the problem of forwards in the backline and it is probably the biggest problem we have, as our forwards do not try attacking with off-loads and creative play, they all run to steam roller the defense in front of them, where they go to ground and ball is taken off them or slowed down.
I am sure if one looks more closely you would find more issues in our play, so how will one man in our team be able to make us a running rugby attacking team if it is not entreched in the whole team’s mindsets, and not an integral part of their style of play and drummed into them or being the style they play at their provinces?
This is the reason for saying Patrick Lambie is being set up, be it on purpose by the coaching staff or not, and to be very honest one can say the same for a few players in the Bok setup as one can’t see Juan de Jongh weave magic if he never gets the ball for example.
90 @ Sharks_forever:
Kaaaaaaak man!
@ grootblousmile:
Jy moet hierdie een kyk
@ grootblousmile:
Genuine, go to the site and check lol
Ok i deleted a part of the url and its now fine 😆
So your dog is a cross?
No man bro, he’s a FURIOUS!
Hahahaha… bwahahaha
First of all very good article. Lambie has not been set up deliberately to fail, imo. When I say he has been thrown under a bus and set up to fail, I mean it is the GAME PLAN that is the cause. I have also read this on some English blogs yesterday. Saying the samething. This style of game does not suite him and it is a waste to see him playing it. It does not suite Goosen or Elton either and it is a waste of their talents too to play it. None have played well under Meyer with this game plan, none. All three young fhs have come at the wrong time with Meyer none suite his game plan at all. All three should have been born kiwis in New Zealand. All three would absolutely thrive playing the All Blacks game plan.
To be honest Lambie hardly gets any ball to play with. Ruan also takes forever to get the ball out and when he gets it out it either goes to a forward normally Alberts or if it goes to a back it goes to (its my ball Jean) that bashes is up and dies with it, he just about never passes it. Or Ruan kicks kicks the ball away. If Lambie plays his natural style we simiply don’t have the players in the backline right now to really complement that style. Jean never pass, so Juan wont see much ball also as much as I rate Juan he too does not pass. Hougaard should not be playing on the wing it should have been a proper wing. Zane not the best there either mostly kicks all the ball away. Only player would be JPP and he is so far away. For Lambie to really get his backline away they would have to be thinking of this and working on it. Not trying it now after playing a different style. We also have to hope our Forwards have two good halfs otherwise that too will make it very difficult for him. Remember at the Sharks we have Tim and Jordaan who both off-load in the tackle, we have Keegan as well that links well and plays a great off-loading game. Vermeulen is not that type of player. Meyer has to work on this for next June tests. Can’t get it right in ONE game against England. I think we have the wrong players around our fh. Or they have to adapt to a more attacking game when it is on. If Ruan can’t play like he done in the first test in the 2nd half against England then he also has to go. He was quick there and also when he came on so did Lambie. Lambie played fb there but often was at 1st receiver. I still think that 2nd half of the 1st test was the best the Boks have played all year. Sure we beat Oz by a big score but they had for large parts only 14 or 13 men, so can’t take too much out of that test.
Need to try out plenty and work on it in the June tests we are playing three weak teams then, probably Samoa will be a stronger side. We have to bring our backs into it. Jean should not be there simple unless he passes or off-loads in the tackle. We need a new FB for next year. Habs and JPP will be on the wings. Have now problem with Juan he can find gaps if he does not pass, though if the others are all off-loading or passing he will too have no doubt. He is a very good player. Fransie will be at inside centre and he has been playing bash up rugby for Meyer as well. All that has to change for the June tests. He wont play like that at the Sharks and it will be good to see how he and Lambie go there with Joraan at outside centre.
So my verdict it is the gameplan that has set him up to fail. He has not been set up deliberately at all. Like I have said before, even if we had Jantjies, Goosen or Lambie playing in the Ireland or Scotland test it would have made no difference. The game plan is very limited and we need to work on it more next year. Meyer if he cant get rid of his two assistants then he needs to bring in some help in consultants.
89 @ Sharks_forever:
Played golf today…………….. so only saw this now…
Now it took me forever to type as had typed this out and it went up in cyberspace somewhere…
Manne, al hierdie youtube goete gooi my skerm deurmekaar, kan niks sien nie, weet nie wat dit is nie, sien net ‘blanks’.
102 @ bdb:
Gooi meer pramfien in… en as dit nie werk nie, gooi pramfien bo-oor jou PC… en steek hom aan die brand!
Hahaha
And with Lambie having to get his backs away, he is set up to fail there as I think (NOT deliberately at all) just that it might not work very well with the players around him. They should have shifted Juan to inside centre and JPP to outside centre. Would have worked far far better. We are playing players out of position then play Jean on the Wing…..
Mvovo should have been on the other wing with Taute at fullback. It would have worked so much better with those players in those positions as to who we have there. Vermaak to scrummie for this game too. OR Ruan has to get a kick up the backside to get a move on. Or stop kicking all the ball away. Stop giving it to all the forwards and Jean. 
Needs to give Lambie more ball to play with.
😆 Hiyas Pooms, that took some time lol
@ grootblousmile:
😆 😆 😆
105 @ Sharks_forever:
Tell me about it…….. 🙂 Had to type the damn thing twice and I am the slowest typer……
Another thing our forwards had better put in a 80min performance. I last game and we need them to up their game for 80min this time…
Otherwise don’t expect our backs to play well either. They should keep our of the backline as well…………. 
I = ONE
@ Puma:
I think I did mention that in the article, i know it was something Rudi and i had spoken about, we cannot afford to only play 1 half as we did in the previous 2 tests
DIG DEEP BOKS – FROM MEYER.
This from Sports 24
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Heyneke: Dig deep Boks!
2012-11-22 16:52
Heyneke Meyer (AP)
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Cape Town – Despite a gruelling season, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer believes his players have “one big effort” remaining in them this year.
The Boks are coming off arguably the toughest rugby season to date, with a prolonged Super Rugby season, 11 Tests and added Currie Cup duty all playing its part in wearing the country’s top players out.
However, despite having watched a large chunk of his squad sit out training this week, Meyer is confident of his team’s chances against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
“Yes, it has been a very long season,” he told the Rugby365 website. “We are probably the only country where the (national team’s) players were involved in the Currie Cup (domestic competition).
“Most of the guys couldn’t train, especially the loose forwards had lost of bumps and bruises.
“I always knew this last game was going to be a very tough game, but I really want the guys to dig deep. I need one more big effort from them.”
While admitting his players are mentally drained, the coach feels they have what it takes to rise to the occasion at Twickenham.
“I can see mentally, it has been a very long season. However, knowing these guys, they will stand up to the challenge, they want to play for their country and the guys next to them. I know they always lift themselves for England,” said Meyer.
107 @ Puma:
You MUST have the most literature of anybody I know, floating in cyberspace!
Do you hit golf ball like that too… into outer space… or into the rough?
@ grootblousmile:
😆
110 @ Sharks_forever:
That has been one of the biggest issues as well. Once our forwards fall of the pace our backs have struggle as expected. Which ever 40min they have played well our backs have been not too bad. This time we need them to stand up for 80min. Like Meyer says Boks must dig deep. One last 80min for this year that is it then a huge bid deserved rest.
Actually I hate so much losing to England if they beat them by a one or two points this game not matter what style we play I just want us to beat them.
bid = big
112 @ grootblousmile:
My golf kinda the same……………..hahahahahaha.
Not sure why it happens that my posts sometimes just kinda vanish after submitting….
I say Goooooooooooo Bokkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Lets just hope what in the article re LAmbie being told to play his one natural game, is true and they have trained like that, they are proffesional players and although some passes etc wont work out, I am sure the public will then be more understang, I dont see a massive change, you can do that in a matter of a week or 2.
If the players and mentally prepared and understand the role, things will go better.
117 @ Sharks_forever:
Exactly, doubt they can work on it in one week to change the gameplan. Can’t just have your fh play like that he needs the players around him to know what to do as well. They need to do their bit. Only way would have been to work on that style, but one week? Nah, not going get it 100% or close, as long as they are look to be trying something different this time, will be good enough for me being the last test, just go out and win it. Need to work on bringing the backs into it more for the June tests. It is a ideal time as we not playing strong teams except Samoa will pose a challenge.
116 @ Puma:
Let’s call it space junk then!
@ grootblousmile:
hehehehehehehehhe 😆
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