SARrugby.com

 1. Bryan Habana- Back to his old best. Perhaps not the same speed he once had, but generally the worlds top wing. Should have a few more years left in the tank and may still make the 2015 World cup team if his pace remains as it is. Won best individual try of the year against the All Blacks. 3 tries against Australia, one wonders what could have been if the inside backs had been more creative. Also won SA player of the year award again. 

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2. Etzbeth- The find of the season. Could probably play as either lock due both athleticm and enforcing power. Got better in the lineouts as the season went on. Should be a stronger ball carrier over the coming years. 

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3. JP Pieterson. Pity he got injured early on in the season, but still won the players "player of the season" award. As with Habana could have been ever better with better inside backs providing more ball and space to the outside backs. Scored a try against England that probably was the game clincher. 

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4. Flouw. He transformed the backrow from a clumsy bumbling circus at the ruck time into a well balanced outfit. The whole dynamic changed when he played for the boks. His game has improved since leaving South Africa for Bath. The backrow was probably also aided by Vermuelen also improving each game

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5.Adrian Strauss- After a very slow start to his international career, after a few games in for Bismark he proved that he is the 2nd best hooker in the world. The boks most consistent ball carrier of the year.

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6. Ruan Pienaar- Had a few average games, but generally his game was good along with some exceptional games. Combined well with Goosen. Easily South Africas top scrum half and probably in the top 5 in the world.

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7. Goosen- Although he only played in a few games, his contribution helped transform a completely dysfunctional backline. His game against Australia was the highlight of the year and showed hope for 2013 and beyond. Seeing him instead of Morne Steyns one dimensional approach was like day and night. Some good pole kicking even though his foot was injured, good tactical kicking, along with the running and passing flyhalf we have missed in years. Hopefully he can add some extra bulk to his frame and be less injury prone.

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8. Frans Steyn- Salvaged a draw with his try against Argentina. This helped Meyers year look slighly more respectable. The best inside back against England at the start of the season in the 2 tests. Was limited playing outside Morne Steyn but with Goosen and Lambie that should not be an issue in the future. Not in his best form for some on the 4 nations matches but should also be well rested and over the Kankles that plagued him in 2012

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9- Willem Alberts.

Was excellant in the English tests. Strongest ball carrier by a mile. Also some great tackles by the bone crushers. Solid for the rest of the year.

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10. Dane Vermuelen. A tie with Marcell Cotzee but earned his starting spot as a specialist 8. Got better with each match to finish the season as man of the match against England. Very physical in tackling, carrying and clearing the ruck. A good all rounder who contributed massively. 

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10- Marcell Coetzee

Finished the Super XV as the loose forward with the best stats. 

Rewarded with a starting bok place at 6 against England. Good allround player, strong carrier, excellant tackler, decent fetcher at the rucks. The boks were however poor on the ground and a specialist was required here. Moved onto the bench and is an excellant impact player. Makes more tackles than some players who are on the pitch the whole game. Looks like a long bok career. May struggle for a starting spot as he is more of an allrounder than specialist. Was unfortunate to lose his starting spot due to the unbalanced backrow of the boks and perhaps playing at 6 is which he does not play at the Sharks.

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11- Zane Kirchner- I was one of him main critics. Of his strenghts displayed this year it was certainly under the high ball. I think he may be the best fullback under the high ball at present. He is rock solid. Scored some good tries and entered the backline. As a weakness was his passing. Butchered some easy tries with poor finishing passes, and also went to ground instead of looking for his supporting players which killed some tries.

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12. Jean Devilliers 

Started the season out of position at 13. Did little to nothing although at this stage it was Morne at 10 waisting all possesion. After moving back to 12 he had some good runs, one or two try assists and got stronger in defence as the season went on. Likely that Meyer will revert back him back to 13 where he could excel outside of a more dynamic 10 in Goosen or Lambie.

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13. Jannie Duplessis

Solid in the scrums, some work in the loose but not setting the world a light.

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14. Beast. 

Had one of the most quiet seasons and no longer seems to be a factor in the loose anymore. Still a solid scrummager and contributing in the tight phase.

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15. Lambie 

Messed around at the start of the season when he should have been the 1st choice flyhalf. Got a few short runs at fullback but mostly a bench warmer. First games at flyhalf played like a Morne Clone, but finished the last game of the season at 10 Strongly playing his more natural game. Standing more flat and upped the tempo of the game, varied with good tactical kicking and very solid pole kicking. If he started more games at 15, the boks probably would have finished more tries with accurate final passes to the supporting player

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Worsts

A- Morne Steyn. Hopelessly out of form in the 3rd test agains England and thereafter. Did show some running when playing with Frans Steyn in the first 2 tests, but apart from that was hopeless and got worse as the year progressed. The worst up and unders ever along with kicking the ball away aimlessly each time he got the ball. If the game plan is to kick, it is not with no purpose or aim I would hope. 

His pole kicking deteriorated so much that Dean Greyling wanting to take over the kicking duties

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B. Close between Werner Kruger and Dean Greyling

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C- Donkey Potgieter. The loose trio improved with him gone.

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D-  Jaco Taute. Clearly out of position. His defence was woeful both in positional play and technique and offered little on attack but another crash ball option. His clearance kick that never made touch was tactically niave against and All Black team that thrives on counter attacks with the opposition players totally all over the place. Mostly crash ball stuff and going to ground with ball in hand.

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E- Some of the other bulls at the start of the season that just got in as pets of Meyer

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 F- Some of the truly has beens like CJ Van Der Linde keeping out some of the younger players. 

Complete bullshit re Taute

Oh what complete bullshit, Taute has always displayed a good step, its a strength of his. Most of his attacking runs from the back have involved a step or swerve to beat the man for he certainly was not going to beat them with pace. The lad has made an impression through skill.

Showing footage of him not stepping Alberts is a joke, especially considering you fail to point out that the 9 and another player were in his way just before Alberts makes contact, throwing your whole take out the window. Go check his debut against Oz where he stepped players to beat the first defender on at least 3 occasions

I watched the Pretoria game of boks vs OZ again today and Taute was the worst back on the field.

He never even touched the ball once in the 2nd half.

In such an open game where nearly all the backs had their best games of the season and gained the most metres. Taute gained the least metres and never made one clean break. He was involved in none of the tries, and also was no where to seen amongst the supporting players when a try was scored. Basically he was totally ineffectual.

In Goosens first 3 runs of the game he makes 30 metres. 

Jean Devilliers was similar, as was Habana. 

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A summary of his game.

2nd minute- Goosen passes a clean pass to Taute. Taute knocks the ball on. The worst knock on of the game

5th minute. Taute gets the ball and makes 2 or so metres and goes to ground in the tackle.

8th minute- Taute is tackled to the ground, makes one metre or so.

31st minute- Taute gets the ball and gets tackled, makes less than a metre.

2nd half-

46 minute- Taute gets tackled as he recieves the ball.

46 minute- Taute makes a relatively decent pass by partially drawing a man. 

52 minute- Taute makes a good tackle.

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- Remainder of the game- Taute does not touch the ball. Makes a few average tackles and that is it.

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Summary- In such an open game Taute was very poor. 

If he made 10 metres in total I would be surprised, and just crashballed any ball he recieved. He did not given the ball in great oppertunities, however other backs on the field made more of what the recieved and got involved in other areas to create oppertunities. 

Jean Devilliers had a good game, 10 times better than Taute. 

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Of all the tries scored, never was Taute in any position running a support line. So if the scorer had not made the line the next supporting player could have scored. Many times Jean, Habana, Kirchner etc were near the scorer. Taute was way of the mark.

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Taute will never again play center for the boks. Given how he performed he may never play any position for the boks again, including fullback. He will need a strong SuperXV to be considered as bok material in his preferred position.

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ESPN STATS-