Butch still Boks’ best bet
15 Jun 2011
JON CARDINELLI says Butch James has made a statement since returning to South Africa and one bad tackle hasn’t changed the fact that he remains the Springboks’ strongest flyhalf option.
James has featured in just five games for the Lions since leaving English club Bath, and his impact as a leader and innovator has been profound. He did well in tandem with Elton Jantjies at the crucial 10-12 axis, and when asked to assume the pivot responsibilities, he so nearly orchestrated a great upset over his former Sharks team-mates.
The Lions led the Sharks 30-9 after 60 minutes, but a late rally by the visitors saw the game ending in a dramatic draw. The Sharks scored a converted try through Pat Lambie before James was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle, and seven more points while they enjoyed a numerical advantage.
Another converted try levelled the scores, and so the Lions’ dream of ending a poor season on a winning note was crushed.
Much has been said in the aftermath about James costing the Lions the game. Some have even gone as far to say it’s a mark of things to come if the aggressive No 10 goes to the World Cup.
Those who are quick to judge James’s yellow card as the turning point conveniently forget that the Lions conceded tries either side of his sanction. They also choose to ignore James’s late drop-goal attempt that was charged down by Bismarck du Plessis.
Would James have been so harshly criticised had Du Plessis been a yard slower, and that kick had bisected the posts? Would there be such ridiculous statements about his tackling style costing the Boks’ in big games, or would those self-same pundits be praising him and touting him to win the World Cup in a similar fashion?
Kicking has long been perceived as James’s weakness, even though he’s averaged 83% as a goal-kicker for South Africa. On Saturday, he challenged that perception again by slotting six from six, some from extremely difficult field positions.
James’s attacking skills and bruising defence have been evident during his five-match stint with the Lions, but his kicking and overall game management have been equally impressive. He will be afforded starting opportunities in the coming Tri-Nations, and if he can build on his performances in the Super Rugby tournament, he will force Peter de Villiers to reconsider the decision to stick with Morne Steyn.
Both Steyn and James will go to the World Cup, with utility players like Ruan Pienaar and young Lambie providing further flyhalf options. The Boks will need a flyhalf who can play according to the situation, in other words, somebody who is equally capable of kicking for territory or bringing the backline into the game.
Steyn’s limitations were laid to bare in the Boks’ 2010 Tri-Nations campaign, and the Bulls have struggled on attack in 2011. Steyn kicked the cover off the ball in the Bulls’ most recent game against the Stormers as part of a specific game plan. These tactics won’t work against an All Blacks or Wallabies back three who have the tactical kicking ability as well as the counter-attacking means to hurt the Boks.
Selecting a first-choice flyhalf comes down to who offers the team more options in the big matches. The Boks will have a relatively easy ride through to the World Cup quarter-finals, and you’d back them to overcome Ireland in that fixture. Who then is the best No 10 to lead the charge when the Boks take on the All Blacks in the semis?
The argument that James was a poor kicker was flawed to begin with, and his recent performances for the Lions have put that myth to rest. Outside of his kicking, he will offer a sound defensive option and unleash a Bok backline that has been shackled for too long.
And for those who are worried about his tackling, just remember what an important role he played as a defender at the 2007 World Cup. James will be one of the Boks’ greatest assets at the tournament in New Zealand rather a perceived liability.
352 Comments
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15 Jun 2011, 23:33 pm
and they still dancing on the totem pole goal posts in anticipation of one almighty act of redemption
Its been a long time coming… gonna be a long time gone… but you know the darkest hour is always just before the dawn … I remember David Crosby singing that.
15 Jun 2011, 23:33 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-298: Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined; Till at his second bidding darkness fled, Light shone, and order from disorder sprung.
15 Jun 2011, 23:35 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-300: Annunaki… Gregori… Watchers. Same thing new age vibrating, reconstructive piffle.
15 Jun 2011, 23:35 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-302:
so you actually a believing heathen and all along you been pretending you one them new age existentialist atheists
15 Jun 2011, 23:38 pm
Elohim and Annunaki ain’t off the same manuscript .. though they may very well be related if that Serbian deconstructionist of Assyrian and Sumerian ancient historical mythical culture is in any way accurate or correct in his findings or assumptions.
15 Jun 2011, 23:40 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-305: It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.
15 Jun 2011, 23:43 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-305: Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten
15 Jun 2011, 23:44 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-307: Should be a reply to 304
15 Jun 2011, 23:45 pm
its easy to sprout other men’s truths or words or theories or equations or findings, its quite another thing to know and experience truth for oneself
15 Jun 2011, 23:47 pm
is it not way past bedtime for this former nazi-loving sadf township oppressor?aspoeslappie doesn’t know the truth even if it hits him square in the face.the old chap is still in self-denial as to his exploits in the burning townships.
15 Jun 2011, 23:49 pm
what modern science knows of the nature of the vast physical universe, let alone of any other universes beyond it, is like a hair of incomplete knowledge floating on an ocean of vast unknown reality.
15 Jun 2011, 23:52 pm
@gunther is nazi-loving german rent-boy(Valkyrie)-310: you outa your league here kiddie winkie, fokof back to the dumbfck ignorant cave you crawled out from, dumb schmuck moronic idiocy incarnate
15 Jun 2011, 23:53 pm
“No man is an iland,
intire of it selfe;
every man is a peece of the Continent,
a part of the maine;
if a clod bee washed away by the Sea,
Europe is the lesse,
as well as if a Promontorie were,
as well as if a Mannor of thy friends
or of thine owne were;
ANY MANS death diminishes me,
because I AM involved in Mankinde;
And therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee….”
Clearly the COUNTRY is to be blamed for the death of an innocent child. Or does the modern christianity preach total selfishness?
15 Jun 2011, 23:53 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-309: What do you know about truth.
One true word.
One true life.
Self-awareness
Love is Pain
Hate is Pain
Life is living with and overcoming pain.
Self-actuation.
15 Jun 2011, 23:55 pm
@ET.(ET.)-313: Howzit… We getting maudlin now in the apparent full moon witching hour…
15 Jun 2011, 23:58 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-311: Modern Science asks questions… What it “knows” in totality is never constant… Expanding contracting… Hypotheses and Theories built on and added to or scrapped… Pure Modern Science is unsentimental… Vorsprung.
15 Jun 2011, 23:59 pm
@ET.(ET.)-313: No man is an island…?
15 Jun 2011, 23:59 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-315:
Does Britain witness this moon event?
No eclipse here my side of the pond.
This w-end is D-say for those who want to slip slide away to a home quarter final instead of the silly season(which we still witness daily) first place or second place home semis.
16 Jun 2011, 00:01 am
Strife,
Struggle,
Onward,
Upward,
Setbacks,
Victories…
Life…
Rugby…
16 Jun 2011, 00:01 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-317:
That is the copy and paste of the old English version of Donne
16 Jun 2011, 00:02 am
@ET.(ET.)-318: Nope cant see an eclipse here. Blaady blood red sky earlier… slightly unusual sunset for London Town.
16 Jun 2011, 00:02 am
@ET.(ET.)-320: Yeah, man
16 Jun 2011, 00:04 am
aspoeslappie’s talk about truth is nothing but laughable to say the least. as Abraham Lincoln once said ‘ You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of thepeople all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time’.he probably had this aspoeslappie in mind when he said that.credit to et for outing this springs born former nazi-loving sadf township oppressor.
16 Jun 2011, 00:06 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-317:
If the Gen. has to be taken away from his position(only if it benefits the team) of control I do not think it shoulld be to the f-b position.
He has to be closer to the action as in position 12, Here he and Freddy can proceed to bamboozle the Bulls as they play the double f-h ploy of going left or right.
16 Jun 2011, 00:07 am
no one can impart truth on any blog of in-consequence
that is simply a feeble attempt at blowing trumpets or blowing in the wind
and with morons moping around in menopausal misplaced misery on meandering make believe worlds such as avenues as these it makes it even less of a vastly emphatic hopeless impossibility. Fact is they are so far removed from any hope of ever reaching any concerted opportunity for even vaguely knowing wtf they are doing occupying a human body that any attempt at possibly educating them is like pharting straight into the phantom wind and expecting to become pregnant with quadrupedal triplets.
16 Jun 2011, 00:09 am
@ET.(ET.)-324: Yeah, you Shark Lover and Mshini may be right.
I just think that with Bulls skop en jaag there could be opportunities with General Lambie there as back stop.
16 Jun 2011, 00:10 am
@gunther is nazi-loving german rent-boy(Valkyrie)-323: the pity is that dumbfck idiots such as you are fooled beyond your wildest fckd up imaginations… and you don’t even know the beginning of it you pathetic moronic useless idiot fucked up dunce.
16 Jun 2011, 00:10 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-321:
It is the OMENS of another good w-end. Just watch them Blues(first) make it necessary for the Stormers to win to get 2nd place. Then Sat. see the Reds put place 1 out of reach and ‘Saders take up 2nd.
The timing of the Sharks gamme might make that a practice session if the W-tahs lose to the NEW Brums.
16 Jun 2011, 00:12 am
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-325: Do you know wtf you are doing occupying a human body other than mainly blogospheric belches of the what and very rarely miniscule pin pricks of showing that you vaguely know whats cutting with the why?
16 Jun 2011, 00:13 am
Sharks gonna catch Bulls in their superior delusions of grandeur and catch them napping in their skop skiet en jaag ou tydse neanderthal patterns. If they brave enough to that is, which they might just become, seeing as Stormers lost the plot entirely last Saturday.
16 Jun 2011, 00:15 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-326:
Very interested to see who your forward pack will be made up of.
They will have to play hard for at least 65mins. if a win is needed after that W-tahs game.
Sharks can do it if they put their minds to the task. Bulls are not a patch on past 2 years.
Stormers knoown stupidity under pressure made it that much easier for them.
16 Jun 2011, 00:17 am
@ET.(ET.)-328: Eish you know what. This whole weekend could be one of upsets. I reckon those Chiefs might do a number on the Reds. For me the only really clear cut game is the Saders v Canes (S) and Rebels v Force (F). The rest are 50/50 or 55/45 with home ground the difference or refs confounding…
16 Jun 2011, 00:17 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-329:
well that’s for your to assume or guess about, and only for you to try deduce or contemplate about wtf you are doing in a human body. Makes no difference to you whether I know wtf I’m doing in a human body.. but it makes every pertinent absolute difference to you if you yourself begin to know wtf you are doing in a human body.. that is for your own personal sake .. and not for mine.
16 Jun 2011, 00:22 am
@ET.(ET.)-331: Yeah it will be interesting to see who Plum puts on the park.
I reckon he might do:
Beast
Bis
Van Staaden
Mostert
Sykes
Daniel
Alberts
Kanko
But fark me Kanko is poor at the moment and has played himself out of Bok selection so far.
Although more “one dimensional” I would shift Daniel to 8, keep Alberts where he is and bring Deysel in.
I also hope Barney does not start. Not the way he is playing at the moment. Jannie DuP may come on in second half if match fit.
16 Jun 2011, 00:25 am
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-330: Bulls also had a tough game while Sharks were farking around this last Sat… A barrier for both teams. Bulls have adv of Loftus but may be overconfident. Yeah so you might me right (fark me thats twice tonight – must be gravitational vibrations of this witching hour afflicting all the way through the digital through Keo to yours truly)
16 Jun 2011, 00:26 am
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-333: Why must you know. Sometimes it is good to just be. To accept and calm the restless soul, bru.
16 Jun 2011, 00:27 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-335: might me right = might be right… almost time for bed
16 Jun 2011, 00:28 am
Keo your blog lacks integrity…Fox journalism at is best.
Butch has shown he is a liability. Pity as he is a good player but one brain **** in a big match thats it, over.
No Keo, Butch should not got to the RWC. The risk and repuation is too much.
Like Bakkies, his repuation, will cause the ref to go the pocket with prejudice without seeing the true infringement. His high tackle to me was not yellow card material based on what guys like SBW has been dishing out.
16 Jun 2011, 00:28 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-332:
Reds only need a bonus pt. to seal up first position and that can be a bad or good thing for them. ‘Saders should win with something to spare.
Remember too this is where the Conferences lesser teams(except SA ,too much provincialism) too can be helpful. We will see.
SA games genuinely 50/50 or 52/48 as you refer to.
Have to be off for supper HG.
Will chat tomorrow or Fri and Sat.
Note how quiet the W.Capers have been this week?
FEAR rules their every moment.
16 Jun 2011, 00:30 am
@KevinRack(KevinRack)-338: Nothing wrong with Fox journalism. I reckon it beats the shy.te out of some more pretentious “news” vendors.
16 Jun 2011, 00:31 am
@ET.(ET.)-339: Yeah you’re right re conferences.
LOL at the “FEAR”
Cheers man.
16 Jun 2011, 00:33 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-334:
I would swop Sykes with Hargreaves and accept the rest as given.
You were a bit harsh on Kanko as I thought he tried hard and had 2 excellent runs one of which ended in a try being scored soon after.
Away I am now.
16 Jun 2011, 00:35 am
@ET.(ET.)-342: Yeah, I farked up with that list… Sykes should not be there… Hargreaves a definite. Have mentioned in previous posts he would make a decent Captain too. Need to def go to sleep
16 Jun 2011, 00:38 am
Outtahere… Cheers shampoodle, Skopskiet, Ilanjo… A surprising meeting of betwixt and between in the midst of Keo digital bulldust… A one time rare event horizion. Normal service resumes come the weekend.
16 Jun 2011, 00:43 am
I just want to see the Sharks put in a solid effort, if we lose then I’m out of my misery and i’ll go round to my mates house and help him cheer on his beloved Stormers. If on the other hand they dig deep, show us they have the necessary minerals and come back to Durbs with a win, my faith will be restored and i’ll start to believe that we have a chance of winning that bloody cup for once.
16 Jun 2011, 01:16 am
@Blitzbok(Blitzbok)-147: One in every five yarpies is HIV+ More than twice the entire population of NZ! Now THAT is diseased!
16 Jun 2011, 02:45 am
If we had to leave out players because of there past actions we would have to leave out bakkies, Butch, Bizmark, Skalk just to name a few.
16 Jun 2011, 05:06 am
@Cannon(Cannon)-347: his recent yellow card is not past actions but present actions.!!
His reputation is a liability
16 Jun 2011, 07:31 am
@KevinRack(KevinRack)-338:
your opinions unfortunately “lack integrity” after years of whinging about referees, that didnt, you fraud.
16 Jun 2011, 07:40 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-264:
karma karm karma
CHAMELEON
you come and go’ooooooooooooooooo
you come AND go’oooooooooooooooooooooo !!!
you’ll be delighted to know that ‘rugby conversation’ broke out here momentarily in your absence, like it always does. Luckily we can all predict your absences now and can plan for them like a school picnic.
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