Potgieter in Loftus spotlight
10 Oct 2008
The synergy between flyhalf Jacques Louis Potgieter and his centres will determine whether the champs flounder or flourish at Loftus Versfeld.
Free State may currently hold the title, but they travel to Pretoria this Saturday as underdogs. They don’t boast as much experience in their combinations, and in pressure positions like flyhalf and inside centre, they could be outgunned.
Potgieter began the 2008 Super 14 as the Cheetahs’ first choice pivot, but when the domestic tournament arrived, Naka Drotské dropped the 24-year-old and sent him to the Griffons. Then Chris Rossouw was out with concussion, and the experiment with Tewis de Bruyn at 10 failed. Potgieter was recalled and resumed his run at flyhalf with the kind of success that made one wonder why he was ever dropped.
This statement needs to be viewed in context. Potgieter has looked a better option than Rossouw or De Bruyn. He has the potential to ignite the Cheetahs backline and complements a player like Meyer Bosman. Free State are fortunate to have the attacking brilliance of Jongi Nokwe and Robert Ebersohn out wide, but they need a distributor of Potgieter’s quality to unleash that potential. Potgieter could pull something out of the bag this weekend, but the lack of opportunity to settle alongside Bosman and company could count against him.
Conversely, Morne Steyn and Bulls scrumhalf Fourie du Preez are a well established combination, while Wynand Olivier has improved playing on Steyn’s outside. The one weak link could be Marius Delport, the least experienced player in the Bulls backline and a player who is better known for his prowess on the wing. No doubt, the Cheetahs will target the Bulls’ No 13 channel.
The Bully Boys boast a better kicking game with both Du Preez and Steyn in fine form, and Zane Kirchner is no slouch in this department either. The Cheetahs management believe Potgieter to be a more attacking flyhalf, and so there could be minimal kicking on the part of the Cheetahs. It may seem an obvious mistake, but they can’t afford to surrender any possession.
A quicker flow will suit the Free State side, as they’ll look to exploit the attacking strengths of Nokwe, Ebersohn and JW Jonker. The Bulls are favourites up front, and will meet the Cheetahs’ challenge at the tackle point. But overall, they’ll aim to slow the play to suit their own brand.
A slow a game is slow poison for the Cheetahs. Potgieter will thrive in a looser contest, and although structure will be important in terms of parity, Free State will have to lure the Bulls into a helter-skelter spectacle if they are to have any chance of victory. Failure to do that will see the central union relinquish an Absa Currie Cup title they’ve held for three years.
By Jon Cardinelli
By Jon Cardinelli
48 Comments
10 Oct 2008, 04:45 am
The dragon’s bollocks.
10 Oct 2008, 04:47 am
*****, it is lonely on this bloody website.
10 Oct 2008, 04:57 am
Maybe if I post something intelligent someone might join the discussion. But how do you post something intelligent when the subject is JL Potgieter and the author Jon Cardinelli?
10 Oct 2008, 05:00 am
I’ll just scratch my balls then.
10 Oct 2008, 05:08 am
#4 kwas:
saffa eh?
10 Oct 2008, 05:18 am
#5 greatest13gerber: Indeed, old Danie. When are you returning to the game, ou ballas? Would clowns like this Nokwe okie ever had a chance in the days you played the game? Man, what happened to SA rugby.
10 Oct 2008, 05:21 am
Meyer Bosman can have a big influence. He has an eye for the gap and is a good off-loader in the tackle. Attacking the blue centres must be the Cheeta’s best plan. And off courses, rushing the game, all the time. But the Blues will grind them down. Nothing spectacular but efficient
10 Oct 2008, 05:27 am
#3 kwas:
Looking at Potgieter last Saturday I think he might just be the real deal, given our current flyhalf problem..
Depending on his semi performance tomorrow, he could well find him in the EOTY tour.
Very talented player, he and Burton both.
10 Oct 2008, 05:38 am
#6 kwas:
bru, Nokwe is second rate Dolly Nkata(who was actually quite decent player)
SA rugby in for major change with rid of Bok emblem. Massive shockwave thru World rugby.
#8 Pietman:
no flyhalf problem. F Steyn should be there.
10 Oct 2008, 05:40 am
#7 losbal: Meyer Bosman moves with the elegance of a giraffe. You need the flair and precision of a Floors or Fortuin to create havoc amongst the backs.
10 Oct 2008, 05:42 am
#9 greatest13gerber: The Bok is gone?
10 Oct 2008, 05:46 am
#8 Pietman: Piet, you are scaring me now, tjomma. How are things in the East with markets collapsing faster than the Aussie scrum?
10 Oct 2008, 05:50 am
#12 kwas:
recession?..oh i forgot
10 Oct 2008, 05:54 am
#13 greatest13gerber: Danie, that is just crazy talk, my man. So what is up with the Bok?
10 Oct 2008, 05:56 am
#14 kwas:
Bok emblem is been replace with “Mighty Protea”
decision already made
10 Oct 2008, 06:04 am
#15 greatest13gerber: You are sh*tting me, ou grote. When did this happen? I have been accused of living with my head stuck in the Athabasca oil sands, but I still don’t get how this passed me by.
10 Oct 2008, 06:09 am
#16 kwas:
bru, yes true. You need look up in SABC News .
you will hear all about it soon enough.
10 Oct 2008, 06:29 am
#17 greatest13gerber: Danie, I was hoping you were grapping me, but this is indeed true. I guess we all knew they would one day take away what the Afrikaner held dearest. Mind you, I would rather see them totally destroy the game under the Protea than further tarnish the Bok with their transformation policies.
10 Oct 2008, 06:30 am
‘Springbok emblem must go’
2008-10-09 22:10Email | Print
Durban – Rugby’s corporate sponsors and its hallowed symbol the Springbok came under fire from delegates on the first day of a two-day National Sports Indaba held in Durban on Thursday.
Sports Portfolio Committee chair Butana Komphela told delegates: “The Springbok divides us. We have a responsibility to unite our country on one national emblem.
“Minister, I want you to observe the arrogance of white people on the Springbok emblem,” he said.
Komphela said that there could be “no negotiation” on the Springbok emblem.
When the floor was opened to the delegates, many speakers called for a resolution removing the Springbok emblem to be passed as soon as possible.
However, Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said: “My view is that emblems are not matters of life and death.”
He said there should be one national emblem which all sporting codes would endorse.
Rampant racism
Komphela added that the Sharks rugby franchise’s failure to wear “Say no to racism” on their jerseys was nothing but “rampant racism” on the part of manufacturer Mr Price.
“Dealing with the legacy of apartheid cannot be dealt with by market forces,” he said.
SA Rugby Union (Saru) chief executive Johan Prinsloo said he could not participate in the debate on the emblem as he had not been authorised to do so and the Springbok emblem had not originally been on the agenda of the Indaba.
According to the sports ministry the main purpose of the indaba, among others, is to develop an integrated national strategy in order to accelerate the implementation of the national sports development agenda.
The indaba will focus on the number of critical topics such as “Politics, sport, transformation and excellence, and access to resources”.
Earlier in the day SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president Moss Mashishi said the country’s poor Beijing Olympic results need to be examined without “stones being thrown at each other”.
He said the “painful lessons of this experience need to be examined soberly rather than be used an opportunity to throw stones at each other”.
South Africa’s able-bodied athletes only managed one silver medal –their worst result since being readmitted to the international sporting fold.
In contrast the country’s paralympians a month later enjoyed their best Paralympics to date, raking in 30 medals, including 21 golds, to finish sixth on the medals table.
Mashishi said that “now that we have given the big powers such as the Russians a fright we should put more resources into the team”.
Referring to the sports funding from the national lottery, Mashishi questioned why the control of those funds were not within the sporting fraternity.
An area that needed to be cleared up was the relationship between federations and school sport.
“It’s an area that is grey and hazy,” he said.
10 Oct 2008, 06:31 am
the **** with these arrogant ******** will never stop , those thinking it will?? dream on
10 Oct 2008, 06:41 am
#20 sharks_lover: Hi, I am on my way to Deben this morning.
10 Oct 2008, 06:42 am
#8 Pietman: Middag, is the TV fixed yet?
10 Oct 2008, 06:45 am
#12 kwas:
Yes bru, markets took a 40% tumble against the US$ over here.
Things are very dicy at the moment.
Any currency slipping against the dollar right now is weak, SA included.
Buy property in SA now, cash is the name of the game!
Turn over any securities, savings plans, annuities thay you may have into cash, you are better off with money in the bank in the bank right now.
#20 sharks_lover:
Komphela is a babbling, senile old ‘madhala’ from Stilfontein in the S-OFS. He is out on retribution against anything white. That is his only mission in life.
Exactly a year ago he was on about withdrawing the Boks’ passports, and the Minister of the Interior told him it couldn’t be done legally.
Now he holding a two day seminar about the Bok emblem, an issue that his own minister doesn’t even agree with.
How dumb can you be, I ask.
Komphela is the ANC’s own Jaap Marais, he is hobbling into extinction soon….
10 Oct 2008, 06:48 am
#22 Loosehead:
Yes, at las, thx. I only caught up on last weekend’s games this morning, took the day off work just for that, hehehe!
Btw, I fancy your team for a spot in the final. they must just get those defence lines in place, their tackling were piss poor against Boland.
10 Oct 2008, 06:52 am
#24 Pietman: TV gedrop in die trek?
10 Oct 2008, 06:57 am
#25 Koos:
Nee, die Starisat by die kroeg se ‘settings’ het deurmekaar geraak, iemand het daar rondgekarring in my afwesigheid.
Die ding werk mos met n rekenaar.
Omtrent gesukkel om die spul uit te sorteer, toe kom een van ons oud-studente nou die aand toevallig n dop drink en binne minute ‘reset’ hy dit !
En dit na al die groot menere van die TV maatskappy net kom kopskud het vir twee dae daar…
10 Oct 2008, 06:57 am
#25 Koos: Al die wp ondersteuners se tv’s is stukkend….geskop.
10 Oct 2008, 06:58 am
#23 Pietman: I said it a year ago, two years ago and a number of other times in between. I hope somebody takes that cnut out of the game. He is the biggest racist in SA.
10 Oct 2008, 06:58 am
#24 Pietman: Pietman jy kan nou amper huis toe kom met die R/$ exchange! He he
10 Oct 2008, 06:59 am
#22 Loosehead: Lions and Tahs for the final……….. will be the highlight of my year hehehehe
10 Oct 2008, 07:04 am
#29 AB:
Dis my plan!
Maar die probleem is om die ‘local currency’ na dollars om te sit, soos ek se, dis 40% af teenoor laas week.
So wat ek wen van Rand na dollar, verloor ek met die aankoop van dollars hier duskant.
Nietemin, dit is iets om te oorweeg, probleem is om jou vaste bates in te ‘cash’, daar is nie tans kontantkopers nie, en die banke leen niemand niks hier nie op die oomblik.
10 Oct 2008, 07:05 am
DURBAN, Oct 9 (Reuters) – South Africa rugby jerseys may sport a flower instead of a Springbok next year after the country’s Parliamentary Sports Portfolio Committee decided to ditch the iconic emblem.
Committee Chairman Butana Komphela told a radio station that delegates supported the call to have a uniform national sporting emblem and for the Springbok to be replaced by South Africa’s national flower, the protea, from next year.
“All the other national teams no longer use the Springbok and the last time the national rugby team runs out with the Bok on their chests will be on the end-of-year tour to the UK,” Komphela told Metro FM radio.
“The decision has been made and there will be no negotiation and I know that SA Rugby will say that it will result in a huge loss in revenue, but our investigations have actually indicated that the opposite will happen.”
The CEO of SA Rugby, Johan Prinsloo, told the same radio station that they had not taken part in discussions because the subject had not been on the agenda.
“We do have our own opinion as SA Rugby and the Springbok is a huge brand, so it would have drastic consequences for rugby if it were to go, but we will discuss the matter at the President’s Council to determine what to do.” (Reporting by Dali Ndebele in Johannesburg; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
10 Oct 2008, 07:07 am
#27 K9_BaasPatrolliehond: #29 AB:
Dali Ndebele?
Kyk post # 32 hierbo.
Wat soek Dali daar saam met Komphela?
10 Oct 2008, 07:08 am
#31 Pietman: Dis hoekom dit n “credit crunch” genoem word, al die banke hou nou hul geld vas. So jy is in n catch22? Al wat nou gaan werk is om als te verkoop wanneer dit weer goed gaan en te wag vir die volgende groot val, maar dit kan 20 jaar vat! Koop nou maar aandele oor so n maand, sou ek se.
10 Oct 2008, 07:13 am
#33 Pietman: Dis seker n ander Dali, hoop ek!
10 Oct 2008, 07:13 am
#34 AB:
Dit is so, ek gaan nou net vir kontant, en laat dit maar in die bank op rente le vir n tydjie.
Ek betaal tans my gat af aan assuransies hier (AIG van alle mense!) en ook in SA, tot en met Feb 2010 wanneer ek beplan het om af te tree en dit alles in te cash, maar lyk my ek is besig om my geld te mors, veral met Old Mutual.
Het gister met my mense gepraat in SA, ek gaan uitdop met die versekeringspolisse nou, voordat alles fokkol werd is.
10 Oct 2008, 07:14 am
#35 AB:
Ek glo nie ****….
10 Oct 2008, 07:25 am
#32 GroenEnMaroon:
Komphela se ma se harre man.
Die Bok gaan bly op die rugbytrui.
Dit is nie vir Komphela om te se nie, wie is hy?
10 Oct 2008, 07:30 am
#38 Pietman: Hahahah. Ek stem.
10 Oct 2008, 07:33 am
#27 K9_BaasPatrolliehond: Hehehe! Jy dink hulle sal raak skop?
10 Oct 2008, 07:34 am
#38 Pietman: #39 GroenEnMaroon: Die “nuwe” ANC onder Zuma het nie lus vir verdere verdeeltheid nie! Hulle gaan die Komkop onder sy gat skop!
10 Oct 2008, 07:42 am
#40 Koos: Probeer grubber…..ala Luke
10 Oct 2008, 07:48 am
#42 K9_BaasPatrolliehond: So maar ‘n kukkerige skop…
10 Oct 2008, 07:52 am
#43 Koos: Jip, so ‘n skop op jou eie heelagter.
10 Oct 2008, 08:00 am
#39 GroenEnMaroon:
Keo, give us a thread on Komphela and the Bok emblem, please.
And let’s see what our bloggers have to say.
I know of only four here on keo who will support the abolition of the Bok emblem, and two of them have been banned already!
Only Saru1983 and ‘halfback’ left, as far as I know.
But anyway, give us the thread keo, and let’s see how the ‘voting’ goes, and who else crawls out of the woodwork.
10 Oct 2008, 08:03 am
Bafana has just been demoted to 85th in the world.
Maybe that is what Komphela would like to see for rugby too, his brother being Bafana U/23 coach and all…..
10 Oct 2008, 08:06 am
Animal Farm in government
10 Oct 2008, 21:14 pm
Komphela se phela
gaan sema
vir jou grenma
onse wil die Bok bly he!!
Komphela en pella
gaan sema
vir jou boeta
dit is tjy en hy wat maar eerder moet toeta!!
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