Schalk Burger’s match stats seem to back up his man of the match award, but Tank Lanning has been pretty harsh on the popular flank him in his Vodacom Bok ratings this week.
Tank Lanning
There is no remarks column on the scoreboard. A win is a win. We’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss. Winning while playing poorly is a sign of a good side …
Those were all the clichés heard in and around Twickenham after the Boks had beaten Wales 23-19 to book themselves a semi-final against the All Blacks next Saturday.
That because there was nothing pretty about the win in what turned out to be an exciting game of rugby, but one that also turned out to be the worst advert for the game out of the four quarter finals on offer.
It seems that those who watched on TV saw a different game to the mistake fest we witnessed live. South Africa dominated all the attacking stats and should have had Wales in a dark cupboard from early in the game.
But they executed an obvious ten man game so poorly, and with such little variation, that much like in the first game against Japan, the Welsh were able to keep themselves in the game via some heroic defence, making 197 tackles to the 123 required from the Boks.
Again, most of the action took place either up front with the big boys taking one off passes with a view to getting over the gainline, or via the halfbacks Fourie du Preez and Handre Pollard. There were no offloads from any of the other backs, and very few passes.
With the tactical kicking being poor in terms of both deciding when to kick, and in the execution thereof, it took a moment of brilliance from Duane Vermuelen and Fourie du Preez to get the Boks out of jail. All post match analysis seems to be focussing on the 30 seconds of brilliance and not the 79 minutes of poorly executed ten man rugby …
Handre Pollard’s inconsistency off the kicking tee also remains an issue.
As said in my analysis of the match stats, Schalk Burger was named man of the match, and a cursory glance at his key match statistics seem to back that up: 59 metres run, 26 carries, 1 defenders beaten, 14 passes, 2 offloads, 16 tackles, 1 missed tackle.
He was impressively busy, but he does perform a lot of that action in the flyhalf channel. Something that perhaps adds to the Bok predictability. It would be interesting to see the Boks utilise the skills of the man with a ten on his back in that channel.
As such, my Bok ratings might fly in the face of the more mainstream …
How I rated the Boks against Wales:
Willie le Roux – 4.5
JP Pietersen – 6
Jesse Kriel – 5.5
Damian De Allende – 7.5
Bryan Habana – 7
Handré Pollard – 5.5
Fourie du Preez – 6.5
Duane Vermeulen – 7.5
Schalk Burger – 5.5
Francois Louw – 7
Lood de Jager – 7
Eben Etzebeth – 6.5
Frans Malherbe – 6
Bismarck du Plessis – 6.5
Tendai Mtawarira – 6
Bench:
Adriaan Strauss – 7.5
Trevor Nyakane – 6.5
Jannie du Plessis – 6
Pieter-Steph du Toit – 6.5
Willem Alberts – 7.5
Pat Lambie – 6.5
Jan Serfontein – 6
Coach:
Heyneke Meyer – 5
Referee:
Wayne Barnes – 7.5
Disagree? Brilliant, because now you can do your own Bok ratings and stand a chance of winning one of two Samsung Galaxy A3 phones. Add your own ratings on the “Rate the Boks” section of the site, then share them on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #ratetheboks. That share not only automatically gets you into the draw to win one of the two phones, but also influences the overall community ratings and allows you to compare your ratings with those of the experts and other sectors of the community.
Ever wondered if the fans in Joburg rate the players differently to those in Cape Town, or if perhaps the fairer sex enjoy a varied take on the game to the manne who think they know it all? Have a little fun by comparing your ratings with any other 2 sets of ratings by choosing them from the drop down menus at the top of each column.
