ELVs — Early Thoughts
The World Continues to Spin on Its Axis
Well, we’ve had a couple of rounds of play and, thankfully, implementation of the Stellenbosch Laws hasn’t mutated the Super 14 into some bloated version of the NRL. The games are moving at a more rapid pace, there seems to be more clarity at the breakdown, and — perhaps best of all — the incessant babbling from the referees seems to be waning. That being said, the quality of play needs to improve as time goes on; too many handling errors and too much aimless, inaccurate kicking.
Maybe the best of the new laws is the establishment of the offside line for players who are not in the scrum (or are not the scrum-half) at 5 meters behind the hindmost foot of the scrum. This means we’re going to see a lot more creativity and speed from the set-pieces off of attacking scrums. Joe Rokocoko’s try against the Chiefs in the first round gives a glimpse of what’s to come (hopefully).
Dummy Runner Player of the Year (2007)
Back in October, the IRB announced Springbok Bryan Habana as Player of the Year for 2007. It’s hard to argue with the selection of Habana — 13 tries in 10 internationals during 2007 (including 8 RWC tries), 8 tries during the Super 14 season, and a host of memorable runs. For my money though, Juan Martín Hernández was the Player of the Year.
by leonardo_ofvo_album
The RWC proved to be a coming out party for Hernández. Not only is the guy a world-class fullback, but — as the World Cup showed — he is also one of the top number 10s in the world. Strong runner, brilliant in-hand kicker, great passer, field general — what more do you need in a flyhalf? Hernández is so good that he supplanted a world-class flyhalf for his country (Felipe Contepomi) and he’s given the Stade Français coaching staff a real dilemma as to what to do with their two world-class number 10s (David Skrela and Lionel Beauxis).
For Hernández, IRB Player of the Year honors weren’t meant to be in 2007, but watch out for 2008 . . .