June Internationals : South Africa A vs. England Saxons [1st Match] (10/06/2016)

[delport500]

Even with the ref's help SA not good enough. Needed 5 or 6 more penalties or a few penalty tries.

 

[MrTea_32]

Even with the ref's help SA not good enough. Needed 5 or 6 more penalties or a few penalty tries.

Should have taken their kicks with some very easy ones passed up

 

[Sonic Kiwi]

Sweeden and clear

 

[WaterboySA]

Saxons clearly the better side. SA reserve hooker played himself out of future Boks team....how can't a hooker find his jumpers? Overall bad performance by SA A.

 

[TRF_heineken]

It was a very entertaining match to watch, and since I didn't know any of the Saxons players (apart from Cipriati (stupid Hugh Bladen getting names wrong so often)), it was quite refreshing to see some of these guys play.

I thought your Fullback and scrumhalf were real class and should be very close to the senior side, especially your Fullback, he's a livewire with immense pace.

Well done on the win!

As for the SA A side, isn't it remarkable that when the guys you thought were going to be in the SA 31-man squad comes onto the field in place of the ones you never thought would be in contention, makes such a massive difference to a team. RG Snyman, Malcolm Marx, Coenie Oosthuizen, Jean-Luc and even Brummer was just amazing when they came on, and we did our very best to pull the game out of the fire.

Yet again Scarra Ntubeni proved to me that he is one of the poorest hookers in world rugby. He was absolutely awful at lineouts, and even worse at the rucks, giving away senseless penalties.

As for our backline, I thought our weak link was Howard Mnisi. Very poor handling, missed passes, horrendous defending. I had high hopes for him, but it seems like he's one of those guys who doesn't seem like he can make the step-up.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

It was a very entertaining match to watch, and since I didn't know any of the Saxons players (apart from Cipriati (stupid Hugh Bladen getting names wrong so often)), it was quite refreshing to see some of these guys play.

I thought your Fullback and scrumhalf were real class and should be very close to the senior side, especially your Fullback, he's a livewire with immense pace.

Well done on the win!

As for the SA A side, isn't it remarkable that when the guys you thought were going to be in the SA 31-man squad comes onto the field in place of the ones you never thought would be in contention, makes such a massive difference to a team. RG Snyman, Malcolm Marx, Coenie Oosthuizen, Jean-Luc and even Brummer was just amazing when they came on, and we did our very best to pull the game out of the fire.

Yet again Scarra Ntubeni proved to me that he is one of the poorest hookers in world rugby. He was absolutely awful at lineouts, and even worse at the rucks, giving away senseless penalties.

As for our backline, I thought our weak link was Howard Mnisi. Very poor handling, missed passes, horrendous defending. I had high hopes for him, but it seems like he's one of those guys who doesn't seem like he can make the step-up.

Look, this is 50% a 'development' team and 50% a 'best of the rest' team. We all knew this going in. At hooker no doubt Mar is no.1 for starting and it should've been Armand van der Merwe on the bench. I'd even have those two promoted to the Bok 23 like that but for Strauss being captain and Mbonambi, well. Crazy that he is in the Bok team. I'm not backing Strauss as the best in the position but if he were to come of injured..

At 12 both the 'A' side and Bokke made a poor call IMO. We all knew De Allende is off the pace ATM. Mnisi is 4th choice center at the Lions behind Mapoe, Janse van Rensburg and Vorster, maybe even behind Hanekom. Besides the Lions all of Odendaal, Esterhuizen, Jordaan and Venter are better centers who aren't with the Bokke. If they weren't with the 7s De Jongh could've been an option and Kolbe at 15. Speaking of 15, is Gelant still out? I read somewhere a while back he was close to a return? Would've been a shoe-in IMO at 15. Is he also with the 7s side maybe? Mnisi very lucky with the call up. I fondly remember the game where we won the Lions with Mnisi spilling the potential match winning try while over the line.

Our loosies weren't poor but its criminal that a guy like Jaco Kriel couldn't get a game with either of the teams playing on the weekend. I hope that means he'll get a shot with the Bokke in Jo'burg with Whiteley maybe replacing Vermeulen or Kriel coming straight in to rotate with Louw? A guy like Jannes Kirsten can also feel agrieved but it is what it is.