I wouldn't say he's miles off where Morgan/Vunipola were at an earlier point in their careers with consistency/concentration.Stom wrote:To be fair, it's Dombrandt's 3rd season as a pro rugby player...Epaminondas Pules wrote:Aye. At club level I'm seeing Simmonds and Mercer with the game changing type moments, but with less of the down aspects.fivepointer wrote:Always prepared to cut a player some slack if they can come up with a game changing moment and do something other players probably couldn't, but Dombrandt can be exasperating at times.
The missed tackles, something i've noticed the last few times i've seen him, are particularly annoying.
It is annoying, as you look at Dombrandt's positives and they are really exciting. He doesn't just run into people and try to dominate, like Nathan Hughes, but picks intelligent lines, hits weak shoulders at pace and then has the ability to absorb his surroundings and make good decisions. That is the kind of stuff that translates into international level.
His work rate has improved dramatically, his fitness levels are on a different planet to when he arrived...
I have faith he can iron out some of his issues and turn into an international class player. The fact we don't need to pick him now speaks wonders for the quality we have available, as he is quality, just a little rough around the edges.
It seemed about 50/50 to me but EJ clearly saw something in BV that he thought he could fix (and did). I'm just hoping he can do something similar with Dombrandt.
We definitely won't be suffering to much in the backrow if he doesn't make the step up, but he has something unique that none of the other options offer.