Comments on: McCaw honoured by IRB accolade

By: Dingbat

Dingbat — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:14:30 +0000

In my opinion McCaw should not have got the award. BOD or FdP deserved it more. If I had to choose, I’d give it to BOD.

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:22:18 +0000

Richie won, Brussow was ordinary in the second half of the season. Eminent panel watched 49 TESTS (yes not S14 or Currie Cup) scored players 1, 2 and 3 and Richie sneaked home. Brownlow style.

Suck it up critics – prizegiving has finished.

Fact is like any sport the true greats aren’t the ones who get top the top but the ones who STAY at the top. No. 1 ranking needs protecting 100% of the time. Don’t send a supposed “devlopment squad” out to protect your ranking, unless you believe they actually can.

And don’t whinge about losing your ranking and not getting the prizes (eg POTY) when you lose.

By: ohtani's jacket

ohtani's jacket — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:26:35 +0000

Get out of here.

The only time the South African backs played well was in Perth. I thought du Preez kicked passed tackled ran and scored tries better than anyone else could have dreamed. Maybe if I do a few lines, he’ll look like Joost van der Westhuizen.

By: ohtani's jacket

ohtani's jacket — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:20:06 +0000

Never happens to us.

By: Ziontrain

Ziontrain — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:13:32 +0000

Yeah as said McCaw should definately won last year so justice has been done. Maybe BOD will win it next year now…

By: pothale

pothale — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:19:43 +0000

Shocked –

The Autumn Internationals just completed were counted in the Awards – that’s the whole point – it was the calendar year of 2009.

The game plan in the first test was to monster the Lions in the scrum – achieved by the front row – du preez just put the ball in. Boks kicked.

du prez disappeared in the second half as the subs were made, and Boks just prevented Lions coming back and winning the match.

He and Phillips were evens at best in the second test. This was won on a penalty kick in last minute.

Third test – did he play? I didn’t notice – the Lions were having too much fun.

FdP played well in the 3N matches no doubt.

By: pothale

pothale — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:13:18 +0000

rugbyguy: “O’driscol is rather over rated in my opinion, he is very good but player of the year? to be fair i missed most of ireland games but still Player of the year ?? come on??”

You think he’s over-rated. But you say he is very good player. But you missed most of Ireland’s games. And yet you query why he was nomiinated.

How can you even have an opinion about him if you didn’t see most of the games in which he played and on which he was judged?

By: shocked!

shocked! — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:09:29 +0000

look none of the boks were good in autumn but it’s besides the point anyway, seeing as this autumn’s performances weren’t in the final count for the award…and explain to me how du preez was not the most important player in the bok team in the lions series….i’d be amazed to hear how you manage that especially considering how ridiculously important his contribution to the execution of their game plan was

By: shocked!

shocked! — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:06:38 +0000

bar the away games on JDV, that’s when they weren’t moving the ball bast 12 and when FDP was critical

By: shocked!

shocked! — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:05:31 +0000

Jean De Villiers was the form back of the 3N mate, check his linebreaks stats over anyone else and Du Preez was the reason the boks were always int he right part of the field and how they pulled off their game plan.

By: shocked!

shocked! — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:02:18 +0000

that they’re the most successful team in the world in major tournaments and actually win silverware because they don’t choke like the All Blacks.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:55:59 +0000

You are kidding right? Embarrassing? Those former players are as qualified as anyone, and John Eales is perfect to oversee the whole thing. Coaches and players see the game from a different perspective to spectators – they probably get just a little too emotional. I think the Australian players voting Matt Giteau player of the year probably reinforces that they aren’t always the best judges of these things. People can disagree on who they thought was best and that is fine, but that those group of people aren’t qualified to judge player of the year is just not true.

By: Mungehead

Mungehead — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:20:45 +0000

Personally I see the award as a partial apology for McCaw not even being nominated last year. It doesn’t help that the nominations are made even before the season ends… anyway, it’s clear that this award is very subjective. I think the winners of the last few years have all been players of note who deserved recognition, and that McCaw is a very fine player who had a pretty good 2009. Still, some entertaining arguing going on here.

I think NZ had a good case for being awarded team of the year and/or Henry being named coach of the year. The fact that they got off to a slow start actually strengthens their case in my eyes. But you can’t win them all, and I don’t have a problem with SA being named team of the year, in light of their strong Tri-Nations performance, or Ireland gleaning coach of the year after Ireland’s marked improvement. Just my 2c.

By: ohtani's jacket

ohtani's jacket — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:17:59 +0000

du Preez was rubbish. Go watch the Super 14 final and compare it to how poorly du Preez and the rest of the South African backs play.

By: Ora

Ora — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:06:14 +0000

The Boks lost to France where as New Zealand hulmiliated them, New Zealand lost 3-0 yes to SA yet are still Number One in the world come end of year what does that tell you Shocked?

By: Ora

Ora — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:03:55 +0000

NZ 14 Tests
SA 12 Tests

On All Out Rugby last night I see even the South African Hosts were calling it excuses and quite simply South Africa wasn’t up to it. Their praise of the New Zealand demolition of France was unexpected but it’s good to know that those in the know can admit that their team was rubbish come end of year and they even acknowledged the injury toll the Kiwis carried into the 3N. The same said for the Lions tour they acknowledged that the rub of the green wen’t their way more times than not.

It’s disappointing that some South African roarers do not have the same humility

By: Nelson

Nelson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:52:22 +0000

it’d be interesting to see the vote my guess its that it was split 3 or 4 ways and with mccaw perhaps winning by a vote.
no disrespect to him as he is arguably the best 7 of all time but not the best interntional player of the last year. of the nominees i would have surely thought BOD deserved it. but the nominations themselves were questionable with francois steyn getting a run and matfield not?

By: Colin N

Colin N — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:30:21 +0000

Oh, and he’s also a very good captain.

By: Colin N

Colin N — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:28:35 +0000

“The only area McCaw is better them him at the moment is ball carrying, Brussow is a better fetcher and as the count shows had the highest number of tackes in internationals this year…”

I would say McCaw is better in most facets than Brussow. Brussow is better at turning over the ball (just), but McCaw is a better ball carrier, link man and is better at clearing out the rucks.

By: Colin N

Colin N — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:26:08 +0000

So who would you say is?

By: Ben J

Ben J — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:24:19 +0000

I think that you might agree that we are talking about THE 3 extra games of the season here… Not entirely insignificant was it. You make it sound like preseason warmup games KO.

By: Ben J

Ben J — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:54:46 +0000

Undefeated for Ireland is a great accomplishment but they did not play 6 games against the world’s 2 best teams on a consistent basis. A late November ambush at home against a Springboks side who had the season from hell was nothing but expected.

By: rugbyguy

rugbyguy — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:01:15 +0000

Richie was absent from some of the springbok games i think??
he is probably the best player in the world, top 3 at least but i dont think he did much out of the ordinary
i would have thought it would go to someone who had an exceptional season, du preez had a good year
a lions series win, tri nations win including 3-0 against the All blacks in which he was dominant and influencial.
I suppose the fact that south africa had a pathetic end of year tour put the judges off, it is player of the year not player of most of the year, if you play rubbish for two months then what do you expect?
ps O’driscol is rather over rated in my opinion, he is very good but player of the year? to be fair i missed most of ireland games but still Player of the year ?? come on??
how about BAkkies he and matfeild won more all black line outs this year than the all blacks did?

By: shocked!

shocked! — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:04:11 +0000

player of the YEAR not the last 2 months

By: shocked!

shocked! — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:02:55 +0000

are you blind???? du preez was the core construct around which the springboks’ tactical basis was built around and he kicked passed tackled ran and scored tries better than anyone else could have dreamed in the tri nations…. rugby press around the world have been raving about du preez’s performances all year and the boks were decidedly missing direction without him on the pitch. He ran the show completely and is pretty much the tactical brain on the field for the boks…do yourself and everyone else a favour and go back and watch the matches and watch the guy absolutely carve the game into the shape he wants it…he was absolutely brilliant 3N and Lions series and was easily the Boks only firing player in the autumn series

By: shocked!

shocked! — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:57:24 +0000

best #7 is not the argument buddy, it’s best player in the world and he aint

By: shocked!

shocked! — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:56:32 +0000

just as irrevlevant is the pointing out that the all blacks lost 3 games…they still lost EVERY ONE of those games against the boks….I was merely pointing out the stark comparison in the achievements and influence of BOD and FDP….FDP was directly involved in (and largely responsible for) the dismantling of the AB’s…BOD has been outstanding for a hugely successful Irish outfit

By: pothale

pothale — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:07:27 +0000

Oj/Sylvester – I’d be the first to acknowledge McCaw’s standing in the game. I was merely pointing out that de Preez and BOD both had exceptional years too.

And I did say that a joint award could have been the outcome – it’s not that unusual a decision in these things.

However, it’s relatively minor in the scheme of things, so hey ho.

By: Sylvester

Sylvester — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:54:30 +0000

“Up to that point, NZ had split a test series with the French, beaten Italy unconvincingly, lost 3 on the trot to South Africa, beaten a less than stellar Aussie side, and a woeful England side.”

Surely, the individual player can’t be solely judged by the team’s performance? He’s only one person and could have been one of the only stars in those games. If that’s the case, surely Parisse is never a chance to win while Italy struggles?
I’m not saying McCaw definitely deserved the award, but using this an argument to say he didn’t seems flawed.
He did actually play very well in many of those games, despite Brussow, with the aid of a dominant pack, appearing to have the wood over him.
It’s also more than just the breakdown performance, look at how much other work McCaw gets through in a match. Last pass in their tries against Wales and England count for anything?

By: pothale

pothale — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:49:52 +0000

I checked Rin – this year’s Autumn Internationals were counted in the awards, as are the June tests which would be the equivalent for the NH teams – France and Italy.

Beating 5 teams on a once-off basis is not as easy as you might think. With Tri-Nations you get to have home and away, plus win and losing bonus points. No such luxury in the 6 Nations. You win, you keep going. You lose once and you’re done (for the Grand Slam). England were much better earlier this year, as was evidenced by their games against Ireland, France and Wales. They finished second, and scored most tries. Credit where it’s due. Equally, SA went up against a very off-form Australian and New Zealand side, so it wasn’t the toughest or most intense 3N this year either. We can all find faults. The Lions is a scratch side, and SA won the series 2-1 on the strength of a last-minute penalty.

“6 Nations is a joke compared to the rugby in … Lions tour”

It is? How?