Bosman breathes some life into White
20 Mar 2006
Springbok coach Jake White will be breathing easier after Meyer Bosman’s display against the Stormers.
Bosman was the shining light in the weekend’s Vodacom Super 14 matches and eased the woes around the flyhalf position.
White has admitted on several occasions during the past fortnight that the flyhalf situation was a concern, especially with Andre Pretorius not having played because of injury and Jaco van der Westhuyzen only expected to play in a fortnight. Bosman had been erratic up until Saturday’s clinical display against the Stormers. The young Bok flyhalf had mixed the good with the ordinary in his previous matches, but on Saturday he showed the calmness of an old pro and the touches that saw White draft him into the Bok test side, despite him never having started a senior match for Free State.
Bosman’s performance with the boot and his general display will give White comfort and will probably ensure greater investment in the 21 year-old utility back.
Peter Grant, at the Stormers, has offered solidity and not much more. On Saturday he produced his worst display of the season, was substituted at halftime and then made to watch as Naas Olivier’s willingness to attack the gain line started to give the Stormers backs an edge. Bet on Olivier or Van der Westhuyzen (if he does eventually make it to the Stormers) starting at No 10 on the overseas trip.
Derick Hougaard has been outstanding with his goalkicking at Loftus. Hougaard has goaled 21 from 22 in his last three matches. His defence has been good, but he still doesn’t do enough on attack to keep the defence guessing. Hougaard will play for South Africa if White decides a kicking game is what will win him the World Cup. It is a big IF because White has never been a Hougaard fan. Hougaard will find that he is still low on the list of flyhalf candidates with White preferring Van der Westhuyzen, Pretorius, Bosman, Percy Montgomery and even Jean de Villiers as options.
Talking of De Villiers. He started to look good once Olivier moved to flyhalf, while Schalk Burger was definitely more effective playing at No 8. Schalk Brits’s general play was once again good. He is a fantastic footballer, as shown with his try, but he still let himself down early on with some erratic throwing in at the lineout. White again is not a great fan of Brits’s and has pin pointed flaws in his basics as a hooker. Any opinion is subjective. White is right that Brits can improve certain basics, but he is wrong to ignore the obvious talent of this guy. He does add a dimension to any team’s attack.
Among the Cheetahs, Juan Smith was the best until forced from the field with injury. And the prognosis on him did not appear good, while Os du Randt had a big game at Newlands.
Other individuals to play well were JP Pietersen (Sharks fullback), the Ndungane brothers, Bryan Habana (even if he still gets exposed when coming in off his wing), Craig Davidson, Victor Matfield, John Smit and AJ Venter. As a team effort, none beat the Sharks who really got their act together. Credit to the coaching staff and to the influence of senior players Smit and Venter. The latter has been in fine form all tour, while Smit emphasised his class with his first start of the season.
There was very little to get excited about in the Cats 43-15 defeat against the Crusaders. Wikus van Heerden got through an enormous amount of slog and grind, but then he always does and Klein-Jan Tromp had a decent first half before injury forced him out of the tour. Gerhard Vosloo showed commitment and so did the entire team for an hour. But then the class of the Crusaders took control of the battered Cats and the last quarter was always going to be one-sided for the Crusaders and messy for the Cats.
Venter, Smith and Smit are Keo.co.za’s three forwards of the weekend, while Pietersen and Bosman were the pick of the backs. What will please White is that in round six, several of his prominent Boks have started to show form after being too quiet in the early rounds.
PS: Tony Brown was very good against his former Highlanders teammates, but our focus is on South African players.
74 Comments
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20 Mar 2006, 12:39 pm
Good one Kevin w
Just remember Honiball was not the complete fly half when he started his career and it took time to develop, same with Larkham.
20 Mar 2006, 12:58 pm
Well Tackler is there are so many better why did tyhe old man show your HOUSE OF PAIN side up so badly then?
Sort of a contradiction in terms no?
CSI – i guess different countrys have different strenghts at different posistions.
20 Mar 2006, 13:05 pm
Well, wls, Tony Brown was only pitted against against ONE of the possible five NZ top-flight number tens while he was down at Dunedin!
20 Mar 2006, 13:59 pm
Hougi still best we got
20 Mar 2006, 14:12 pm
Buenos Nothches !
Los Tango Milonga est muchos bien !
Los chicas est muchos bien !
ps The Argentine womens hockey side , were not only 1 millon times hotter than their german opponents , were much better in the goal scoring dept and won 2 , 0
20 Mar 2006, 14:21 pm
Murph,
YOu must have had a very merry weekend, first Ireland win and then Freestate. Good team the Irish have.
20 Mar 2006, 14:24 pm
murph I once met a touring ladies hockey side in durban.they were from brazil.very hot.was busy coming right then my pissed mate pitched up and farked it up.will never forgive him.
20 Mar 2006, 14:27 pm
Bossman has done well enough so far at home.
But lets judge him on how well he does on the road AND against a second string French team!
20 Mar 2006, 14:33 pm
Tackeldoos
i remember King Henry handing Tony Brown his *** on a plate many times. Bosman is a still a kid.
still no kiwi friends i see!
20 Mar 2006, 14:35 pm
stucky kiwi’s arent like tackler at all and south africans arent like tackler at all.he is a outcast.with his attitude he wont be making friends in nz i promise you that.
20 Mar 2006, 14:37 pm
Actually Bossman has played overseas against the Welsh and French. He played well against Wales and I think the conditions were too much for him against France, his second game.
20 Mar 2006, 14:49 pm
Yeah Tackler and your point? he still handed the guy a lesson? imagine if he played the other lot lol.
20 Mar 2006, 15:10 pm
The only point that tackles comes close to is the point of no return when shagging BAAAA-BAAAA-RA.
20 Mar 2006, 16:25 pm
Redcard LMFAO. or the point on his nose that he tried to squeeze before he dated the sheep.
20 Mar 2006, 17:41 pm
Where is Tackler from in SA?
20 Mar 2006, 18:10 pm
bosman looking much better looks like he can go far
20 Mar 2006, 18:40 pm
good stuff, the future looks bright…the future looks green and gold!
20 Mar 2006, 18:41 pm
I was at the game on Saturday. You can play Os or Ollie at flyhalf if they can kick. Meyer is not a gamebreaker. I concur, his goalkicking was spot-on Saturday, but Hougi’s stats show the same. Besides AP, no decent senior flyhalf around. I’ll wait for Jody Rose to get his opportunity. He is very good at distributing the ball and always seems to have time on the ball. Best prospect at flyhalf.
20 Mar 2006, 23:20 pm
Two things that bother me is that one: JW went to the Bulls camp the night before they played the Cheetahs in Bloem (where Meyer missed in front of the posts)to wish them good luck “loftus is the only place where he doesn’t feel welcome” and the fact that Hougi, knows that even if he plays the best rugby of his career JW will still look him over, even if his 2 choice flyhalfs is injured and the third only played one good game so far.
21 Mar 2006, 03:36 am
there is something fundamentally wrong with the way south african coaches approach the game. they seem to think bigger is better, and this may be the case, but in the case of Bosman the guy has potential, but no real substance. we have potentially the most lethal backline outside 10, but we dont have anyone to unleash it. we need to stop being so obsessed with size, and focus more on skill, and ability to read the game. then the Bok will show the kiwis their arses!
21 Mar 2006, 05:16 am
schalla
how many games have you seen bosman play?
on the size issue: do you consider jaco vd westhuizen and andré pretorius as giants? how small should they be?
21 Mar 2006, 05:49 am
seen him play 2 games only. solid but not spectacular.i dont think anyone considers jaco and adre to be giants, but thats the point exactly. they are good because of their skill and ability to reada game. yet when people are talking about bosman the discussion often centres around his size, and the fact that he is physicaly similar to honnibal. also i think its no secret that jake likes big boys…tho that isnt always a bad thing.
21 Mar 2006, 09:09 am
NZ News S14 Number play of the week: Meyer Bosman.
22 Mar 2006, 00:02 am
CSI, where can I read about this?
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