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Shane Horgan
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Shane Horgan
My first reaction to this post was a little annoyed. Choice of words like "I think that NZ players (outside the AB squad) are overrated and are only considered top players because of the myth that hangs around New Zealand in rugby" comes off as a fairly arrogant and antagonistic statement. Regardless, New Zealand only having 3-4 World Class wingers max, is still more than any other country. Hosea Gear, Cory Jane, Joe Rokocoko and Sitivini Sivivatu would probably be New Zealand's top 4 wingers, and considering you can't really have more than three wingers in a test squad, that seems like a pretty reasonable number of world class winger.I think that NZ players (outside the AB squad) are overrated and are only considered top players because of the myth that hangs around New Zealand in rugby.
In South Africa we also have players that would do good in NH teams like Jongi Nokwe, Odwa & Akona Ndungane, Gerard van den Heever and JJ Engelbrecht but I will never say these are World Class wingers. Even Stefan Terblanche is a pretty good winger despite his age but when it comes to World Class, we only have Habana and Pietersen.
When I look at New Zealand I only see a max. of 3 or 4 World Class wingers.
I think that NZ players (outside the AB squad) are overrated and are only considered top players because of the myth that hangs around New Zealand in rugby.
He's a spin-bowler.Shane
My first reaction to this post was a little annoyed. Choice of words like "I think that NZ players (outside the AB squad) are overrated and are only considered top players because of the myth that hangs around New Zealand in rugby" comes off as a fairly arrogant and antagonistic statement. Regardless, New Zealand only having 3-4 World Class wingers max, is still more than any other country. Hosea Gear, Cory Jane, Joe Rokocoko and Sitivini Sivivatu would probably be New Zealand's top 4 wingers, and considering you can't really have more than three wingers in a test squad, that seems like a pretty reasonable number of world class winger.
I'm a little confused as to where the attack on New Zealand's winger has come from though. There are plenty of wingers from New Zealand that are doing very well in the NH. Scott Hamilton, Bruce Reihana and Ben Blair have all had very successful careers in the NH, and none of them looked quite as exciting as some of the new talent coming through in New Zealand. Sherwin Stowers (7's Gold Medal), Lelia Masaga (2008 S14 Top Try Scorer), Julian Savea (IRB Junior Player of the Year) I think would all do very well playing for any team in the world, so I don't see why the negativity.
As it so happens, I don't rate JP Pieterson at all. I think he's the most over rated winger going around. Jongi Nokwe on the other hand, I think could have been the best winger in SA.
matt banahan
Okay, first of all, I didn't mean it in an arrogant way. I enjoy the NZ backs a lot, especially wingers like Gear and Rokocoko for instance but what bugs me a little is the way some people are talking about NZ rugby players like they could participate in the World Cup with 3 or 4 squads.
Okay, first of all, I didn't mean it in an arrogant way. I enjoy the NZ backs a lot, especially wingers like Gear and Rokocoko for instance but what bugs me a little is the way some people are talking about NZ rugby players like they could participate in the World Cup with 3 or 4 squads.
I am not attacking the NZ wingers, I just think that the other wingers are good, not World Class.
You rate Pietersen not as a top player but he has been struggling with injuries these last 2 years. When it comes to Nokwe I see that everybody outside of South Africa has high hopes for him but apart from 1 match against Australia it hasn't been a lot to talk about when it comes to top performances.
Nokwe scored 4 tries against Australia but there was not 1 single try that was a result of something he did. He was just at the receiving end, only having to ground the ball. The first real duel in the match, he went off injured.
I watched that match about 2 or 3 times and I cannot see anything that makes Nokwe a World Class player in the near future.
We have Lwazi Mvovo and Bjorn Basson who have been outstanding this year and I hope these 2 will develop further and I do rate these as possible future World Class wingers.
I admire the depth of NZ-wingers but I guess every country has something like that for other positions. In SA we have some amazing players developing to make the Springbok squad but not a lot of them are potential (that's the word I was looking for, jeez) World Class players.
Okay, first of all, I didn't mean it in an arrogant way. I enjoy the NZ backs a lot, especially wingers like Gear and Rokocoko for instance but what bugs me a little is the way some people are talking about NZ rugby players like they could participate in the World Cup with 3 or 4 squads.
I am not attacking the NZ wingers, I just think that the other wingers are good, not World Class.
You rate Pietersen not as a top player but he has been struggling with injuries these last 2 years. When it comes to Nokwe I see that everybody outside of South Africa has high hopes for him but apart from 1 match against Australia it hasn't been a lot to talk about when it comes to top performances.
Nokwe scored 4 tries against Australia but there was not 1 single try that was a result of something he did. He was just at the receiving end, only having to ground the ball. The first real duel in the match, he went off injured.
I watched that match about 2 or 3 times and I cannot see anything that makes Nokwe a World Class player in the near future.
We have Lwazi Mvovo and Bjorn Basson who have been outstanding this year and I hope these 2 will develop further and I do rate these as possible future World Class wingers.
I admire the depth of NZ-wingers but I guess every country has something like that for other positions. In SA we have some amazing players developing to make the Springbok squad but not a lot of them are potential (that's the word I was looking for, jeez) World Class players.
Its funny how you say this when your a south african and your back line is the worst in the tri nations
First of all, I am not South African. Second of all, the Tri-Nations backline consisted of:
- Bryan Habana who was off form dramatically
- Jean de Villiers who was abused as a winger but is a centre, everybody knows that
- Zane Kirchner, a player who hasn't even performed consistenly enough for a starting spot in the Bulls lineup.
South Africa has always had a better forwards, New Zealand has always had better backs. I just don't think that the NZ wingers outside Rokocoko, Gear and Jane it's just not world class, just like we only have 2 or 3 wingers that can top the world.