So what did we learn from Rassies Rubik's cube selections

Four matches and 3 test. Every time it was at least 10 different players, sometimes 16 that was added. Hardly any combinations played two games in a row together.

We had the tractor Dud becoming a grubber specialist. It worked once and then become his stock play. Dud has no pace to break the line, hands let's him down and he is not as physically dominant.

The front row was a mix bag. Can't tell how good the opposition scrum was. I feel for Thomas, but he was one of the worst scrummers.

Locks, Moerat fell flat and so did Eben. Another poor game for him and he seemed off the pace and lost his physical edge. Lood and RG are probably our best locks. Lood was excellent with his supportive play and getting over the line. That soft hands after Williams break, to follow the play and then to find Moody was poor class. We have two locks that can be physical but also amazing touches.

The back row is a concern for me. Kolisi is done, got knocked out for poor tackle technique, then get nailed when carrying. The only thing his does well is to fall on players in the ruck and that will cost him in the feature as he already damaged one players leg in the URC for a reckless ruck clearing. Kwagga was up for it 6. PTSD is still finding his form after not playing the whole season. Roos tried hard but is simply not in Rassies good books. Wiese is just brain dead, actually both brothers are meat heads.

9 we seem to have found some proper players and Williams is by far the best. His services, runs and kicks. Crappies is starting to find his way. Faf wasn't that had. With Pead lighting up the age group, it is only a matter of time before we see him for the boks. Hendriks brothers shouldn't get a sniff.

10, great to see Pollard showing his skill and the calmness and accuracy he brings to the backline. Worst performer is Zulu boy. His ego is stopping him and he played again with an injury. Manie has gotten his kicks sorted and definitely an extra option but can he do it under pressure. I think Zulu boy should be dropped.

Centres, only Dud is a let down. Willemse have bulked up and definitely a contender for 12. AE is great despite Mike's hatred. Nice to see Moody coming through twice at 13. Kriel is still up there.

Wings, even Mpimpi showed some good finishing but with the Kolbe clones, Willemse at 15 and Fassie fantastic steal skills, we are not short out wide. Both Moodie and Hooker can also play wing and cover center. So no need for Willie and Mpimpi. I hope that is the last we see of them.

Koch and Bongi are in their last legs. Nice to see Marnus coming through at hooker at hooker and so did Boan. Fouche had a better outing.

For me I would cut

Bongi, Koch, Wiese, Wiese, Kolisi, Fouche, Reinach, Zulu Boy, Willie, Mpimpi, Moerat

I would players on notice

Faf, Dud, Thomas Du Toit, Etzebeth, Pieter Steph

I think we now need to use Australia to get our best team on the park. No more experimenting, we got to get this team dialed in for New Zealand trip.

We can use Argentina games at home to swap some fringe players in, but the next four test is the one we want to win..

Right now SA for my 0/2 success rate in New Zealand

Our best scrum is 1.Ox 2. Marx or Marnus 3. Wilco there is no one that comes close to him!!

You giving up way to quick on Wiese Brothers and Sacha which had a off game but still class.

Nonsense that he is to arrogant, don’t know where you get that from??

Eben still class just overplayed… Agree on Kollisi….Funny that hooker has not been tried out.

Willemse is a class above the rest at full back as he showed yet again. Dud is over and I would start AE and Moodie in the midfield.

Edwill is Class to, but Kolbe should still start.

Bring Eskom or Kwagga to start at six…. Pollie always good and Faf getting his form back, but Williams is the Form 9.

Thomas must desperately improve but other than that you can’t trust him at scrum time, he just can’t scrum at the moment.

"10, great to see Pollard showing his skill and the calmness and accuracy he brings to the backline. Worst performer is Zulu boy. His ego is stopping him and he played again with an injury. Manie has gotten his kicks sorted and definitely an extra option but can he do it under pressure. I think Zulu boy should be dropped."

I agree with a lot of what you have said but you have no idea if he does or doesn't have an ego. That is a massive assumtoin.

All we do know is that he performs like a monster at the Stormers yet can't do so against lesser teams for the Boks.

Those are the only facts we are aware of.

So, let's see which is the most likely...

1) Sacha has a massive ego, which influences his game to the point where he massively underperforms. Ronaldo, Warne...the biggest egos of all time. Yet some of the best to ever do it. The role of "ego" in bad performance has been said without challenge so many times that people simply assume it's fact at this point. Trust me, Michael Jordan's ego was so massive that he probably thought every other human on the planet was beneath him. He still played a team sport and destroyed everybody. And these are people that we know had massive egos.

Here you are making a pure assumption that Sacha has an Ego, and basing it on erroneous sport logic.

Can we agree on that?

...or...

2) This year, Sacha hasn't performed against worse teams than he faces in the URC, while having better teammates in his side, because the backline coaching is abysmal and the gameplan doesn't bring out the best in the backs. There is zero cohesion...which is what you yourself are bringing up in your post.

What evidence do I have for that? Easy, the backs predominantly score individualist type tried - look at the tries scored this season. When that is the case then the scores are more down to talent and individual skill than good strategy.

What more evidence do I have? Look at the games in which Sasha was not involved and you will find the same poor backline play and problems with breaking down lesser teams. The exact same problems that were very evident yesterday.

My conclusion;

It has zero to do with ego and everything to do with failing to bring the best out of a great player because of a bad game plan that tries to force him to play in a way that isn't the way that brought them to the dance.

My logic;

Take Mike Tyson and tell him that he needs to become a jab heavy boxer. Take Messi and tell him that he needs to spend 30% more time behind the halfway line. You know that will only detract from their ultimate success and turn them into a shell of what they actually could be. Why do we think it is any different in rugby?

My prediction;

Sacha has more goods than anybody else. If he fails, it'll be because of bad coaching and a shitty game plan.

I'm not even gonna get into dropping Jasper because that is just crazy talk.

He's on 36 caps and since his debut has had one extremely dubious red card.

...but let's focus on that retarded red card and forget all about the fact that he carried the most physical pack at the WC on his back.

King, I generally agree with a lot of your takes.

So don't take too much offence haha

Rassie is known to change the player’s natural style of playing ….

Sacha is a totally different player under Dobbo as Dobbo allow him to play his natural style.

Dobbo also develop game plan around his players natural abilities and never forces something on them.

Dr. Lucky likes forcing and that will definitely still backfire and bite him in the ass.

Erasmiss is also a known tyrant in the dressing room, screaming and swearing…..

No offense taking at all. Happy to see your comments and reading my thoughts, even though with poor grammar and spelling.

What I mean by Sasha ego. Last year he hid his injury from Rassie. He got injured again during the warm up and they wanted to take him out of the game, but he insisted he wanted to play. So he ended missing easy kick, getting charged down and being knocked back from a driving maul.

So the ego here is that he still thinks he is better than any other 10 even when he is injured. This is the 2nd time now. We can't afford to let a player do this when you are playing against the top teams. He is still young and have a long future ahead of him.

It is it the first time that Wiese had to serve time. He was written for a club infringement last year and missed test for the boks.

Just cant rely on a player like him. Especially if you want to build continuity in the team and make sure the players are dialed in.

I think this game Rassie shouldn't have experimented and he should have picked his best 23, still questions on so many players.

It is obvious who is coming to their end.

For me Bongi, Koch etc should be 3rd choice now and not play in these nothing games. Almost 4th choice, but Bongi should no longer be an option. We need to develop Marnus, we have Jan Hendrik and Grobbies. Then the two from the junior boks is a beast and could find his way soon with the boks.

Rassie needs to bring the best of the junior boks into the bok alignment camps. Ensure they get some first class games under their belts and see how the progress, not waste time with the old ones.

Eben hardly played this season. He had some serious concussion issues and it was a quest whether he'll make it again. Just doesn't look like the same player.

Tremendous servant of bon rugby and I would love to see him 27, but at 35. Will he be able to last until then.

He is well rested and shouldn't be this rusty, especially his 2nd game.

I agree with you in that hiding that injury was silly. I'm not sure if it's ego though. It may have just been a bit of immaturity and wanting to play for the Boks so badly. I mean, it's probably something he had been dreaming of since his school days.

I didn't actually realise he was injured yesterday. Still, kicks aside, there wasn't much difference between him yesterday and his Barbies game.

To me, Rassie comes off as an ego driven character, and I really hope that he doesn't feel the need to dominate young players that he knows are already better than he ever was. I'm not saying that he is that type of guy, but rather that I really hope he isn't.

For me, Sacha is like a new technology. You have build your systems and swim along with the stream, not fight against it. Because if it is better technology it will end up winning out and you'll have wasted a lot of time that could have been spent making progress and getting ahead.

I don't know how much URC you saw this season but that kid is pure magic. That magic can't just vanish when he puts on the Bon jersey. It's why I think there is something else going on.

We'll have to see about Eben. I wouldn't be totally adverse to him taking an entire season off at this point. Focus on his body and getting that hunger and fitness back to good levels. He's been an absolute soldier for Bok rugby. Maybe he needs a bit of time and space.

I see zero sense in playing him against the Barbarians and Georgia though. I can't see any sense in it.

That Rassie worshippers hate me for it, but I'm totally confused by the selection policies and I have a sense of dread about the rest of this season.

It had fuck all to do with ego and everything to do with a youngster wanting to play test rugby

So the ego here is that he still thinks he is better than any other 10 even when he is injured.

I can think of at least six reasons why he wanted to play and ego wouldn't be one of the six.

As a start, perhaps he was looking forward to the game and simply wanted to play or perhaps he felt he would be letting the side down by not playing or perhaps he felt that the injury wasn't that serious or perhaps he's just a competitor with a burning desire to compete..................

Italy and Georgia are not top tier Rugby countries, but still managed to do quite well against the so called best in the world ….

Quite worrisome for the Boks. There was not a lot of continuity with Dr.Lucky changing so many players and not really finding the best team.

Compare that to AB, OZ, Eng, France which stuck mostly to there best team, are ahead of us when it comes to continuity and synergy of the players.

These were all nothing tests that the Boks were always going to win.

The positives for me that

1. We did get to test new players (Some worked, and some didn't).
2. We have proven that some of the older players are past it, and need to be phased out.
3. We need a starting fetcher in the backrow, with a backup on the bench.

These players need to be dropped: They are no longer even third choices:

Kolisi,

Bongi,

Koch,

Wiese, Wiese,

Fouche,

Reinach,

Willie,

Mapimpi

You don’t rate Cobus Wiese?

That about sums up you and rugby

Sacha is a brilliant talent, but if we are going to play box kick rugby, he adds little value. The Sacha option demands a shift in our backline play. We probably box kicked less against these minnows, but 6 times yesterday Dud Allende crash balled when there were outside options.

From what I can see the only new thing yesterday, was the old thing with Dud Toit moonlighting on the wing….how slow, how ponderous, what lack of timing he showed. This was a dead tactic back in 20!18/19 apparently now it’s back.

Face it Dr Lucky can coach forward play….he doesn’t have a clue or any passion for back play.

Before commentin g on th er est of t he garbage above about selections I want to ask for actual examples of Esterhuizen performances on test level. Why is it he virtually on test level made any line breaks that had a postitive impact on match outcomes, It is factual that he scored zero tries in 20 tests played and did not make a positive contribution to any tries being scored. His defense also let him down in tests he played in. If I am wrong gove me examples of where he really sowed he is a test level center.

As far as I am concerned I do not hate any player - all I want is proof that players perform well in test level - that is all. So proof that Esterhizen has what it takes to be a test level player, If De Allende is to be replaced it should be by anoter thinking player like Willemse - while the under 20 no 12 is the next best choice based on actual performances. , .

As to the rest - I also believe that Sacha had a bad day - th irst time I saw him playing a rather poor game, One test is not career-defining. For that a destructive performance is needed in a umbr of fuure tests. I think that the futre scrunmmisd should be Williams, Van der Ber and Pead - the elderly is not really up to standard anymore, In the many tests he played in he scored his 8th try on Saturday. Still a top class goalkicker though, I would rather look at he Under 20 flyhaff instead of Libbok in future,

I think that the younger Wiese is a better proposition a he can play lock and number 7, He did have some very good games on Super Rugby and URC level and I agree the elder Wiese is a meat head - comparable to St Esterhuizen.

In essense I think Kolisi is on test and club level a finished player - there ae just too many knock he took in his career and his body has taken just too many knocks and he is now starting to deteriorate rapidly. Rumur has it he would join Erasmus coaching training program sooner rather than later.

Indcidentally Du Toit was the top player amongst the forwards yesterday - I just wonder what match KC was were watching on Saturday?

" As far as I am concerned I do not hate any player - all I want is proof that players perform well in test level - that is all "

How about you open your eyes and look without bias, then maybe you will see the worth of Esterhuisen!!!

And stop lying, as your hate for Esterhuisen is the most intense on this Forum…..

You will regularly lie just to try and break him down, get a grip Uncle!!

I am talking about test level performances at center not at comments by site members stating I must open my eyes to see what? I cana ssure you I watched he matches Esterhuizen played on test level since 2018 and he never produced much of any good play. No tries and no try assists after 20 test matches played tells me anything other than that he is a very limited center who at 31 years of age had his chances to make a real mark on test level.

Erasmus gave him plenty oppotunities in 2018 and 2019 to prove that he is of value as a test level player and he did NOT make the RC squad, When Kriel was injured Erasmus called up Willemse with no past test eperience and in his first game for the Springboks against Canada he scored a try, He since has added to it,

In 2023 RWC Esterhuizen was included in the RWC squad and played in two tests against two minion teams - Tonga and Georgia and scored no triies. So he cannot even perform against minion opponents - leave alone showing anything of value against stronge teams. That shows me he has no ball sense and is never where the action is and can make no contribution in scoing of tries,

In 2014 under Jake White he was used a number of times in Super Rugby to use him as a 7 - but he failed badly and White picked Bosman as inside center. again. In 2015 he playe at center more regularly - but as never even consdered as a test level player until 2018 when he played rugby in England. On the slow UK fields he performed well on club level - but back in SA he was considered by Erasmus often as a center - but never made the grade.

Players played ther best rugby between the ages of 25 and 30 - when like hapened in the case of Esterhuizen he did not use the opportuniies he got - what makes you think he will develop further at the age of 31 to become a top class test level player?

,

It does not help talking to you, Esterhuisen with the little bit of chances he get, has proved without a doubt that he is test level material….

Your bias is just stupid and you base your assumptions of bias, because you hate Esterhuisen.

So no matter what he does your take will always be negative…..

You are old enough to know that deliberate toxicity and BS spreading is just wrong and childish…..

So what proof ahs he provided in performances. He mst be te only backline player who ever in the hstry f S the Springboks never scored a try in tests,

I ama ccused of bias by you - but look in the miror and you will see real bias in evidence, At least I refer to specific stats involving Esterhuizen = you canno even do that,

You talk about stats and yet you don’t produce any stats either ?? Practice what you preach Uncle…

Besides that, I can see with my eyes that Esterhuisen plays above average Rugby and deserves More starts in the Midfield!!

Geez man where do I carry on like a crazy lunatic about any player, even the ones I might not be so fond of??

I don’t as simple as that!! You go out of your way to carry on like a lunatic about AE and lie left right and Centre to prove your so called facts!

I say yet again get a bloody grip and have a cup of tee and a Marie biscuit…

Maybe just eat a space cake and unwind a bit, for goodness sake….

Two things I noticed after watching the full replay of the Boks game:

1. Sacha is totally overrated IMHO so how he’s ever going to surpass Carter ( Plum’s wild prediction!) is beyond me! Atrocious kicking display against a Tier 2 team with his sole highlight being catching his own chip kick. If Rassie did let him play injured ( can’t really believe that) then what was all the fuss about last year? Also as pointed out by me last year, he can’t kick with his left foot which renders him useless as a fly half or fullback. Midfield seems his only option.
2. I only saw one slow mo replay of the incident but how come Kolisi got away with a direct head on head contact with the opponent? He didn’t appear to attempt to go low and from memory there wasn’t even a penalty let alone a card! Got away with it just like in the RWC Final. Was it because he got injured that the officials had a brain fade??

@Moola, Most fly-halves can only kick off their left or right foot. That is why it is ideal if the fullback kicks off the other foot.

I thought Sasha had a good game last year against the All Blacks. It looked like he made more contributions than the other Boks in securing the win.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, often referred to as Sacha or Sasha, is currently the most accurate test kicker among those selected for the Springbok squad. His kicking accuracy as a test (goalkicker for the Springboks) is reported at 79% over six games. In club rugby (Vodacom United Rugby Championship regular season), his accuracy was 86% (17 percentage points higher than his expected goal-kicking percentage), but specifically for the Springboks, the verified figure for test matches is 79% from recent stats.

Additionally, in a breakdown of recent South African kickers, Feinberg-Mngomezulu is noted as the most accurate among those with more than 20 attempts for the season, succeeding with 18 out of 21 kicks for an 85.7% rate, though this reflects a relatively small sample size. However, test-only stats published in October 2024 confirm the 79% success rate in six Bok games.

Summary of key figures for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu:

1. Springboks test kicking percentage: 79% (6 games)
2. 2024 URC regular season: 86%
3. 2024 all-competition club sample: 85.7% (21 kicks)

.

Mpower

You talk about stats and yet you don’t produce any stats either ?? Practice what you preach Uncle…

Try scoring in tedtds are part of the stts and there is one big zero on that one. In 2018 in five tests played Esterhuizen made 22 tackle and missed 5 - in 5 tests played by De Allende made 42 tackles and missed 5.

So who is the better defender of the 2 players?

Besides that, I can see with my eyes that Esterhuisen plays above average Rugby and deserves More starts in the Midfield!!

What you see of performances has bugger-all to do with real performances in matches and is fdifferent from what experts see after proper analysing games, You may dream about performance because you wish things happen you want to or not want to see. That is not a useful argument because of prejudice on your part.

I sat through reading your contributions on Springbok teams of you and Plum - Eserhuizen is the ebst enter int h e world and De Allende the worst, Take for instance the test where De Allende player at center against Georgia wher De Allende made a dribble kick that let to a try scored by Kriel. When De Allende scored a try Plum said he just has to walk over the line to score - which was utter BS. De Allende got ythe ball neasr to te 22 and oif h alked over the line he would have been tackled ten meters outside the tryline. But yopu two missed one thig totally, When Esterhuizen had some playing time there waas a kick made by Libbok that ended up very near to the tryline/ The wo wings was heeir to tackle the Italian fullback - so I was looking where Esterhuizen was when the full back was tackled two meters out? He was jogging along on the 22 meter line at his normal pace and played no role in an attempted turnover, So why was Esterhuzien absent from the scene? The answer is simple - he has no ball sense and is never where the action is - that is the reason for his zero tries scored, When De Allende got the pass he was in the right position and a score followed. In the case of Esterhuizen throughout his career had two similar opportunities - in two matches he played in he had two opportunities to score similar tries with an open tryline in froint of him - he knocked on balls he should have caught easily and score resultant tries, But then it came to ball sense Esterhuizen is never where a thinking player would be and it shows clearly ball sense and even ball shills problems,

Geez man where do I carry on like a crazy lunatic about any player, even the ones I might not be so fond of??

Jast check your own contribution on site and you amy find out who the real lunatic is in tis case. The only thing I do is tr eact to mindless and prejudiced BS memers came up with,

I don’t as simple as that!! You go out of your way to carry on like a lunatic about AE and lie left right and Centre to prove your so called facts!

Tell eme where I lie about issues pertaining of players, I leave that entirely t memebs like Mozart, Plum amd you to lie about facts and I am not the only liar on site believing the BS spouted on site, I beleive what playes and experts say about De Allende a a player and they know more about rugby than our site experts do. When Pollard stated th ta De Allende is the best 12 he ever played with and ean de Villiers claim the ebst Spring bok 12 since professionalization of te sport I beleive them When experts seect wold teams and cosnstantly pt De Allende as their top 12 in rugby every year I believe them.

I say yet again get a bloody grip and have a cup of tee and a Marie biscuit…

LOL

Take for instance the test where De Allende player at center against Georgia wher De Allende made a dribble kick that let to a try scored by Kriel.

Kriel didn't play against Georgia. You're talking about the Barbarians game.

When De Allende scored a try Plum said he just has to walk over the line to score - which was utter BS. De Allende got ythe ball neasr to te 22 and oif h alked over the line he would have been tackled ten meters outside the tryline.

He got the ball 10m out from the tryline, not near the 22, and there was no one in any position to tackle him, hence why he just jogged in - 7 steps and a dive, go count them. You remain the most dishonest poster on this board by a country mile, ou Maaik.

Nah, Moola

What you saw on Saturday, same as against the Barbarians, was a terrible gameplan being executed by players who rarely get the opportunity to play together because the coach thinks that flexing is massive squad makes him a genius.

Rassie wants the flyhalf to kick and kick and kick and the backs to chase and chase and chase.

That's the only way he can make up for not building any cohesion between them. Cos you don't need much synergy kick a ball, or to chase one.

Pakie,

Mikes posts are so full of errors.

You'll note, he will never return to the scene of the blunder to address it.

So why even bother replying?

Plum, any comment about Kolisi’s head contact which resulted in an HIA for him. Wasn’t that a stone cold yellow???

Uncle CM you must honestly get your spelling in order. Be fair to your fellow posters so that they can actually read the responses.

Other than that it’s no use speaking to you, as you are a full blown lunatic when it comes to AE…..

Also you proclaim to know so much about Rugby, but all your knowledge comes down to what Rugby Journalists say about players…

We all know that Journalists speak the most shit in the world, so your knowledge is based on shit….

Just for your info: " Kak Praat, is n Siekte “

I'll be honest Moola, i didn't see it. But I'd likely come to the same conclusion that you would.

Do you have clip?

Sorry Plum, that’s too technical for me! All I know is it was fairly early in the game and Kolisi went off for a HIA.

I don't think they showed it, Moola.

At some point he was suddenly called for an HIA.

Dunno if anyone else here actually saw it.

Anyway, we can't card Mandela. He is the people's hero after all.

Just found the replay. Collision was only 1.15 into game. Showed slow mo replay at 1.58. Direct head on head. I don’t necessarily agree with it but current law says tackling player must duck down or go as low as practicable to avoid head collisions which Siya didn’t do.

Can’t understand how it was not even looked at by the officials!!