[2014 TRC] South Africa v Argentina in Pretoria (16/08/2014)

[SomeOke]

Am I not allowed to voice my displeasure about Pienaar being selected once again after he has never performed in the Bok jersey? He is at best a SR/HC player. This would have been the ideal time to give another player a chance as Argentina is the weakest of all the competition.

There just aren't options available, I like Reinach but does he have a sufficiently varied game-plan to run a Springbok team? Also then we'd have rookies in 9, 10, 12, honestly this is probably the best way we could line up.

 

[Big Ewis]

Habana will break the 100-cap mark this TRC. In an all-time XV, he's just got to have one of the two spots at winger because of his speed, alone. Here you have a guy who makes things happen that never should happen in a Rugby game with other pro athletes who play the same game, train just as much, all year long. He's a 5-step shortcut in attack, can simply skip 4 or 5 steps/phases of attack for the team he plays on and save his team intricate attacking structure or aeons of effort by his sole pace.

However technical, accomplished, experienced another winger is (Lomu barred), he'll never have the impact Habana has had. Habana has literally single-handedly produced 7-pointers consistently for S.A., and not to say SA aren't good without him, of course they are, but 7 points in a Rugby game aren't a negligible figure as to the outcome of the match. He was kind of God's gift to the Springboks, to be perfectly honest in hindsight...(again, not to imply anything about the Boks).

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

It's true Habana 'could' probably have been even more prolific in a more 'attack minded' team. I think that is a perfectly fair comment to make, yes. Just look at the one game for the Barbarians where he got a hattrick against the All blacks. How many teams nevermind players score 3 against the All Blacks in one setting (I know for SA only Ray Mordt and Marius Joubert also). Not that a Barabarians match is much to go by but still something to be noted. He could possibly have done it in green if he added 1 more to the two he scored against them last year in Jo'burg in the first 15m if he hadn't gone off injured.

In club rugby he single handedly gave the Bulls their first SR ***le by just being his opportunistic self.

 

[Icemn]

why oh why is the boks backline always so deep??? you can have a line out on the 22 and your winger on the far side is behind your posts... facepalm... 1 of the many things i do not understand... i always say it and i'll say again... team sports are won off the field... SA needs to get Nick Mallet in there and get that doos... no wait... a doos is still usefull.... you can do something with a doos... like *think of something pink and warm and your tongue* Heineken Meyer is more like a voorvel... cuz a voorvel is useless... you throw that **** away... voorvel = foreskin/circumcision for the boys outside SA... mallet has been saying what i've been saying for years, but he gets apples like i do when having an opinion so bite us...

 

[Big Ewis]

It's true Habana 'could' probably have been even more prolific in a more 'attack minded' team. I think that is a perfectly fair comment to make, yes.

well I haven't said that, although I agree. But even for the Boks, the try he got in 2012 against the AB. 100% Habana. Even last year against the Blacks in Joburg, he got a couple easily off his speed alone, and got injured but was well on his way to get more. It doesn't matter who the Boks are playing, you can't defend against superior speed.

 

[Jaguares]

I guessed the lineup! Yeah baby

Pumas team named:

15 Joaquín Tuculet
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Marcelo Bosch
12 Juan Martín Hernández
11 Manuel Montero
10 Nicolás Sánchez
9 Martín Landajo
8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón
7 Juan Fernández Lobbe
6 Pablo Matera
5 Tomás Lavanini
4 Mariano Galarza
3 Ramiro Herrera
2 Agustín Creevy (c)
1 Marcos Ayerza

Reserves:

16 Matías Cortese, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Lucas González Amorosino.

 

[Big Ewis]

Conrad, in stead of congratulating yourself like a bizarre shoe-fetishist you quite possibly are, answer this. Question. Colon. Do you feel Hernandez and Bosch make for a shaky (not so good) center partnership ? They both play multiple positions, aren't as "pure center" as one would like, and Hernandez in particular was moved there artificially.

 

[welshglory]

Wow that backline has literally no running threats, apart from Montero and he's still very green at this level.

Pack is solid enough though, but that's nowhere near enough to compete with South Africa.

 

[Big Ewis]

Wow that backline has literally no running threats, apart from Montero and he's still very green at this level.

Pack is solid enough though, but that's nowhere near enough to compete with South Africa.

Herrera just isn't nearly worthy of being an Argentinian starting Tighthead. I've seen him a lot play for Castres at the end of last season, they picked him up as a medical joker. Not the most powerful scrummager to say the least, and so-so around the park. Hopefully he'll show things I haven't seen him do for country, but for Castres he was a disappointment.

 

[Jaguares]

Conrad, in stead of congratulating yourself like a bizarre shoe-fetishist you quite possibly are, answer this. Question. Colon. Do you feel Hernandez and Bosch make for a shaky (not so good) center partnership ? They both play multiple positions, aren't as "pure center" as one would like, and Hernandez in particular was moved there artificially.

I think at 6 Nations level they could work together. At the Tri Nations level, undoubtedly they can't. Remember that in 2007 our pair of centres were Contepomi brothers: Felipe and Manuel. While Felipe was a world class player, Manuel was very mediocre, very limited player with great courage and the duo ran against Ireland, Scotland and France. Remember that Martin Gaitan (who was the real couple of Felipe) was injured.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

aww man those were the days when argentina had a beast squad, and came 3rd ? i think in the world cup, hard to see it now but those were the days

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

aww man those were the days when argentina had a beast squad, and came 3rd ? i think in the world cup, hard to see it now but those were the days

Yes, they came in 3rd, beating hosts France twice along the way and they fell out against SA who were the eventual champions.

It is also important to remember that 2007 to probably 2009 was the time when spoiling at the ruck was rife and the kick and chase game was certainly the best tactic and SA and Arg were the two major exponants of that tactic and their success in 2007 proves it's effectiveness at that time.

9 Hougaard
10 Pollard
11 De Jongh (okay, not currently a Bok but I added him to complete a backline)
12 JdV
13 JPP
14 Hendricks
15 Le Roux

All of the Paarl/Stellenbosch area. At a push you can add others with ties to the area but those lads were actually born and raised there. It just struck me that our current backline is essentially born and raised in what is basically little more than two large dorpe. Crazy! Thank you, Boland!

If the Boland wasn't under the thumb of WP...
A pack with guys like Guthro Steenkamp, Schalk Brits, Frans Malherbe, Schalk Burger, Andries Bekker, Juandre kruger, Francois Louw etc etc.. Boland could've been huge! But I doubt the population could pay for a team like that even if they are some of the most passoinate rugby supporters and a rich area in the country. Not unless they were active in running it and funding it rather than through the administrative union setup like we currently have.

Did I just double post..

 

[TRF_heineken]

Did I just double post..

No... You triple posted!!

Careful, you could get a soft ban...

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Soft buns are the best bons!

 

[TRF_heineken]

Soooo.... anyways...

Back on topic, since Stormer now as per usual made a 23-man team he wants to see, can we get back to the game at hand with the players who are playing?

Yesterday on Supersport they showed Bakkies Botha, Eben Etzebeth and Lood De Jager standing next to each other. I was amazed that Bakkies was the smallest of the 3!!

 

[welshglory]

Soooo.... anyways...

Back on topic, since Stormer now as per usual made a 23-man team he wants to see, can we get back to the game at hand with the players who are playing?

Yesterday on Supersport they showed Bakkies Botha, Eben Etzebeth and Lood De Jager standing next to each other. I was amazed that Bakkies was the smallest of the 3!!

Bakkies was 2000's big, now we've got the next generation!

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Soooo.... anyways...

Back on topic, since Stormer now as per usual made a 23-man team he wants to see, can we get back to the game at hand with the players who are playing?

Yesterday on Supersport they showed Bakkies Botha, Eben Etzebeth and Lood De Jager standing next to each other. I was amazed that Bakkies was the smallest of the 3!!

I havn't even started. If it wasn't for my supernatural self control.. but in all seriousness a 'Boland 23' is on a par with a 'rest of SA 23'.

And, yes, they are getting bigger. Soon the tank will replace the beast and so on and so forth and then, in 2019 we'll put down a '1T scrum' and be big..well, in Japan.

 

[psychic duck]

That Argentine tighthead on the bench couldn't get into the Dragons (the worst scrummaging unit in Europe) lineup.

 

[SomeOke]

Soooo.... anyways...

Back on topic, since Stormer now as per usual made a 23-man team he wants to see, can we get back to the game at hand with the players who are playing?

Yesterday on Supersport they showed Bakkies Botha, Eben Etzebeth and Lood De Jager standing next to each other. I was amazed that Bakkies was the smallest of the 3!!

The entire team is pretty massive, the only player under 6 ft 1 in is Habana.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

The entire team is pretty massive, the only player under 6 ft 1 in is Habana.

Sure. Pienaar and Pollard also are biggish for halves. De Allende is as big as Fourie and more athletic though he is yet to show if he is in the same class as Fourie at his best.