@Smuts said in Springboks v Barbarians:
They both looked bang average. In fairness to Sotutu he was playing in a well beaten pack. But he didn’t seem to take the fight to the boks which is what I’d have expected from a guy playing to prove something to the selectors.
Edit to add that whatever @Mauss saw from Sotutu at the breakdown was too subtle for me. Nothing like another Auckland 8 criticized for being afraid of doing the hard graft, Zinny, getting stuck into the bok pack when they got the upper hand in Joburg in 97 say
I’ll agree that it was probably too subtle to make much of a difference in terms of selection. It just looked, to me, like he was trying to make some small adjustments to his game.
I’ve always interpreted the selectors’ critiques of Sotutu as being an issue of body height, especially around the breakdown and contact. Sotutu has a tendency to stay on his feet as much as he can, even when he’s cleaning the ruck, in order to ‘stay alive’ on attack and remain a viable support option. The problem is that this kind of cleaning can lead to weak shoulders and underpowered cleans.
In the game, I saw a few rucks where Sotutu actually went off his feet (in a good way), making dominant cleans with his shoulder. It might not be anything at all, but I felt like Sotutu has made an effort throughout the SR season to adjust his body height, in trying to be more effective around the attacking breakdown and play a more conventional loose forward-role in those areas.
I don’t think Sotutu is ever going to be a number 8 who revels in the nitty-gritty of Test rugby, and I’m pretty sure he’s not going to become Zinzan Brooke all of a sudden. You select Sotutu for his carrying abilities, lineout work and his unique vision and skills on attack. I think it’s pretty clear now what he does and doesn’t offer.
