Mostert is class, probably off the pace from playing in Japan at the moment. Although, as an openside he has never been as effective as at lock with his workrate. I would have looked at other guys at openside given the talent available, elrigh louw, JLdP... Yet our coaches persist with him or have even started Kwagga at 7. Who is fine coming off the bench against tired oppositions with his speed and poaching, but openside only._Os_ wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 9:17 pmIt worked with Mostert, who definitely proved me wrong. If he plays at his best and tackles and runs all match at max speed, he adds a lot. If he's coming off the bench and covering lock, he's adding there too. It then got out of hand and they started selecting any average backrow to do the same thing, cover ground and tackle. Kwagga Smith I've never rated much, but there's no way he's a blindside or eightman doesn't have the size (especially for eightman, the player needs to be able to pick and go from the back of the scrum making ground through heavy defence!), but he's acceptable at openside given the players they've picked and who has the experience now ... but Marcell Coetzee would've been a better investment in my book. Elstadt was capped, somehow. Wiese probably going to the RWC, not that impressive really, unconvinced he would stand out in the URC.boere wors wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 1:09 pm Completely agree with 1. Backrow selections are totally off for years now and are a problem for us. Our coaches start Kwagga at 6, 7 or 8 ffs
This will sound like an extreme statement (it's not, it makes complete sense), for the Boks given the level of interest among South Africans and talent available, if a player gets to around 10 to 20 caps and it's clear they're not in the conversation for at least being the best Bok in their position of that decade, then they need to be dropped and another player brought in.
Marcell Coetzee is a bit of a strange case. He wasnt really rated in SA, went to Europe and after a couple of years somehow became our prodigal son, only to return and fail again to leave an impression for the boks.
Wiese has been so heavily invested in for two years now and still gets test starts, but is absent most of the games. I would like to see us move on from him and would prefer Roos or try JLdP there, with Duane clearly still our no 1 eightman.