Official Tri-Nations 2011 Thread

Morne Steyn's defensive game makes me think that he was trained by Naas Botha himself...
 
Morne Steyn's defensive game makes me think that he was trained by Naas Botha himself...

And that is what I can not understand. He started as an inside centre. He use to be a physical player that did well on attack and very well on defense... no idea what happened.

We need to find a dan carter :D, do we have anybody who could fill dan carters shoes?

My hope was on Frans Steyn to be a bigger, stronger Carter, but in keeping with SA tradition we made a royal balls-up of that...

Now I am hoping that Lambie will step up to be one of the few SA, "complete", flyhalves.
 
We're just a few months from RWC 2011 and still some of the top/most experienced South African players do not know their positions in the team or whether they will even play a role at all. Lambie, Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Kankowski, John Smit, Bismarck etc. It's not like these players are new to the coaches ffs. This imo is our biggest problem - PdV has no balls to make a decision and stick with it. Our backline is still a cock up and will continue to be so until we have a fluid group of players who are confident in their positions and know each other's games well. The same applies in the forwards pack where there has been little to no thought put into selection imo - it's more of a "hit-and-hope" strategy.

The one interesting thing is that the players being given the run-around in the Bok camp are all Sharks players. Now I don't mean to start a tin-foil hat chat here, but it just strikes me as odd that the other franchises, when selected, seem to be assigned a position and a role and are told to stick with it. Sharks selections though seem to be more of a lucky-packet selection on the day as to where they will play...
 
We're just a few months from RWC 2011 and still some of the top/most experienced South African players do not know their positions in the team or whether they will even play a role at all. Lambie, Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Kankowski, John Smit, Bismarck etc. It's not like these players are new to the coaches ffs. This imo is our biggest problem - PdV has no balls to make a decision and stick with it. Our backline is still a cock up and will continue to be so until we have a fluid group of players who are confident in their positions and know each other's games well. The same applies in the forwards pack where there has been little to no thought put into selection imo - it's more of a "hit-and-hope" strategy.

The one interesting thing is that the players being given the run-around in the Bok camp are all Sharks players. Now I don't mean to start a tin-foil hat chat here, but it just strikes me as odd that the other franchises, when selected, seem to be assigned a position and a role and are told to stick with it. Sharks selections though seem to be more of a lucky-packet selection on the day as to where they will play...

Lol, it might be because the sharks love moving their players around so much?

Lambie:
I don't think he was part of the WC plans last year but with an impressive season this year he could not be ignored.
Bismarck: Feel sorry for him because he is better than Smith but Smith is the Captain by default :( Same can be said for Adriaan strauss....
Kanko: He might have been a bit "loose" for the Bok strategy at the RWC
Frans Steyn: Issues between him and snorre, also he has regressed into a snail-paced northen Hem. player.
Raun Pienaar: Feel sorry for him because he could have been the next Fourie. Now SA rugby screwed him around and it cost him 2 years of experience as a scrummie. Now Hougaard has stepped up and if you have to ask me I would take Hougaard anyday over RP.

I feel that you should pick your 15 best players and then from them pick your captain.....
 
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Lol, it might be because the sharks love moving their players around so much?

Which is precisely what should happen at provincial level. At a national level though, not so much. Experimenting at provincial level gives the national selectors better perspective but continuing that trend at a national level is just plain absurd. I've had no problems with a little experimentation up until now considering it was needed, however right now we should be creating a team structure to work around, not a lucky-packet team. By now this should have been in place.

I disagree regarding Kankowski though. Your 8th man should be a loose player through and through. He is very good at the breakdowns and secures turnovers around the fringes while still being an extremely agile yet hard-hitting runner of the ball...
 
Which is precisely what should happen at provincial level. At a national level though, not so much. Experimenting at provincial level gives the national selectors better perspective but continuing that trend at a national level is just plain absurd. I've had no problems with a little experimentation up until now considering it was needed, however right now we should be creating a team structure to work around, not a lucky-packet team. By now this should have been in place.

I disagree regarding Kankowski though. Your 8th man should be a loose player through and through. He is very good at the breakdowns and secures turnovers around the fringes while still being an extremely agile yet hard-hitting runner of the ball...

See the problem is if you can't find a position in provincial rugby that you stick to at least 80% of the time how will you gain the experience of players that specialise in that position on provincial level?
Danie Russouw could have been a brilliant lock / 8thman/flank BUT becuase he was rotated between these three positions he would never unseat even a green horn like Andries Bekker a couple of years ago.

As for Kanko, I have no problem with his style but the sad fact is if you do not play the type of rugby the snorre wants you to play you should not be expecting a lot of game time :(

Read this article: http://www.springbokrugbyblog.com/2011/07/18/kanko’s-killing-his-own-cause/

His limitations have been illuminated with the emergence of Willem Alberts and Duane Vermeulen. The duo cannot match Kankowski’s potency when a game opens up, but in an era where elite teams are very well organised defensively, Kankowski has struggled to impose himself consistently. He has done little to shatter the perception that he is a one trick pony.

Yes in saturday's game he again looked better than Johnson because the game was open and lets face it the Aussies were not giving us the best defensive display ever. I like Kanko but in TEST rugby players like him tend to not feature because they play a looser game and like said in the above article the defense is just a step beyond.
 
Lol, it might be because the sharks love moving their players around so much?

Lambie:
I don't think he was part of the WC plans last year but with an impressive season this year he could not be ignored. Rubbish
Bismarck: Feel sorry for him because he is better than Smith but Smith is the Captain by default :( Same can be said for Adriaan strauss.... Best Hooker
Kanko: He might have been a bit "loose" for the Bok strategy at the RWC Rubbish
Frans Steyn: Issues between him and snorre, also he has regressed into a snail-paced northen Hem. player. Rubbish
Raun Pienaar: Feel sorry for him because he could have been the next Fourie. Now SA rugby screwed him around and it cost him 2 years of experience as a scrummie. Now Hougaard has stepped up and if you have to ask me I would take Hougaard anyday over RP. Rubbish

I feel that you should pick your 15 best players and then from them pick your captain.....

Looks like snorre is picking his team via a lotto lucky draw. spin the wheel and lets see who's name it will fall on. we know who is the best in our 1st eleven. stop faking around with certain positions. the current team in new zealand is a buch of rubbish players. surely there is better players at home then that.
 
Yes in saturday's game he again looked better than Johnson because the game was open and lets face it the Aussies were not giving us the best defensive display ever. I like Kanko but in TEST rugby players like him tend to not feature because they play a looser game and like said in the above article the defense is just a step beyond.

The game became open in the last 20 minutes were the result was more or less beyond reproach. Both sides brought on subs and the sting and bite had effectively gone out of the contest... 1st 60 minutes SA were tackled into submission.
 
A lot has been said here about all the talent sitting at home but I'm not convinced... we not as good as we think we are and that's the bottomline... PDV may be a clown but he is 1 of a number of bok selectors and coaching staff.
 
Looks like snorre is picking his team via a lotto lucky draw. spin the wheel and lets see who's name it will fall on. we know who is the best in our 1st eleven. stop faking around with certain positions. the current team in new zealand is a buch of rubbish players. surely there is better players at home then that.

:erm: Could your brain come up with something a tad better than "Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish....."?

Are you saying my comments are rubbish or are you stating the players are rubbish or are you saying you smoke rubbish?
 
:erm: Could your brain come up with something a tad better than "Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish....."?

Are you saying my comments are rubbish or are you stating the players are rubbish or are you saying you smoke rubbish?

I think the players.. StevieG will say there should be more WP players.

We need to get behind the group of players that have been selected... there is no use in complaining about who should've been there and who shouldn't of, and no use in complaining about PdV. I'm sure all of us would have chosen different players (and coaching staff) but there is nothing we can do (short of terrorism) that will change this fact. Here is the team for Saturday:

Starting

15. Patrick Lambie
14. Bjorn Basson
13. Adi Jacobs
12. Juan de Jongh
11. Lwazi Mvovo
10. Morne Steyn
9. Ruan Pienaar
8. Danie Rossouw
7. Jean Deysel
6. Deon Stegmann
5. Alistair Hargreaves
4. Gerhard Mostert
3. Werner Kruger
2. John Smit (captain)
1. Dean Greyling

REPLACEMENTS
16. Chiliboy Ralepelle
17. CJ van der Linde
18. Ryan Kankowski
19. Ashley Johnson
20. Charl McLeod
21. Wynand Olivier
22. Odwa Ndungane


Lots of changes! Lambie coming into the line from fullback will add oomf to the backline and should create space for the wingers. The new lock pairing will be something to keep an eye on!
 
I think the players.. StevieG will say there should be more WP players.

We need to get behind the group of players that have been selected...

Agreed 100%. I am of the opinion that something sinister is afoot in terms of the RWC. Many people are. How deep it runs though is not yet known, but I for one would not be surprised if the Powers That Be are dangling a bit fat red herring in front of NZ and Oz.
 
Agreed 100%. I am of the opinion that something sinister is afoot in terms of the RWC. Many people are. How deep it runs though is not yet known, but I for one would not be surprised if the Powers That Be are dangling a bit fat red herring in front of NZ and Oz.

Doubtful dude, we have been on the decline since pvd took over :D
 
Doubtful dude, we have been on the decline since pvd took over :D

South African rugby has been on the decline. I don't think PDV deserves all the credit. In order for him to f uck up the Springboks he would have to be actively involved in coaching them and I don't think he is.

Last 4 U20 world cups we've managed not better than 3rd place.

There isn't the depth everyone thinks there is.

Our 1st XV are world beaters but unfortunately most nations seldom field their 1st choices owing to injuries. We have 24 front line players "injured". Personally I don't care what they doing as long as they not playing more rugby. World cup is what matters, the rest is about money.

I was looking at the starting back line for Saturday and thinking, wow, looks good. When one gets excited about Adi Jacobs making the starting line up you know something is seriously wrong with our rugby. Wynand was shocking last week and that's the reality. We choose a player and drop him a week later cause he was shocking and not because we have a replacement centre who is playing better and deserves to be picked. Wynand was crap, give Adi a chance and hope he does better.

Then the loose forwards, big strong loose trio but too slow!! We are going to get hammered at the breakdowns again, we going to miss tackles around the fringes again and we not going to make many turnovers...

And if last weeks tight 5 were green these guys haven't been planted yet...

All in all pretty bleak. Thankfully the AB are also resting 4 or 5 1st choice players...
 
Agreed 100%. I am of the opinion that something sinister is afoot in terms of the RWC. Many people are. How deep it runs though is not yet known, but I for one would not be surprised if the Powers That Be are dangling a bit fat red herring in front of NZ and Oz.

What do you mean?

Not sure I understand your post...

The monetary incentives offered to the players of NZ and/or OZ and/or SA to win the world cup will be MASSIVE!!!!

But that's not what you saying is it??

In 1995 Laurie Mains AB's purposely had a very mediocre build up to RWC 95 in the hopes that it would lull the opposition into complacency and for the most part it was immaterial cause the AB's destroyed all and sundry except the Boks in the final!!!!

I'm quite happy to concede and accept that PDV is going for a low key build up where we get humiliated in the tri-nations and written off for the world cup only to bounce back with a rejuvenated and refreshed 1st XV.

Will we win the world cup?? Not impossible but highly unlikely. We destined to meet the AB's in the semi's and once there anything can happen. The ball aint round!!!!!
 
Since PDV (not vd) took over:

Won B&I Lions;
Won a TN (not worse than predecessors);
Made the media shi[-]f[/-]t itself.

We won the tri nations on the back of a world cup winning squad, any fool could have sent out the same players that won the world cup.

Beat the british lions? Wow amazing. Beats the world cup and tri nations on scale
 
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