Werner Harding
Senior Member
All you Bull's supporters thank the PO.S ref, he played for the bulls!
Seriously?
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Official 2015 Super Rugby Thread
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Seriously?
APoc184
Honorary Master
Best news ever!
Hendrik Cronje from Volksblad is reporting that the Cheetahs will make an announcement very soon regarding Franco Smith accepting the job as Currie Cup coach this year as well as SuperRugby coach from next year.
I almost can't believe that we will actually be getting rid Naka. Now Harold Verster must also pack his bags and the Cheetahs will be better off than ever.
Hendrik Cronje from Volksblad is reporting that the Cheetahs will make an announcement very soon regarding Franco Smith accepting the job as Currie Cup coach this year as well as SuperRugby coach from next year.
I almost can't believe that we will actually be getting rid Naka. Now Harold Verster must also pack his bags and the Cheetahs will be better off than ever.
APoc184
Honorary Master
Pierre Spies, Francois Hougaard, Deon Stegmann, Akona Ndungane and JJ Engelbrecht all leaving for Japan.
Apart from Hougaard I don't see that as a bad thing for the Bulls at all.
Apart from Hougaard I don't see that as a bad thing for the Bulls at all.
Has Naka been that bad? Just curious. I don't follow him or his antics, but you paint the other guy as a breath of fresh air for the Cheetahs?
I assume that they see out their obligations in the current competition. Are they still available and or eligible for the national side?
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Is Smith a good coach, though?
Fresh blood might not be a bad thing.
Lots of games for the Bulls between those 5.
APoc184
Honorary Master
Smith won the Currie Cup as backline coach with Rassie.
He also won 3 Italian titles as Treviso coach.
What he has done at Shimlas in only one season is nothing short of a miracle.
Not a bad coach at all. And I hear he is a very good manager of players. I think that is the one thing Naka lacks the most. Can't motivate the players.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Good stuff. No reason not to give him a shot then. Drotske's had his shot. Wonder what he'll do after, and if Os and co. will follow suite...
APoc184
Honorary Master
If my sources are correct then Naka is heading to Japan.
And Smith will be allowed to pick his own team. Whether Os will be part of that is then up to him.
Fulcrum29
Honorary Master
Coaches... WP/Stormers are still to pick their coach and I think the quality (or any other terms the salary cap) will depend on their Super Rugby outcome. John Dobson will be taking WP into the Currie Cup.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Agent_Smith
Honorary Master
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Weekend pics
Crusaders
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Stormers (50/50 call here...)
Crusaders
Rebels
Hurricanes
Waratahs
Highlanders
Stormers (50/50 call here...)
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Jacques Potgieter heading to the Sharks next year.
http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Super15/Potgieter-coming-home-to-Sharks-20150506
http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Super15/Potgieter-coming-home-to-Sharks-20150506
Werner Harding
Senior Member
Good Article:
By Brenden Nel
Rugby may be in all our blood, but what is it that turns us nasty?
Sure, we all have varying opinions about the abilities of players, but why is it that we cannot accept that players have talents that are suited to certain situations, and a one-size-fits-all approach is both counter-productive and wrong for the sport?
Over the past few years I’ve watched with interest how the public views various players. Zane Kirchner – rock solid, boring perhaps, but never puts a foot wrong – was denigrated in a Springbok jersey while Willie le Roux – exciting and unpredictable, but makes a plethora of mistakes – always seems to have his faults overlooked.
It’s not a comparison between the two players. Both suit different situations. One is perhaps more gifted on attack but the other was unfairly savaged on social media because of his hairstyle, and simply because people don’t like him.
Over the years I’ve become accustomed to the barroom banter that surrounds rugby games, but it never fails to surprise me how people will write one player off simply because they don’t like him, or because he plays for an opposition team.
This past weekend I watched as a family member berated referee Craig Joubert, telling me he is the “worst ref ever to take the field”.
I’ve watched a lot of games and Craig may make decisions we don’t agree with at times, but the worst? Pull the other one!
The same goes for Pierre Spies.
Heyneke Meyer was asked this week what his impressions were of Spies, a senior Bok with more than 50 caps, who has found form after 2 years of crippling injuries. A true diplomat, Meyer commended Spies and then added: “But I think he can play better.”
To me, those were code words; the coach was implying that Spies had not done enough. But to those who commented at the bottom of the stories, or on social media, Meyer had once again told his beloved Spies how much he loves him.
The spewing of hatred towards Pierre Spies was not only unwarranted but bizarre. Everyone in their right mind knows Duane Vermeulen is firmly entrenched in the number 8 jersey but why shouldn’t the Bok coach enjoy some options?
Spies is a superb player, with skills few South Africans have. Any player who comes back to top level rugby after two crippling injuries should be applauded. To have him back and in form again – and yes, his tap-and-go try was the difference between the Vodacom Bulls winning and losing last weekend – is a great thing for South African rugby.
Statistically Spies outshone Duane Vermeulen in the Newlands clash, and while Vermeulen’s steal and the chargedown were critical in the game, the stats show that Spies isn’t quite the show pony people think he is.
According to the Vodacom Rugby App he is fourth in lineouts stolen this season, has won seven turnovers (10th in competition), his three tries this season put him sixth on the try-scoring stakes. Perhaps he isn’t as explosive as we remember, but he’s still a damn good player.
Meyer will ultimately choose who he sees as the best mix for the World Cup. Spies is a big game player. He is perhaps not as physical as Vermeulen, or the workhorse that Warren Whiteley is, but that doesn’t make him a bad player at all.
There are countless more examples that I can name, but the question has to be asked: why can’t South Africans accept that one more talented player in the mix is a good thing? Why should they spew hatred and fire over someone playing to their potential?
But then I realise that some people are never satisfied. And that says more about them than it does about the players they deride.
By Brenden Nel
Rugby may be in all our blood, but what is it that turns us nasty?
Sure, we all have varying opinions about the abilities of players, but why is it that we cannot accept that players have talents that are suited to certain situations, and a one-size-fits-all approach is both counter-productive and wrong for the sport?
Over the past few years I’ve watched with interest how the public views various players. Zane Kirchner – rock solid, boring perhaps, but never puts a foot wrong – was denigrated in a Springbok jersey while Willie le Roux – exciting and unpredictable, but makes a plethora of mistakes – always seems to have his faults overlooked.
It’s not a comparison between the two players. Both suit different situations. One is perhaps more gifted on attack but the other was unfairly savaged on social media because of his hairstyle, and simply because people don’t like him.
Over the years I’ve become accustomed to the barroom banter that surrounds rugby games, but it never fails to surprise me how people will write one player off simply because they don’t like him, or because he plays for an opposition team.
This past weekend I watched as a family member berated referee Craig Joubert, telling me he is the “worst ref ever to take the field”.
I’ve watched a lot of games and Craig may make decisions we don’t agree with at times, but the worst? Pull the other one!
The same goes for Pierre Spies.
Heyneke Meyer was asked this week what his impressions were of Spies, a senior Bok with more than 50 caps, who has found form after 2 years of crippling injuries. A true diplomat, Meyer commended Spies and then added: “But I think he can play better.”
To me, those were code words; the coach was implying that Spies had not done enough. But to those who commented at the bottom of the stories, or on social media, Meyer had once again told his beloved Spies how much he loves him.
The spewing of hatred towards Pierre Spies was not only unwarranted but bizarre. Everyone in their right mind knows Duane Vermeulen is firmly entrenched in the number 8 jersey but why shouldn’t the Bok coach enjoy some options?
Spies is a superb player, with skills few South Africans have. Any player who comes back to top level rugby after two crippling injuries should be applauded. To have him back and in form again – and yes, his tap-and-go try was the difference between the Vodacom Bulls winning and losing last weekend – is a great thing for South African rugby.
Statistically Spies outshone Duane Vermeulen in the Newlands clash, and while Vermeulen’s steal and the chargedown were critical in the game, the stats show that Spies isn’t quite the show pony people think he is.
According to the Vodacom Rugby App he is fourth in lineouts stolen this season, has won seven turnovers (10th in competition), his three tries this season put him sixth on the try-scoring stakes. Perhaps he isn’t as explosive as we remember, but he’s still a damn good player.
Meyer will ultimately choose who he sees as the best mix for the World Cup. Spies is a big game player. He is perhaps not as physical as Vermeulen, or the workhorse that Warren Whiteley is, but that doesn’t make him a bad player at all.
There are countless more examples that I can name, but the question has to be asked: why can’t South Africans accept that one more talented player in the mix is a good thing? Why should they spew hatred and fire over someone playing to their potential?
But then I realise that some people are never satisfied. And that says more about them than it does about the players they deride.
Fulcrum29
Honorary Master
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Fair point, I suppose. I personally just don't think he's good enough at the moment to warrant the green and gold jersey, but he's not a schit player.
Kirchner wasn't spectacularly bad either. To a certain extent you could rely on him to clean up at the back, but in the age where Dagg/Smith were at the opposing end he just wasn't the right player anymore.
I do feel sorry for the player who get their talent coached out of them. Serfontein is fast going that route.
Kirchner wasn't spectacularly bad either. To a certain extent you could rely on him to clean up at the back, but in the age where Dagg/Smith were at the opposing end he just wasn't the right player anymore.
I do feel sorry for the player who get their talent coached out of them. Serfontein is fast going that route.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
The Fijian Flyer running riot in Christchurch.
Ho3n3r
Honorary Master
RAS -> Pierre Spies
Who?
Anyway, we can be lucky that if we lose the form player in the world for the last 2 years - Brodie Retallick 2014 World Rugby player of the year my ass - due to injury, we have someone of the calibre of Spies, who is playing the rugby of his life and seems to have his hunger back, to fill in the void.
3 years ago before his injuries, I and many others didn't even want him at the Bulls, but he's a pretty different player right now.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Fulcrum29
Honorary Master
I'm a sport club regular in my surroundings, and even the WP supporters are saying that Spies is getting his career back on track. Personally in my opinion he did improve. I think it is also time to play with Vermeulen’s position in the selection process, he can easily play as any other loose player, and they don't need to battle out the number-eight. We sincerely don't need a media circus on our way to the World Cup.