Having just watched the Currie Cup Semi's I thought that I would make some comments.
Warrick Gelant - I thought that he was incredible. This was probably the fourth Blue Bulls game I have seen this Currie Cup and I thought that it was by far his strongest. He does everything: good under the high ball, runs to make opportunities with patience, great off loads, is active at the break down and can tackle forwards running at him at pace. I guess that the element missing from his game might be kicking but I'm not sure. I really hope that he gets to go on tour.
Wings - I didn't see any stand out wing play in these games. I thought that Nkosi and Senatla were both quiet and when Kok came on the ball was in his half the whole time. I thought that Kok defended well though. Leyds played fullback and did nothing to put his Boks place at risk. IDK if Ismaiel and Duncan Matthews played well enough to get a look but their passing has improved a lot since John Mitchel came to Bulls. Hope they have a great Super Rugby next year.
Centre - I thought that Lukhanyo Am had a great game and should get a start. Huw Jones was excellent I thought. Too bad he plays for Scottland.
Number 10 - While Bosch didn't do much wrong I actually thought that Boshoff did more for his team. Maybe the Blue Bulls playing style required more of Boshoff but I thought that he came out of the game looking like the better fly-half. Just makes it seem like Bosch is not ready. Robert de Preez with the exception of two poor kicks at the start of the 2nd half I thought was excellent. Maybe he is the guy that should be getting a look.
Number 9 - Nothing here really. Ross Cronje seems like the only one that can manage a team in multi-phase play. I was underwhelmed by Schreuder. How much do people rate him?
Forwards - Not a lot to add here especially because this is not really the Boks' issue. I thought that Jean-Luc de Preez was excellent.
Agree with Gelant. But Butch James made a fair point after the game, in that Gelant focuses too much on counter attacking, and at times doesn't make the right decisions when he should rather kick, or take the ball back to the forwards.
At the wings, I'd like to throw in Travis Ishmael to the mix. He's big, fast and strong. He's solid under the high ball and defends pretty well. We won't be worse off with him, even if it was just his second match after returning from injury.
Am was pretty good. I think he and RJvR should both make the EOYT squad.
Robert Du Preez and Boshoff has been managing their team pretty well all season. I think both of them along with Bosch have been in good form lately.
Scrumhalf. I really like the looks of Iwan van Zyl, even with his 2 blunders in the semi's, he still impressed me. It's great to see a flyhalf trying to sneak through or take the gaps like Fourie and Joost used to do in the past. He just has to work on his nerves.
Forwards. Thomas Du Toit, Akker van der Merwe, Kwagga Smith, JL Du Preez, Nizaam Carr and Chris Cloete have all been impressive.
