[2014 Mid-Year Test] South Africa vs Wales (1st Test)

[Tony Manx]

It's been a decent performance from Poite in the end......Manxman - Weather is beautiful here

Totally agree...best ref performance of the day.......good to hear the sun shines on Ellan Vannin!!!

yep its just a shame that will never happen again

NEVER say Never again...................!!

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Wales have gone downhill massively in the space of a year. Nice to see once again Gatlands gobby comments being followed up with a sound defeat. Maybe he will learn to be a bit more respectful of the opposition.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

NEVER say Never again...................!!

EDIT: yep its just a shame that it wouldn't happen again, there you go

 

[jbobo1]

Can someone please finally post some evidence of these disrespectful, cocky comments which Gatland has been accused of? All i have seen is him saying that we are good enough to win, but that it would take some doing. What do you expect him to say? 'This match is totally beyond us, unfortunately. We'll go and make up the numbers though.' I haven't one person show some evidence of this trash talking, even though people have asked for some. Would be more constructive before spouting your own brands of trash talk towards Gatland on the subject. Cheers

Besides, except for an absolute mauling in the first half we showed good promise in the second half. If we took our chances it would have been much closer, albeit still a very convincing win for SA. As i pointed out, we need more balance in the team especially when attacking. With the addition of Morgan and Davies, we looked much better. Add in J. Williams and i think we would look a much less predictable outfit.

No excuse for the very poor defense in the first half, but we could have done with either one of ur two first choice opensides and our (in my opinion) best defensive full back in world rugby, Halfpenny.

Last thing to say is how impressive SA were considering they had even more injuries than we did, yet still looked like a team which had been drilled for months on end in preparation for the game. Hats off to their coaching team

 

[Big Ewis]

Genetics as Ewis says.

Add to that It's a tough environment to build a country in. Only strong people were able to survive.

Natural selection has lead to a fantastic genetic pool from the European population. Add to that the natural athleticism of the black population and you have a country with a population that is perfect for this sport.

that's right. They were immediately confronted with both environmental and human threat as they arrived. If you were worried that your belly-button might get infected with the temperature change, you were likely to be of those who disappeared. Man is just another animal, and natural selection as you mentioned takes its toll.

 

[Jockstap]

that's right. They were immediately confronted with both environmental and human threat as they arrived. If you were worried that your belly-button might get infected with the temperature change, you were likely to be of those who disappeared. Man is just another animal, and natural selection as you mentioned takes its toll.

Shouldn't this same logic apply to white Kiwis and Australians though, they are both fairly standard when it comes to stature.

 

[j'nuh]

Anyone think Gatland's rule over Wales has gone stale? I know he has enough credit in the bank to survive for a while in the role, but I've questioned the Wales coaching team for a while, and those questions just don't seem to be going away. Have Wales taken any steps forward since 2011, or has it all been lateral ones? Some areas improve one year, other areas go backwards. Some players get better, others get worse. But there's no sense of overall progress, and a severe lack of attacking quality.

 

[Sker]

I called Willie le Roux becoming a bok in 2010...

 

[profitius]

Why are white South Africans so massive physically compared to other rugby nations?

Playing numbers.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

That Morgan fellow from Wales needs to start next tet. Looks like a brilliant prospect fro them.

On SA I like that the last 30m was the way it was; Wales will take some pride from that and SA will feel there is still some business to attend to so all is gearing up well for test 2.

 

[exeter]

Wales under Gatland have gone through peaks and troughs - those troughs have usually followed Lions tours. However, I think Wales are getting to the point now where Jenkins, Phillips and may even A Jones need replacing (the WC is still 15 months away) and creative players have to be brought in to complement the big runners. Wales simply will never dominate New Zealand or South Africa up front, which means they need to aim for parity and the ability to at least score a couple of tries (without conceding 3-4). Another problem Wales face in terms of the 6N is the resurgence of England and Ireland. Both countries have now got excellent coaches and excellent access to their players. Wales still have decent coaches (although perhaps a new face might freshen things up), but won't have as good access to their players thanks to the exodus.

 

[Big Ewis]

Shouldn't this same logic apply to white Kiwis and Australians though, they are both fairly standard when it comes to stature.

GENETICS. That's the basis of my argument. Germanic, Celtic, Latin, Iberian, Greek, Slavic...those are all different European ethnic groups and all possess specific traits and don't all react the same.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Definitely agree that Gatland and crew aren't the ones to take Wales forward - hard to say when he should've gone, though.
Wales did well in the 2011 RWC and then got a grandslam in 2012, so all signs were looking good going into the future...then it all started to go a bit wobbly.
Probably the right thing to keep him until the 2015 RWC, based on how he was performing at the time, however that new extension they recently gave him was mental from the WRU.
Warning signs were probably there in the past, but he was getting success with these same old tactics until relatively recently - it's just they don't have the personnel to impose their gameplan, and the opposition know exactly what Wales are going to try as Gatland has never heard of a plan B.

 

[SomeOke]

Really happy with the performance. The main things for me to take away is A) When the team plays as it did today with all the key players - i.e. Morne, Willie, Vermulen, Louw, FDP are on point we are very very dangerous. B ) It's a good thing that Heineke Meyer is the coach and not me because he clearly knows better.

That said there are still a few concerns. We started with big intensity but by the 55th minute or so it kinda shriveled up, when our big forward ball carriers make ground and we get good go forward ball we are very hard to stop but when they lose momentum it does make it difficult. Wales looked much better after they made a few subs, couple of small lads looked very impressive in the last 20 (Davies?).

All our debutantes looked solid especially de Jager, and Willie was phenomenal, not just on attack but more importantly under the high ball which has been a weakness in the past. If he can keep up this kind of performance then this current Brown/Folau/Smith argument that has been boiling might have another contender...

Overall I'm a happy man, but room for improvement.

P.S, Saffers are also physically big through diet, "braaivleis" which is basically a barbecuing meat (but not really as only we do it right ) is more or less the national cuisine, just google "braaivleis" and go to images and you'll see our regular diet. Big Ewis, our heritage is pretty varied, and myself (and all other le Rouxs) are French immigrants.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

That De Jager guy looked massive!
Not overly muscley, or even overly tall, just....huge! Like someone had taken a regular sized person and increased their sized by 25% on photoshop.

 

[Peat]

Yup, big Hugenout migration there - de Villiers, du Plessis, du Preez, plenty of surnames showing it...

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Afrikaans speaking South Africans are roughly 45/35/20 of Dutch, French and German decent with 5 being other. No matter what your surname is you are a mixture of the three and can add a dash of Scottishe as well though not as much as the other 3 simply it had been a few hundred years and your ancestry is a pyramid, niy a straight line. In fact Id be surprised if there was an Afrikaner without one or two Cape Malay ancestors in that pyramid. I woukd say we are generally bigger than most but I dont think we are taller on average than the Dutch though I do think our tall are taller and our short are shorter. That is of course only my perception from a few weeks in Europe and meeting foreigners vusiting here. Somethingvthat probably also has an impact is isolation of relatively small genetic pools in remote areas of the country in frontier days.

 

[Peat]

The Dutch are on average the tallest people in the world...

 

[Big Ewis]

Big Ewis, our heritage is pretty varied, and myself (and all other le Rouxs) are French immigrants.

Yup, big Hugenout migration there - de Villiers, du Plessis, du Preez, plenty of surnames showing it...

what really, nooooo....you don't say ?!

The Dutch are on average the tallest people in the world...

but are their tall people the most average in the world ?

 

[Tony Manx]

Definitely agree that Gatland and crew aren't the ones to take Wales forward - hard to say when he should've gone, though.
Wales did well in the 2011 RWC and then got a grandslam in 2012, so all signs were looking good going into the future...then it all started to go a bit wobbly.
Probably the right thing to keep him until the 2015 RWC, based on how he was performing at the time, however that new extension they recently gave him was mental from the WRU.
Warning signs were probably there in the past, but he was getting success with these same old tactics until relatively recently - it's just they don't have the personnel to impose their gameplan, and the opposition know exactly what Wales are going to try as Gatland has never heard of a plan B.

I have to say that I have never really rated Gatland...is that heresy?

I do believe that he inherited a wealth of talent that came through together after many years of average players and a half decent coach would have done what he did with the bald headed defence coach*......what I could do with a memory...who transformed them!

Certainly, am not convinced that he can take Welsh rugby any further even though there are some good players there. There are now gaps that need to be filled and the whole structure of Welsh rugby is not producing the guys to replace those that are fading....Phillips and Adam Jones spring to mind.... and the 10 position has been a problem since Stephen Jones went and that is hard for the Wales who had a production line of 10's. In addition, injuries to key players like Warbs and 1/2d affect Wales more than most as they do not have the same depth of class. However, you have to look at players like Hook, Lydiate and even the bronzed one and wonder whether Gatland has brought the best out of them?

But what do I know....maybe I am biased against any one who jumps of a ladder and seriously hurts himself........!! I am happy to be educated!

Edit...* Shaun Edwards!!!