Top class analysis of the same old, same old malady which afflicts not only the Springbok coaching staff, particularly the glaring ineptitude of a hasbeen called Ricardo Loubser, and the lager mentality of Heyneke Meyer.

The simple fact is that Santiago Phelan out witted Meyer and the Springboks fell patsy to a bunch of kids, fired up , passionate as only Latinos and Gallics can be, who hustled and busteld for seventy minutes only to be thwarted by Metronome Morne’s boot, not intelligent and constructive play bt the Springboks. Alberts, as usual, disappeared up his own orifice when tough little buggers come at him, Moffie Juandre looked as if he was missing his mommy, and Pienaaar proved yet again that under pressure, he lacks composure as well as having a slower pass than the Balham scrumhalf, who is pushing 63. Roux is wasted at fullback and as for our inability to put numbers into the breakdown, is that the fault of the Pumas?Some of our supporters sound like Ewen McKenzie; all whinge and whine.

Good piece Biltongbek. You sum it up accurately and not in the blind patriotic fashion of many of my fellow South Africans whose boring mantra is, ‘Jislaaik, but McCaw is such a bleddy cheat!.’ When I suggest that McCaw, George Smith, Heinrich Brussouw and perhaps Pocock all have made a clinical study of the laws pertaining to that fine line between infringing and ‘beating’ the referee’s reaction to their poaching skills, the pathetic reaction is so biased it is absurd.

With lumbering oxen like Alberts rumbling ineptly around the paddock in Mendoza, the semi amateur young Pumas cleaned us out time and time again. When will Meyer learn that size does not necessarily translate into skill.

As a South African I find it amazing how harsh the average Roarer is about Steve Smith.

It might be understandable if you Aussies still had your fantastic teams of the Waugh through to Ponting era inclusive of Hussey, Warne, Gilchrist, McGrath, a young Clarke etc, but right now the wheel of fortune and time has turned the current squad into a very different outfit.

We should know. South Africa has very rarely had a powerful test(the rest is cricketing drivel anyway) squad. In the late sixties and would have been in the seventies, we had a collection of cricketers available who would have been the best in the game, and right now we have a very good test squad. For the rest we have struggled against yourselves and the Poms. Consequently we have marvelled at the rich talent Australia kept producing. No more… not for a while anyway. Appreciate Smith. You don’t have grafters with some real talent coming out of your ears. He is going to be a real Aussie star.

The inescapable fact is that Broad is a cheap cricket cheat, and a disgrace to the colours of England on the cricket field. He should become a merchant banker in Manhattan or a British politician. nobobody can sink lower.

Narrow or tight calls are one thing, and as disgusting as modern cricketers are in their lack of morality, Narrow Shoulders Broad topped the heap of blatant cheats and crooks.

If he did that in business (well, dubious call in the modern era anyway) he would be caught out and punished;if he did that in poitics he would be promoted;if he did that in professional golf he would be treated like the cheap, low scum cheat he is. Cricket stands as a shameful game in modern professional sport

I have intentionally not read any of the blurbs from regular contributorrs to the Roar about the first Ahes cricket test in Nottingham.

It was a fantastic, nail biting parade of why test cricket reamins the ultimate form of cricket.

Sheek summed it up best with his five point plan and somebody followed up by emphasizing that the most important thing McKenzie has to fix is the up and down(pun intended)of the Wallaby front row, and to settle on a half back pairing, or rather who will partner Genia

Mogg strikes me as a must for the future at fullback, and Lealifano’s defencsive weakness must be sorted out urgently. Some of his lack of tackling was the worst I have seen from a Wallaby backline player in years

Is negatism a new mystery illness which has broken out in Australia?

Fine article. It captures the troubled dynamics of Australian rugby in 2013.

It is a case of more of the same. Ever since Al Baxter of the superb grimace and the weak scrummaging, and Bill Young of the appalling technique and the off Broadway acting ability conned referees that they actually deserved to be on the fiels; they certainly didn’t deserve to be multi-capped Wallabies, the Wallaby scrummaging has been weak.

Daly and McKenzie were the last outstanding international class props the Wallabies produced. Why? Somewhere out there a couple of real scrummagers on both sides of the scrum must be found. Wallaby hookers consistently are of a very high calibre, from Whinger Kearns right through to Steven Moore. Why are the props so poor? They can’t all be lurkers playing league or footy, or surfing on the Gold Coast. Maybe Keith Murdock sired a real prop in Cooperpedie(forgive me, I am a South African). We are not awash with tighthead props in South Africa, so it could be a worldwide problem. The best props, with exceptions, are bought by the French and the U.K, which damages French tight forward play, and the Poms have more foreigners than appears healthy for their tight forward standards.

It is not so much that a good British & Irish Lions squad beat the Wallabies in the recentseries; it is how much in disarray, how disorganized and confused the Wallabies appeared in Sydney.

As a long time fan of Robbie Deans he must assume huge resposibility for his obsession with JOC at flyhalf. He is not a top class flyhalf. A flawed but distinctly of ‘FLYHALF’ calibre QC must have been a better, if high risk bet. JOC is in a bit of a quandary. If he insists on playing at number 10, he will disappear without trace. Lealifano looks like a top class flyhalf and JOC could still be a very good number 12, with AAC outside him. Mogg is a must for the future and Tomane and Folau are a breath of League fresh air.

As fine a player as George Smith has been, he should never have come back on the field after his bad head knock. Hooper is a fine player and would not have let the Wallabies down. Poite was one eyed about the obvious weakness of the Wallaby props, but Hairy Jones, like all top props, milked it quite beautifully to his benefit as well as outscrumming his opposition into despair.

Halfpenny had the game of his life. Could someone please tell me of the origin of his name.

Fascinating debate on the best all time British &Irish Lions.

A good, consstructive debate from a bunch of rugby afficianados who know the game. My personal favourite blogger on this site is sheek. He, and again it is based on my own knowledge of following and watching the Lions in live action in 22 games in South Africa over the years, since they visited our shores in 1955, has done his homework.

There is no doubt that despite the relatively modest success of the Lions in cold analytical terms, other than say, 1955, 1974 and 1997 in South Africa, 1971 in New Zealand, their win ratio is not that high; understandably. Cobbling together the talents of the 4 home nations is not easy. I followed the 2005 B&I Lions in New Zealand, and it was sad to watch a highly talented bunch(army) of players rendered toothless(almost) by Sir Blustering Woodhead and his Stir Doctor, Asinine Campbell.

One can go on and on about individual players but the omission of Bleddyn Williams and Jeff Butterfield not receiving high rankings indicates to me that too many bashers and thumpers in midfield receive accolades. Rugby is meant ( or was meant to be) to be a game of skill and subtlety in the midfield, and both Williams(from old film clips and discussions with 1951/52 Springboks who played against him) and Butterfield were sheer class.

Anyway, interesting debate and the first XV is about as good as it gets

My oath, it is sad to see the contributors to The Roar sinking to the depths of banality and pettiness about the outstanding players like McCaw, Carter, Eales, Larkham,etc

Have any of the ‘experts’ arguing about who was the tougher on the rugby field in mental terms ever played through the pain barrier for 80 minutes at even club level? I doubt it.

As for the arguments about McCullum being rated higher than DC at school, that is as pathetic an argument as I have ever read.

As a follower of rugby I read the South African rugby website Rugby 365 as well as The Roar and used to regard The Roar contributors as beiing far more knowledgeable and balanced than some of the drivel debated in Rugby 365.

Now I am not so sure. The Australians seem to spend most of their time exhibiting inexplicable insecurity about the dominance of the All Blacks for the last two decades, and sniping at McCaw, Carter and anybody else they can think of who has been successful as an All Black.

Grow up Gentlemen

What a disgrace. Foley delivered a cheap shot and demeaned Australian rugby by putting a weak Force side on to the field against the B&I Lions.

One of the great showpieces of rugby is shattered by the Lions having to play second rate provincial/ franchise sides; all because of an over extended, ultimately decimating Super 15 Competition.

TV and Sanzar greed rules again; rugby suffers.

Very good analysis Biltong.

Meyer has done a good job selecting the forwards and a fair job selecting the backs.

Hougaard is not up to current Super rugby standard; in fact he gets worse with each outing.

Yes, the indications are that Vermaak will start on Saturday, but room should have been made for another decent scrumhalf. As to the Rugby Championship, if certain players plying their trade in Europe are ‘selectable’, why not Rory Kockott. He has performed consistently well in the tough French Top 14 Competition, and is a prospect for the future. Hougaard is hopeless and Pienaar has failed too often iat test level.

I find your comment about not developing our style of play to match the All Blacks very interesting. I do not beleieve that in time we could not develop a matching style, but you are quite right; we never will, because the intent is not there and we are too scared too lose to gain eventually.

We will always(almost always more correctly)produce the forwards to do the job, and could develop the backs to make up a complete 15 man attcking Springbok style. At first we would lose a few too many(we do now anyway) tests, but given a concerted effort and intention, could match the All Blacks in a year or two. We certainly have not matched them in results in the last decade with our laager mentality and execution. They are not the force they have been, are in a rebuilding phase , and now is the time to release the hounds, not play skop and charge rubbish.

Our best attacking weapon, the maul, could be altered at IRB level soon. Pray it does. It can be effective but is a blight on rugby.

It is going to be interesting to see how brave Meyer will be with the exciting new talent, not just putting them on for a few minutes if we are in total command against mediocre opposition at the Durban rugby jamboree over the weekend.

Will we all be carping about ‘home town referees’ forever and a Super day?

Sanzar and Watson in particular, made a right royal mess when they veered away from neutral referees. It is so straightforward to use local referees for local derbies, and fly in neutral referees for cross Tasman and cross Indian Ocean clashes. Why can it not be sortrd out now?

Sanzar are as slow and ineffectual as the IRB, AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING.!

The Tahs played some outstanding rugby, Hooper is sheer class, and not for the first time Barnes missed a crunch time kick

The Crusaders were awful for the first 40 minutes, and the younger players are simply not up to it yet. The Chiefs look like Super Champion winners again.

Loftus

I think that your pseudonym gives you away. Are you possibly blinkered by your blue tinted glasses. Who are the respected rugby writers in South Africa, and why do call Rich an idiot? Most people……. where? In Pretoria or Orania. Some of us(quite a few people, in fact) think Rich is a good journalist who like most of the South African rugby writers, is well muzzled by the system and unlike his Kiwi and Australian(and British) counterparts, has to tread very carefully. I do not think that the particular piece he wrote on the ‘Japies vs Sanzar’ was one of his best offerings, but he did trigger off a worthwhile debate.

Who do you write for?

Sean Slade

I could not agree with you more forcefully if I tried.

I am not an accredited rugby jounalist or a respected rugby guru. I am aware of the faecal behaviour endemic in SARU and the Stormers and W.P structure.

It requires a brave and respected local rugby writer or journalist, or prominent figurehead who can get the facts from many reliable sources in South Africa to expose the rotten morass of South African rugby.

The point is like our stinking political and economic structure(mining unrest and rampant blackmail by trades unions) will not countenance any criticism of any aspect of everyday SouthAfrican media communication if Zuma gets his way about the secrecy bill.

Not only is the Stormers camp beset with a degree of unhappiness at the disgusting behaviour of the management, but all is not well in the Sharks camp.

Who is to say that it will get better soon?

Excellent post Neuen.

No comment about the ‘Dankie meaning thanks and not ‘Donkey’. Dear God, we are not a nation of subtle humour, even if my attempt was not a terribly clever attempt at sarcasm at the expense of Sanzar. No wonder they call us Japies!

Biltongbek

It was meant in a sarcastic vein.

Thanks for your constructive response.

Japie,
Dankie vir die oefening in Afrikaans.

wixsy

The idea was a tongue in cheek interpretation of ‘dankie’ being misconstrued as ‘donkey’, not thanks in Afrikaans, by the Australian assistant referee. Oh dear, life is not that literal.

The sad truth is that a group(who knows how many?) of Stormers players threatened the assistant referee.The entire mess is a clear indication of how messed up the Stormers camp is, and how an accommodation had to be reached before the incident blew up into a major scandal.

The liitmus test is what Sanzar will do to censure Henry’s totally uncalled for and inappropriate remarks about the Blues being whipped by the Crusaders.

My guess is that he will be rapped over the knuckles behind the iron curtain of Kiwi rugby; nothing more.

Temba VJ, I agree wholeheartedly about Skinstad commenting on rugby; he is absolutely awful, droning on incherently about what we can see without his bumbling interpretation of proceedings.

He was, until his knee was damaged, an outstanding rugby player, and still pretty good even after his ACL damage was repaired, but he does not belong in a rugby commentary box.

Give me Aswin Willemse anyday, and even Brosnihan is preferable because he is huge entertainment with his weird descriptions.

I am astonished at the hooha over a young rugby player who appears to be a serial embarrasment for his team mates, his ethnic background, his franchise , his country, and presumably, his family.

If he is incapable of recognizing the enormous benefits his erratic rugby talent affords him, fire him from the Wallabies, the Rebels and his club, if such a basic rugby entity still exists in the bullshit world of professional rugby in Australia. Send him for counselling for a potentially serious behavioural /drink related problem, psychological counselling, cut off his income flow other than the counselling, and give him a programme to learn to behave or bugger off to the outback and wake up to the once in a lifetime opportunity he is stuffing up.

Surely in the whole of Australia there is another young man who wont behave as if the world owes him a living simply because he has a certain (erratic at best) rugby talent?

Great to see the Crusaders back to their compelling best.

It struck me that there are quite a few new faces coming through the system who could become top class professionals. Johnny McNichol is an exciting prospect, and young Dominic Bird looks to be a real lock prospect. Let us Crusaders fans hope that Tom Marshall can kick on consistently from his electrifying performance yesterday.

Dagg had a huge game, and Kieran Read was back to his superb best. The tight forwards bullied the Bulls from start to finish, and alloed Ellis to give the imperious master flyhalf, DC , the platform he needed to parade his full box of tricks. Surely Fruean can learn to catch and pass a rugby ball? He often appears to be exhausted after 25 minutes of play. An unsung hero is George Whitelock, and a consistent singer of songs at lock is Sam Whitelock. Luke Whitelock is taking a long time to develop his potential, but then he does not get much game time.

It is a long grind to the playoffs but all my previous gloom about the Crusaders is tempered by the knowledge that the spirit and heart of the Cantabrians is beating strongly. Keep it up Crusaders. Rugby needs yopu at the top.

As a long term Crusaders and All Black fan for the best possible rugby reason; namely that in the last decade most of the winning and high quality 15 man rugby has come from the Crusaders in the Super Competition, and from the All Blacks in international rugby, it is interesting to scroll through the NZ and Australian comments on this website following Cam Avery’s excellent and provocative post.

No dominant team or squad or rugby dynasty lasts forever. It would be bloody boring if that were the case. The resurgence of the Chiefs last year in the NZ Conference, and the dramatic rise to the top of the Reds in the previous year, injected fresh excitement into a competition which has been overloaded with teams,games, TV ballyhoo, and the continuation of squabbles over the Laws, refereeing decisions, which almost transcended the basic fact. It is only a game;not war between nations.

In South Africa, the general obsession inculcated in the fervent supporters of the top franchise outfits, is ‘Win at all costs’. It does not matter if the wins are all based on a kicking and rumbling style of play. Or is it? Suddenly this year the Bulls have added to their previously limited arsenal. The Cheetahs,at least on the evidence of last Saturday’s game in Invercargill, are capable of defending as well as attack. It certainl blitzed the Highlanders. As always,much is owed to the forwards, a good scrumhalf, a brilliant flyhalf on the day, and tigerish defence. The jury is still out on the Stormers. Even when their pack upped the ante, and the loose forwards played superbly, the backline still shovelled the ball down the line, instead of going hard and STRAIGHT for the opposition, trying to draw the opposite man, and than quickly passing to the support, if no gap appeared.

The Kiwis argue about the merits of a clump of teriffic wings, primarily about their ability to score tries and be good finishers. Here, in South Africa, for too many years our top wings catch a nap waiting for quick ball from set moves. Most of their tries in international rugby have been opportunistic tries, and far too few tries have been scored by our wings. Our centres have been coached and drilled to bash up tocreate the next phase for another, and another, bash up the field. Sofar this year, this is not so in all cases; such as in the case of the Bulls and Cheetahs. Let us hope this is carried on into our national squad. I have grave doubts though. Meyer is hardly likely to adapt, or move progressively away from his dogmatic style. Such a great pity when we have young backs who could emulate the feats of the Kiwi backline players, given time to develop to their full potential. The once flair orientated Australian backline style is dormant at the moment. Here is hoping they too can combine solid forward play with good defence and FLAIR.

David Lord
Thank you for an excellent piece on the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket; the one and only Don Bradman. Sheek, I really enjoy your contributions to this site. Keep it up Mate.

That gap in batting statistics, and in cricket as in baseball, the cold statistics do not tell a lie, is such that the difference beteen The Don’s lifelong test and first class batting averages, is equivalent to what one expects from a successful international class batsman; particularly if one removed the impact of the ‘soft’ tests’ against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe from many modern test batsmen’s statistics. The critical statistic is the 2.75(test century every 2.75 innings) as applied to Bradman, compared with the rest of the great batsmen. Also bear in mind that The Don did not have the cannons they call cricket bats now, wickets were largely uncovered, and in a Blitzkrieg specifically concocted by Dougla Jardine to contain Bradman, he still averaged in the middle 50s for that controversial series!

As for The Don never playing in India, it is reasonable to expect that he would quickly have adapted to the wickets on the Sub-Continent, with his marvellous reflexes,footwork, timing and placement of shots executed,and quite possibly have extended his test average way beyond the magic 100 runs per innings. If Tendulkar can do it (score heavily on the wickets available) in India, why would The Don not have capable of doing even better;much better, if one follows their career long hit rate(how often each scored a century).

As a keen follower of test and 3/4 day cricket throughout the cricket world, since the 1940s, and as a South African, my favourite Australian cricketer after the incomparable Don, was Keith Miller. Sadly, I never saw The Don , because he never came to South Africa, but Miller was sent out as a replacement in 1949/50(I stand corrected) to bolster the Australian attack, in tandem with the marvellous Ray Lindwall. As good as Lindwall was(and all great pacemen operate in tandem) I had eyes only for Miller. What a player, particularly as he never seemed to take it that seriously.

We in South Africa, and some in England, had the pleasure of watching Graeme Pollock in his pomp. He was something very special, and my opinion was reinforced about 10 years ago during a visit to Nottingham, U.K, when I was shown around Trent Bridge test venue. A local cricket authority who had watched test cricket for many years, told me that Pollock’s 120 odd at that ground in 1965, was as good as any test knock he had ever seen, and better than most. We in cut off from international cricket South Africa, also enjoyed the artistry of Barry Richards. What a great pity he could not go on to play many more tests over and above his spectacular breakthrough of 4 tests at an average of about 72.

In the modern test arena, I enjoy watching Michael Clarke, and not so many years ago had the privilege of watching the greatest spinner of all time, the extraordinary Shane Warne.

I wonder what The Don would have made of the plethora of ‘little cricket’, T20, Indian Circus etc?