John Smit vs Bismarck du Plessis

So in response to a question yesterday Peter de Villiers answered "John Smit is at the moment the best hooker in World rugby" ...... can someone not get this toss out of the media conferences? What a complete idiot ..... or is he really that clueless and believe it?

Good articles I thought. Interesting reading. Pirates can you not write about test rugby if you have not played it? Thats like saying Mike de Kock cannot give instructions because he was not a professional Jockey.

good to hear you give instructions to jockeys craig...people can write all they want to but i prefer to read articles by people who have been there and done that ...for that reason i dont buy natal newspapers for racing as im not interested in articles by the likes of macmillan cook etc but will buy the citizen to read articles by striker and mj odendaal...the same goes with sport

I see what you saying but not all the best refs umpires etc played at the top level agree it does help if you have been there and done that. I do agree with the writer in many aspects as the All Blacks do get away with murder in their games! I do like to give instructions as if they do carry them out and it does not work( Thandolwami from right up there at Scottsville) then I am to blame and I am the one to have to talk to the owners afterwards. If they are not carried out (or could not be carried out) then at least the owners know what the Jockey was told to do.

im talking purely from a journalistic point of view as i would read kepler wessels articles on cricket but would wipe my bum with andy capistanios articles...i feel for rugby refs as whatever they do they get hammered by the crowd especially the very biased one eyed sa fans whether its at provincial level or at test match level...

Racing journalists in this country have become lazy (there are exceptions), sit behind there computers instead of getting off there bums and actually going to watch horses work, interviewing jockeys/trainers etc, etc... Take for instance Fridays headline on tabonline... Strydom The man to follow at Fairview ... Did the journo phone Mr Strydom to ask him about his mounts? Did the journalist phone the trainers which Mr Strydom was riding for? ...

I don't know but my guess is probably 100% right!!!!

Dave Thistleton nearly always asks me about my runners or looks on Craig Eudey Racing Facebook.Works hard to write interesting articles as well.

Craig, you right... Mr Thistleton stand heads and shoulders above the rest...(tu)

dave is the only daily newspaper journo who actually does his job ,the rest including his boss are simply cruising and do absolutely nothing to improve the industry ..by getting comments from trainers jocks etc punters will feel more confident in placing bets and turnover will increase big time...i find it incredible that the racing press in this country are not scrutinised by phumelela and gold circle and are just let to do what they want...with all due respect who cares what the likes of milner cook macmillan etc like or dont like in a race but we will have respect for the comments coming literally from the horses mouth..these press guys i have named have tipped horses before that havent been in work for a few weeks etc but they dont bother to visit or phone the trainer concerned...watching uso this weekend not one trainer was asked for comments for the saturday meetings ..PUNTERS WANT INFORMATION ON THE WELLBEING OF HORSES IN ORDER TO STRUCTURE THEIR BETS THEY DONT WANT TO HEAR AFTERWARDS WHAT THEY COULD HAVE HEARD BEFORE ...is this so hard to understand?i have been on this issue for many years but nobody is prepared to listen ...we accept to run a full 5 days before a racemeeting their are absolutely no excuses to deciminate the information to all punters

Just listened to some Irish Geezer on the Radio saying they have the easy side of the draw and Semi Fina must be the aim

dynasty Wrote:

---

> So in response to a question yesterday Peter de
> Villiers answered "John Smit is at the moment the
> best hooker in World rugby" ...... can someone not
> get this toss out of the media conferences? What a
> complete idiot ..... or is he really that clueless
> and believe it?


so dynasty please tell me how would you have answered that question...have you ever seen smits match stats compared to other hookers...his match gps analysis...are you aware of the calming effect he has on the players both on and off the field...are you aware of his shrewdness when dealing with referess...

iam not sure how in dept your knowledge of the game is but bakkies said this today...

"John is the best player I have played under, he is the best captain I have ever played under and no player in our squad doubts that this is the right thing for the team. Every one of us has a specific role to play, Bismarck, John … all of us. We know what the right dynamic is for this squad to succeed and it’s a pity that others have seen it differently and given John such a hard time."

cmon dynasty please tell me that botha is "an idiot and clueness"

Everyone is entitled to have an opinion.

I think that if you ask the 'rugby watching public', you won't find a lot of people agreeing that 'at the moment Smit is the best hooker in World Rugby' - that does not necesarily mean that those who think he is, are 'idiots' - they just have a different opinion. Whoever made the decision to move Smit to prop against the Aussies, made a huge mistake - and it dented Smit's reputation further.

I have never met John Smit - but 'everybody' says he is a great leader. The question is, does being a great leader automatically give one a place in the team - and this is not a new question/issue - I remember when I was still at school, the same question was asked about Dawie De Villiers - most people agreed that he was the best captain, but not everybody agreed that he was the best scrumhalf in those days.

Imo the best players in each position should be selected first and the captain should then be chosen from those selected - and (again imo), Smit would not have made the squad if this method were followed. But I am not a selector and I am willing to concede that the selectors have more knowledge about rugby than me.

It is immaterial anyway - the squad has been selected and Smit is the captain - so now as a South African I will support the team and it's captain - even though imo he should not even be in the squad. The difficult part will be, if (when?) we are beaten, to not fall into the trap of saying 'I told you so' to everyone who wants to listen