Springboks v Ireland 28/11/09

[sand_man]

Another tired performance from a very tired Bok team. Line outs were atrocious, goal kicking was atrocious.

The sports administrators by organizing these end of year tours are serving the SH teams on a platter to their NH counterparts (this will be further vindicated when France beat NZ later on this evening).

We will see exactly the same thing come June, July next year when they come south at the end of their season.

While I thought Nigel was inaccurate on a numbers of occasions I don't think we can keep on blaming the refs week in week out or whenever we lose.

Despite this loss we've world champions, tri-nation champions, British Lions conquerors so let's look forward to next year on not dwell on this tour.

 

[sand_man]

Hmmmm how interesting is this conversation by the "experts", Naas and John, re Ruan coming on for Morne!

Now... we have been told to not let this become a versus thread but they just confirmed what some of us have been saying all along. Morne is the kicker. Ruan is the man to make the breaks.

Funny you should bring that up. I thought Morne's distribution tonight was exemplary while his tactical kicking and goal kicking, once again, were sub standard...

 

[Captain Slog]

Sorry but while the refereeing was rubbish (although do remember that Owens didn't spot the blatant high-tackle by Pieterson, which would've resulted in a penalty and yellow card), I think the Boks were too predictable. They made a few game-breaks, but generally we were tied down by the strong Irish defence. And we seemed to be kicking away possession a lot.

Say no more!! What world champions? I was embarassed.

 

[LancelotSA]

Imho you only replace a player if he can make an impact.... Ruan player isn't exactly my impact fly-half

It was stated by the in studio presenters that Ruan is more likely to make a break than Morne. I tend to agree.

In 60 minutes - Morne :

Kicked 14
Passed 12
Ran 0
Metres gained 0

In 20 minutes - Ruan :

Kicked 5
Passed 7
Ran 1
Metres gained 3

 

[LancelotSA]

Funny you should bring that up. I thought Morne's distribution tonight was exemplary while his tactical kicking and goal kicking, once again, were sub standard...

Hmm, low standards you have...

But I think the bottom line is all the players are just happy the season is over. Some questions got answered on this tour. And a lot more got asked.

 

[LancelotSA]

It was stated by the in studio presenters that Ruan is more likely to make a break than Morne. I tend to agree.

In 60 minutes - Morne :

Kicked 14
Passed 12
Ran 0
Metres gained 0

In 20 minutes - Ruan :

Kicked 5
Passed 7
Ran 1
Metres gained 3

Out of interest compare these stats to Sexton's:

Kicked 14
Passed 14
Ran 3
Metres gained 8

 

[Morgoth]

It was stated by the in studio presenters that Ruan is more likely to make a break than Morne. I tend to agree.

In 60 minutes - Morne :

Kicked 14
Passed 12
Ran 0
Metres gained 0

In 20 minutes - Ruan :

Kicked 5
Passed 7
Ran 1
Metres gained 3

those statistics don't really say much, the fact that Ruan missed a easy field goal is unacceptable. Morne had to kick 2 from 60m or so, no Francios steyn (what happened to him btw) meant it would be hard to kick....

Ruans just cant dictate the game well enough and isn't springbok Material. If he can't make an impact ( when he is played as an impact player) then he failed at his job...it doesn't get any simpler then that.

 

[Morgoth]

Out of interest compare these stats to Sexton's:

Kicked 14
Passed 14
Ran 3
Metres gained 8

sextan compared to steyn...hmm pretty similar stats...imho. The only different imho is that Sexton kicked all his penalties and the springboks didn't.

 

[LancelotSA]

those statistics don't really say much, the fact that Ruan missed a easy field goal is unacceptable. Morne had to kick 2 from 60m or so, no Francios steyn (what happened to him btw) meant it would be hard to kick...

Ha ha ha so Ruan's kick was easy?!?! Ha ha ha

66m Heaslip looks to have done well to secure the ball in contact but it's adjudged to be holding on and Pienaar will have a penalty out wide on the right from the 10m line.

And this was also in the second half where the Boks were playing into the breeze. And he hit the upright.

 

[LancelotSA]

sextan compared to steyn...hmm pretty similar stats...imho. The only different imho is that Sexton kicked all his penalties and the springboks didn't.

Sexton ran three times. The opposition can be pretty sure Morne will not run so therefore the defence just needs to slide out. Perhaps this is why our centres have all of a sudden looked so average.

But anyway let's rather not get into this again. Bottom line is it has been three average performances in a row. If you feel so strongly that Ruan is not the man then best we start looking for a proper flyhalf.

 

[Morgoth]

Ha ha ha so Ruan's kick was easy?!?! Ha ha ha



And this was also in the second half where the Boks were playing into the breeze. And he hit the upright.

much easier then mornes yes, and yes a flyhalf that can't kick that on springbok level is unacceptable. he didn't get the direction right.. Morne got it right on both occasions.

When Ruan came on today the irish backline places us all over the field... meaning he can't dictate the game.....ie kicking position away when we need a tri to win the game...(meaning he cant dictate under pressure and has no BMT whatsoever)

and yes we all know he had kicking problems since the lion's serious - today's game shows his improvement..absolutely nothing.

 

[Morgoth]

Sexton ran three times. The opposition can be pretty sure Morne will not run so therefore the defence just needs to slide out. Perhaps this is why our centres have all of a sudden looked so average.

But anyway let's rather not get into this again. Bottom line is it has been three average performances in a row. If you feel so strongly that Ruan is not the man then best we start looking for a proper flyhalf.

impact player and proper flyhalf. Morne has been the best fly half for the past year and a half, but yes we need to look for a replacement in case he gets injured, someone who actually knows when to kick , run or pass ( the basic 3's of a fly- half.)

It does seem though that we use the exact same move from the line outs over and over again.... its kinda easy to read that play.

 

[LancelotSA]

And for those claiming the Boks are no good, here is a little reminder of the past year....

 

[Morgoth]

it looks pretty, we lost only 4 games this entire year that I can recall, 1 of them that we should have won (ireland), and 2 that the boys were all worn out off.

 

[GreGorGy]

As hard headed as you are about RP, I do take some consolation in your patriotism, Lance. I can openly agree that MS has had three k@k games in a row. So too have all the Boks.

I also feel that constantly blaming match officials gets tired and lame BUT I still think that many match officials (Dickinson, Owens et al) are simply not up to standard. What really annoyed me though (and had me disappointed in even Naas) was the SuperSport panel saying that the Ref did great.

Were we watching the same match? Seriously, the SS panel needs a little overhaul. John is an opinionated PITA (remember how he criticised Oregan for appointing De Villiers? I do!) whose sometimes fantastic insights are over-shadowed by his self-proclaimed know-it-all attitude. In fact, in that same diatribe between himself and Hoskins, Oregan pointed this out and JR took exception - methinks a nerve was hit.

At least this insignificant end-of-year outing is over.

 

[MielieSpoor]

At least this insignificant end-of-year outing is over.

I won't call it insignificant, but I would go as far to say that the coach (and supporting management) got it all wrong. Like a poster pointed out - we used exactly the same plan from every lineout. And also, why didn' he get a more proper split between the week and test teams. I really think they planned this tour like their arses.

Morne posted on his facebook earlier this week that a few of the players can't even properly get out of bed in the mornings - how is that for management of your players???

 

[Leostar]

Was this in the last 10 minutes?

Yes perhaps 12 to 14 minutes left I think? Discussed game with friends. Conclusion; The boks played predictable rugby. Our ex coach trained Ireland in the line outs

 

[GreGorGy]

I won't call it insignificant,

I would and did for the simple reason that it is minor in a year where we did everything. So we came off second best - that certainly does not mean we are not WC champions. Rather, we are the biggest bully on the playground and everyone wants a shot at the big guy. These potshots mean nothing - wait for the big fight. It has long been said that the Boks are one dimensional and hopefully this is a learning experience where we can see the areas to exploit - this very fact was one of the few things the SS panel touched on that I agreed with. We can take so much away from this tour that our "conquerors" will not be able to share.

We get to learn and build. They get bragging rights. Bragging rights do not equal world domination.

 

[Creag]

There is no passion or pride in our game. Why?

Against both France and Ireland we never ever looked like winning.

Must one of our worst European tours.

 

[Zyzzyva]

Fatigue, mostly mental.

Our attacking play was also strategically lacking. As much as this saddens me, we have come from this tour with some valuable lessons which will help us going forward.

- For one, our scrum is now back on track.

- Adi is not a 12

- We need to rest our players, perhaps during the currie cup.

- Our backups are lacking, and will need game time if they are to improve.

- Our attack needs work.

- Pick only on merit (we knew that). I'm thinking here mostly of our B team.