On Pienaar, bring him back, he is an incredibly valuable player for us and his playing up north will have give him that confidence he needed!

Settle down for a moment and accept that the 3 Nations are far ahead of the chasing pack with Wales still having to prove it belongs near such esteemed company,and France looking to be coached away from it. I’m totally unconvinced by Englands new crop too- have a feeling they’ll be exposed in the republic.

” But against Edinburgh he played with the authority of a man who was absolutely clear in what he wanted to achieve and one not shackled, as he had been, by a fear of failure.”

Edinburgh? Really? The strongest team from a country who has their backsides handed to them every test they play? He dominated against a team which wouldn’t even make the Currie Cup grade…

Vrede, you are such a prick, now that the Keo posterboy Butch James has finally ‘retired’ from international rugby (albeit you actually have to be selected before you can say you don’t want to) you need a new saviour, and it seems that Pienaar is it… we don’t need a kicking scrumhalve, and apart from that, Pienaar offers nothing that the other No. 9′s in SA does not have, and actually, Duvenhage & de Bruyn are more than useful with the boot as well.

But Pienaar once a utility always a utility. Best option outside of Hougaard IMO

Historically though, many of our 9s are guilty of taking a lot of time behind the ruck.

However, in their defense – they sometimes had to resort to traffic marshalling due to (i) poor alignment of strike runners around the fringes and (ii) poor alignment of runners (and especially supporting runners) in the wider channels.

The Lions is a good example of this – when your strike runners are not sure where to stand / what to do, the 9s job is incredibly difficult.

That’s my biggest criticism.

But he’s a good player, however at no 9 I wouldn’t have him in the Springbok mix.

But that’s maybe just me.

Agree to some extent regarding the quality of rugby up North.

However, the heavier fields automatically slows down the pace of all players, hence the slower pace of the game.

If anything, quick decisionmaking is even more important on a slower surface when you play phases because you are already competing against the poor geography.

Ruan is slow and deliberate.

When he plays in a slow league he is great, but down here he just stuffs up all the momentum. This when he plays scrumhalf, I still maintain he’s a good flyhalf.

Having written what i have above, there are some Super Rugby teams that are nowhere near the standard of the Super Rugby tournament.

He insisted on playing 9, and did not want to embrace the fact that he is a fantastic utility player.

Would probably start in any test team but for the Boks, Wales and the Wallabies.

‘All’… I very much doubt it… many including Boks, AB’s, Wallabies don’t even make the starting sides…

Come the play-off rounds the rugby is top notch.

You’re smoking your socks if you think the Currie Cup is anywhere near Heineken Cup quality…