Great post.

There is no way Vermeulen is “half the athlete”, although Im sure you didnt mean it literally.

Let’s hope Meyer reads yr article and takes those suggestions. Lets pray we dont get Morne, Spies and Kirchner walking back into the team next year

So let’s think for the future, not look in the past, which is where half our problem is with HM!

What is a “NZ style game”?

- Solid set piece (SA can do this)
- Good tactical kicking (SA can do this too)
- Secure, fast Ruck ball (SA used to do this, no reason why it still cant)
- Distribution to outside backs with good fast ruck ball (SA used to do this pre 95, 95, and 1999 – nothing to do with isolation)
- Counterrattacking rugby (SA can do this too – I point at Cheetahs, Lions and Sharks)

This generalisation of a “NZ style game” and an “SA style game” is unhelpful and quite untrue… It is tunnel vision and lazyness…

ABs do the basics well – ALL the Basics…

I don’t see us playing a NZ style game ever, no matter how hard we tried, we here have had isolation so we developed different styles of rugby in each region (which AC has altered the status quo), and don’t ever see this changing. We are often our own worst enemy, politics, regionalism, etc.

“just seeing the positive” demonstrates this…

However this is your choice and opinion, but I certainly don’t agree with it… Definitely.

I didn’t like his Bull-Shark selection policy, I felt the Stormers forwards had some more to offer. I didn’t think JdV would be a lasting option, but hell, as long as it is not Spies. I don’t like the idea that his assistant coaches are all from the same union, but thats all he could get at short notice. I am hoping they all signed 1 year agreements, and HM can discuss this with his employers and get more specialists involved.

I mostly didn’t like the team not sporting enough moustaches this Movember, versus the AB that were very impressive.

@WP-Stormers-SA-43: SA might officially be No 2 at the moment… But I tell you who the real No 2 side is at the moment: France…

And the Boks can be farken thankful that they didn’t play them on EOYT or they would caught a smack along the same lines as Aus did…

Simple…

I am not blind to the uphill climb, just see the positive, versus focusing on the negative.

Mourn the losses, not the victories.

Either that or you can’t do your sums… Let me state this FACT to help you: The Boks win % was not in the 60′s… It was late 50′s, okay?

In France (who pretty much know what makes a backline tick)

And

At the Sharks (who also have a fairly good idea of backline play, at least compared to other SA sides)

But then again you can really see the Steyn wood in this “premier” JdV forest of yours…

However keep eulogising the Donkey… while the rest of the world will continue to use his outside channel as nice weakness… (Well it worked for the Sharks anyway, especially when getting JPP to exploit our “premier distributing” Cappie in S15 just this year)…

We assume the coach has a philosophy, and having NO time to prepare I think he has done well.

England have FAR more players than SA, and are at the start of their international season. Their new coach had a 6 nations to coach before coming to SA. SA is a lovely country. We went to play our games at 5 degrees in the rain and beat them.

The fist game against England we took our foot off the pedal and let them sneak in a late try.

Come to think of it, you sound like a English scribe. England score in the 78th minute of the game and you think they were on a massive comeback, and had the game been 82 minutes long, they have scored another 2 tries to win the game.

The status quo of world rugby has been restored. NZ on the top, SA 2nd, and the rest fighting for the scraps. This is how it is. We (the world) have restored balance, now let us (SA) improve.

But still I optimistically persist with throwing good quality pearls to swine like a good pilgrim…

Like the fact that outside the ABs, the rest of the tier one, tier 2 nations outside France (who Boks did not play farking fortunately) are in as much if not more of a rebuilding state as the Boks are… Consequently these competitors are more sh.yte than in previous years…

Compare this to Straeuli’s era when the Boks not only had to contend with Aus, NZ and France but also the strongest England side in history…

Now contextualise Meyer’s record – a lucky draw against a sh.yte England side, not in the stratosphere of England circa 2003, a lucky draw against Arg – certainly a decent side but also probably not their very best – especially if you recall that Arg circa 2007 ended up in the top 3 sides on the planet….

Then you have the lucky wins – including the one against a very sub par Ireland on this EOYT…

The only comprehensive win the Boks had this whole season was against Aus at Loftus…. Basically an Aus C side that ended up with 13 men on the pitch…

Now that is context and considering all things…

Chrissakes, some of you chaps gotta wipe the propaganda sh.yte outta your eyes…