Congratulations are due

Firstly, congrats to the Mighty Stormers and also to the Bulls for making the semi finals.

I would also give credit to the Lions who made the quarters and did better than anybody would have thought at the beginning of the season.

That leaves the wee gups who again failed to live up to expectations. As to the coach give J P another season to see what he can achieve with a talented squad.

As to the captaincy I think my good friend Plumpster would agree AE doesn't cut an inspiring figure. Also whether AE needs to move to 6 is a consideration.

I think Rooitwit wishes everyday he was a Mighty Stormers supporter!

All this said the Stormers and Bulls have to travel away to face the number 1cand 2 on the log. A tough assignment.

Looking forward to seeing the Boks in action soon. Rassie's selections will be of particular interest this year. Some outstanding young talent could get a chance.

Ja, well done to the lions for making it this far with a no name squad. None of there players will ever make the bok 23 march day team, unless on rotation. They don't even come close to the top 45 as the next cab off the rank.

I was really disappointed with the Sharks but that is purely down to lack of discipline and trying to be Harlem globe trotters rather than doing their jobs. So many off loads or pure decisions. AE must be kicking himself for going back to the sharks. I also think to many black development players that are great strike runners but can't tackle, mix it up in the tight grind or just stick to the script. Yes, Siyaya looks great when he attacks but a other Libbok in the making. The best players only need one chance and it comes off and then do the rest of the boring stuff. Just look at Kolbe, he has brought back his instincts to attack everything.

Bools took some adjustments under Ackerman and losing 6 games hurt them. However, under Jake they made like 3 finals. It would be a step down if they don't and probably have the most powerful team from SA.

For me the Stormers can kick themselves as they did all the hard work at the beginning of the season, with their squad players like Jurie Mathee, winning games away from home, only for the likes of Gelant, Willemse and Sasha go stuff it up. I think these guys need a solid break of two months and then fade them in towards the business end of the season. The run from March until June is the critical part of the season and this is where Rassie is failing. Given that we are not making inroads in the championship, might as well stick with your opening team and reward them.

We are one step closer to a global season but the ABs are holding out.

KC

Read what I said about coaching and the .impact .it had on the Bulls and the Stormers,

White coached the Bulls in 3 URC finals and never came close t/o winning in any of the 3 finals. He buggered up royally with his ten-man game strategy - as well as his contracting of players. He never invested in future backline players - only looking at the elderly and was clueless about enter play as well. In t he end he caused a player revolt - not the first time in his career and was fired as a result.

Ackerman got a malfunctioning team from White only capable of playing Jakeball and it took him tim tog et some order into the mess,

As to the Stormers they won their first 8 matches in he eri.es and then hit bad times with the Dobson team selection a puzzle only idiots would understand. i referred to the Cardiff match in the Round Robin series as an example of what went wrong. Instead of bein g a proper coach Dobson decided on the trailblazer set by White .

The Sharks had the right forward combination - but a disfunctional backline with a nightmare flyhalf and center situation.

.

@kingporn...

"None of there players will ever make the bok 23 march day team, unless on rotation"

Thats a very shortsighted statement.

Batho is close

Crappie could start anyday

Ruan Venter - if you read the news today he was a big part of Rassies plans this year

....

Batho is the disappointment of the season, Chippo. Nowhere near Bok level. He had the game against Munster where he showed glimpses of what is possible with some big carries, but outside of that the guy is just too passive. Against Leinster, what did he do? Doris ran through him. Prendergast, one of the worst defenders in world rugby, stopped him cold. I don't see passion, aggression, a hunger to dominate. 90% of the time he just lopes around the park like he's trying to figure out his role.

Quan is very solid and Henko looking like the best backup for Moodie. Francke doesn't play the game Rassie wants but, on balance, he's been better than Roos this season for me and looks more coachable, and isn't susceptible to brain farts like Evan is. I say this knowing how many tries Roos has scored.

...just looking at 13 for the Boks, since I mentioned Henko. Holy shit but Moodie is so far out ahead of everybody else it's not even funny. He was already ahead in terms of skill and execution, and then he has just gone and become probably the hardest tackling backline player in SA. Perhaps, I'm wrong, but can anybody else think of another SA back that hits as hard? Esterhuizen is the only other guy that comes to mind.

And ja, despite the fragile start under Akker, the Bulls have pulled ahead now and are probably the best SA side.

Still can't believe the Stormers blew their chances at playing the semis at home.

Stormers ... their successes seemed more by accident than design.

As for our Bulle, I'm 'hopefully' confident that they'll beat the Scots

c

Stormers has a very good and well coached pack with very talented backs... unfortunately they don't have a game plan...

Like a great center and a great lock to be added to the team.

I'm liking the look of Cobus Wiese these days.

If nothing else, he has the look of an enforcer.

Also, to have survived with Jasper as an older brother probably automatically qualifies him as hard enough.

...one can imagine the two of them taking on the entire neighbourhood haha