You overrate his intelligence. He is more of a liability than an advantage to the Boks these days. The problem now for Botha is that people know if they wind him up, he'll go out of his way to do something breathtakingly stupid. I wouldn't want him on my ABs team. He's like Brad Thorn, but without the streetsmarts nowadays.
Any change to the SA midfield would be an improvement from last week. They were largely anonymous. Regarding the play of the SA loose forwards. To my surprise the ABs created two or three turn overs at the breakdown. This gives some credence to your statement that they didn't play well.
I wondered when an article like this might appear. Ryan Crotty and Adam Whitelock aren't overly flashy players but they're committed and proven performers in the centres. I rate Crotty in particular. If SBW does get stuck on the wing I doubt he'll be that impressed given his desire to play for the All Blacks and the current depth in wingers - Hosea Gear can't even make the squad and Sivivatu is injured! Not that I care much about SBW - as far as I'm concerned hes part of a squad which picks its best XV, and if that means hes picked to play on the wing each week, or start on the bench, then so be it.
I think you underestimate Thorn - I see your point regarding Botha's ruggedness but disagree that Thorn isn't an enforcer; he just does that part of the game legally whereas Botha is prone to using, well, unorthodox measures.
Agree that the new law interpretations (rather than new laws) are suiting the All Blacks' style. Keen in mind though, that all of these players (besides Jean de Villiers, Butch James and CJ van der Linde) played under those interpretations in Super 14 and two South African sides contested the final. The Stormers seemed to benefit particularly from those interpretations which increased their willingness to run with the ball in hand. I think you'll see a better display from South Africa this week; I think they'll be more direct and have Steyn, rather than Januarie do all of the kicking - personally I'd be telling Januarie to spread the ball at every opportunity, and get the likes of Habana, Fourie, de Villiers in the play as much as possible. Without being too cynical they might also slow the All Blacks' ball down more - I remember a statistic late in last week's game in which the Springboks had conceeded just three penalties to ten - and ensure they don't give away another four tries.
Sorry my post didn't read very well. I meant to say that Steyn should do ALL the kicking, rather than leaving some to Januarie.haha wtf? No wonder they were thrashed.
oh yeah, despicable by Bakkies too
I don't rate Januarie that highly TBH - and if I were taking a South African point of view would prefer Pienaar or Duvenhage (who started in front of Januarie for most of the Stormers' matches anyway) for du Preez's spot whilst hes absent. I think the issue with Pienaar is that hes proven to be so versatile in the past that having him focus on one spot, i.e.halfback, it could be seen as a waste of his potential to cover the other spots - he reminds me somewhat of how Isaia Toeava was seen in the Blues and All Blacks a few years ago.Ah yeah. Still makes sense.
Where's Pienaar gone? Now that SA actually need a half-decent scrum-half instead of shovelling him into more creative positions where his nerves take over
Yeah...good point...
Do you think Jesus would have made a good enforcer in a rugby match? Or do you think it would have been outside of his moral value system.Yeah...good point...
Like saying Jonah Lomu likes loud music and therefore is not a class winger.
Botha religous as well mate.
Fair play to you - Touche and all that.
I'm just having a laugh with you mateFair play to you - Touche and all that.
I think that Botha has some confessions and forgiveness to ask for. I think thou shall not head butt is the 11th commandment.
I think my Jesus example is fine. Christians live by the motto "what would Jesus Do". So it is pretty standard to imagine Jesus in a given hypothetical scenario even though he died 2000 years ago.
however, wiki agrees with me that Jesus can't play rugby for a number of reasons (language Warning): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Saves_(song)
Cheers - I have heard the song but missed the reference.I'm just having a laugh with you mate