SARrugby.com

Beause of the question marks about De Allende - I tried to check further on the guy.   There is very little about him on the interenet and I will summarize the issue as follows:-

Height    -      1,89

Weight   -         86 kgs

Date of birth -   29 November 1991 (so he is still only 20 years old)

Position    -    Center and Wing

From the little bit I saw on TV - he may be slightly heavier than the 86kgs mentioned.   I that is his weight - he is to my mind slightly too light to play in that position.    Saffex raised the weight and size issue as a reason for not selecting Jordaan - yet althoough shorter Jordaan weighs nearly 10 kgs more than De Allende.   Comments as to further physical development was made about Goosen - th same height - but 3 kgs heavier than De Allende.  If De Allende wants to progress further as a rugby player - he should to my mind add about 10kgs in muscles more to his present weight.

This guy must really be good if he is rated higher than Du Plessis.   We will have to wait and see what materializes insofar as he is concerned.  

Mike he is 96kg

http://www.sarugby.net/playerprofile.aspx?id=51794&category=&leagueid=0

Saffex

Thanks for the info - I was wrong - he weighs 96 kgs.    There is very little info on De Allende available.   He did play in the Varsity Cup and Vodacom competitions and came on as a replacement from the bench in a few  CC  games.   Do you know anything more about the guy? 

No, dont know much about him other than he has looked good when he has played for WP.

I feel for JP du Plessis, he needs to leave WP

I quoted from an article on the guy that can be found on the web - but for some reason or other the article and my comments did not save when I tried.   Go and have a look at the article and further info on this guy.

According to Dobson - the WP under 20 coach - this guy will decide whether he wants to play for the Springboks or not.   Is there higher praize than that of any player?  

 Well John Dobson knows his rugby and knows players. So If john has high praise for the kid then sure he sees potential. From the bit that i have seen of de Allende he looks to be a decent rugby player, physical, fast and has a step. 

My main issue is that he is normally a wing as far as I understand, He has never played 12 at this level and now to pick him at 12 in a crunch CC final, A very big Gamble. No matter the talent. So hopefully the brainstrust at WP knows something that we don't.

And on the JP du Plessis note, I don't think he is rated higher than du Plessis, JP is seen as an exclusive 13, he was tried in the u21 scene at 12 and at Vodacom cup level, but he is far better suited at 13. de Allende has this whole season so far been seen as a utility back to come off the bench normally at wing or if neccesery at 13 never at 12. Hopefully he has some linking and passing in his skillset as well otherwise i don't see the ball going wide.

i might need 10 kgs of weight but that needs to be backed up with skills development and hand eye training or else its just dead weight....

its a massive call to pick a 20 year old in a critical jumper like 12. there is a massive difference in terms of defence lines in the 12 channel than on the wing. that goes without saying. i am quite sure he will be tested. plums and co will exploit that on any midfield ball with the bigger ball carriers. coupled that with some offloading and one has the potential to create space very quickly. once again no cups and co dont seem to understand that 12 is a pivotal postion in the backline and one cant just simply slot in there and be great.

i must say the real danger man for me from sharks point of view is nic groom. i really do rate this guy. he is very divan serfonteinish in his service and running style. i really feel a player like JP du plessis woudl have been a better option at 13 but he was handed a raw deal. i think he can really be a force if he moves to either the sharks or the cheetahs. a marcel brache jp du plessis combo would have given me more nightmares than de allende.

No snapster the answer is for Alistair to wake up to the fact that Du nPlessis is far better than brache!!!!!!!!!

Alistair is slow but the penny eventually drops - witness the change is the gameplan re more attacking focus - mind you he had so many folk telling him that it wasnt as if he worked  it out himself!!.

Muncher what you are unable to grasp is that a 96 kg center - all other things being equal - is better than an 86 kg center - and hence muncher the paupicity of centers of 86 kg at the top level. To spell it out the 96 kg centers have eqiuivalent skills, pace etc at the top level (Beeno exhausting all possible means to explain all this to the muncher!) Ask Nieaber muncher - Hahahahahaha

Muncher brache has been dropped because he is a pap string bean center who will not make too much of an impression at Super 15 unles he gets stronger. Already he is cracking up and Alistair and Fleckie saw this - they are no tcompletely blind!. How they could have left out Du Plessis so often boggles the mind. But happy days for you muncher you are at least correct  about Groom.

i see a lot of kids come here that weigh 90 100 kg's (backline players) but they cant even pass with there weaker side that. or they cant even step of the weaker leg...so please do tell me how weight is more important than skills. yes if 2 players are matched in skills then the bigger player will be more effective...that goes with out saying duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...rugby is a contact sport beenpoepol ....please read before you post...that CA degree that you bought from those "online varisty's" really shows in your amazing abilty to oversell the obvious my dear boy. or please ask mom to bring you the newspaper when she brings your lunch today. might broaden you "finding nemo" like attention span

in your other post you think a very green WP backrow with one bok is on some planet better than daniel alberts and co....deysel was a bok and he is on the bench but in some enchanted world that you call beeno land that is worse than what wp puts out on the field.

I must admit I was flabbergasted by the selection of De Allende - that is why I read up as much as possible on what he can bring to games. Like everybody else - I never thought this type of selection would happen. However, throughout Super 15 this year there were serious problems in the Stormer backline combinations and I am not suprised really about what happened.

Let me be more explicit - espeially with regard to the Centers who played for the Syormers. I have always rated De Villiers very highly as a center. However, in his case performances has been deteriorating with age. To my mind De Villiers is unliklely to last more than a further year as center. and the end of 2013 will be the most he can hope for before retiring.

De Villiers did last through the Super 15 this year without a really serious injury - surprising since he previously was injury bound and missed out on the 2003 and 2007 WC's because of injuries. However, this year he showed very little in Super 15 - one of the main reasons why the Stormer backline was not really firing at all.

However, the main reason was in fact De Jongh. De Jongh did show some attacking and defensive flare flare initially when he became a Springbok - but that went out of the window when the opposititon worked him out. Nowadays he is as hamrless in attack than my grandma would have been. His clangers are getting more and more. His ballhandling really is a joke in bad tatse. Last week for example - he knocked balls on twice and the case where he rushed back to defend was a classic. Instead of booting out the ball he ran past it and fell on it. That ultimately led to the Lions try. In the whole of Super 15 he scored only two tries - both against the Rebels. In both cases he had an open line in front of him with no defenders that could stop the tries. However, he can as easily fluff tries - like happened in the Australia test and again last Saturday - when he received the ball - which ended in him being ankle-tapped. De Jongh has a reputation as a speedy player - yet the player who ankle-tapped him ran from behind and in fact was a Lions forward (no 19).

From my own perspective the real backline problem thisyear with the Stormers was the combination of a deteriorating De Villiers with a useless De Jongh outside of him. Insofar as I am concerned any center combination without De Jongh will be stronger than one with him in the team. However, Coetzee seems to be "married" to him from a team selection perspective.

The other weak link in the center situation was Brasche. He did play instead of De Villiers in a few games in Super 15 and showed zero in the process. Last Saturday he was utterly useless as a center and that is perhaps why he was left out of the team this week.

I would have left De Jongh out if the Stormers team completely - since he did not really deserve to be in the team. Even if De Allende have the game of his life on Saturday - De Jongh would bugger it up outside of him. That is why I thought that Du Plessis got a raw deal insofar as the final is concerned. The latter really is a classy player - both on defence and especially on attack. Without Du Plessis as an additional attacking player - the WP backline would not perform as required.

However, I will watch the performance of De Allende carefully - he may yet surprize us all - if what Dobson said about him is anything to go by.

well in light of your posts mike i think your points that you make makes more sense than this mindless one eyed drivel that beeno the so called rugby legend is making.

yes your right maybe no cups's hand was forced in selecting a complete greeny 20 year old in CC final. but to be honest its in my view still a major major call. if they had him in the long term development that surely he needed to given some game time before a final surely. the little i have seen of him he does not have that vision for a 12. same as de jongh he seems more a outside half line runner than a more creative 12. his main issue being his ball distribution abiltys. it saterday goes pear shaped than it will cause more damage than good to de allende that i think has a great future.

du plessis should really consider to move. i am quite sure with his size and speed he will be a massive force in the sharks setup or the cheetahs.

the WP has such lobsided development and procurement policy that have at least 6 odd 13's in the province but cant seem to replace a JDV at 12. really poor stuff sorry to say

Beeno

Did you read what I said about backline play under the thread dealing with the best CC players ever?   Lets get to the gist of the matter.   Concentration on weight and physical strength represent 40% of the answer to backline play - it is no use to play quasi-forwards relying on that component only.

The rest is made up of skillful and clever play - the ability to outwit the opposition - coupled to ball handling  ability.  If players do not have the latter they should NOT be in the team at all.   That is where the present problem lies with attacking backline play.  

Clever players will also be clever defenders.

Your idea of a powerpack up front is useful - but without clever and effective backline performances it means zero - end of story.    That is where you are going to go down on Saturday.

if only 10 % of mike common sense was present in beeno then the world could have been a much better place. dont waste you time mike some "rugby legends" cant crasp singular concepts or even begin to understand that rugby is meant for all shapes and sizes and that the cookie cutter mentality does not work in a diverse sport like rugby.

if beeno was a coach i bet you 100 bucks duane vermeulen would have been picked at 12 and the rest of the backline would have been nothing more than converted flanks ala english premier club style rugby.

i expect beeno to ravage his mom fridge over the weekend after the loss and he will secome to emotional eating and gain a few pounds to his "unique body structure"