Rugby
John Goliath, Special to ESPN 7y

Round 13 Super Rugby takeaways: Kwagga, Jantjies stake Springbok claim

Super Rugby

Time for Elton Jantjies to take the next step

Elton Jantjies' superb all-round display against the Bulls showed that he can dictate a rugby match with pin-point tactical kicking. Jantjies' well-weighted chips over the top, accurate high kicks and raking touch-finders played a big part in the Lions' comfortable victory over their rivals from Pretoria. But Jantjies also produced another top attacking performance from No. 10, taking the ball flat and bringing the Lions strike-runners into the game to pound the Bulls. But now the time has come for Jantjies to transfer that form into Test arena. Elton is exactly the sort of player who can transform the Boks' attacking game. It's time for him to step up to the plate at Test level.

Kwagga Smith offers another Bok openside option

Lions fetcher Kwagga Smith is not one of the biggest loose forwards South Africa has ever produced, but he sure is mighty effective. Smith, who made his name as a key player in the South African Sevens side, is a great linking loose forward, but also a guy who can compete fiercely for the ball on the ground. He is also really quick off the mark, and his upper-body strength makes him tough to shrug off in the tackle. The Kings' Chris Cloete is arguably the better ball-stealer of the two players, but Smith is definitely the more dynamic player.

Bulls need a revamp

There has been plenty of rubbish Bulls teams in Super Rugby before the golden generation of the late 2000s and the early 2010s. But this current squad could go down as one of the worst in their history. To be honest, if you look at the players at their disposal, they have more than capable individuals, but they are just not clicking, even at this advance stage of the season. They also seem to have this identity crises as far as their gameplan is concerned. They don't know whether or not they are kicking team or a running team - mind you they can't execute either plan properly. Coach Nollis Marias should take responsibility for this, and the Bulls need to start thinking about their and their coach's future - soon.

Kings blew it against the Brumbies

The Southern Kings, on a three-match unbeaten run, led the Brumbies 10-5 for a large part of the encounter after some top defending and scrambling. But some bizarre decisions in the second half cost them the match. Kings captain Lionel Cronje strangely opted for a couple of scrums when they had penalties right in front of the uprights. From one of those scrums Cronje kicked a terrible cross-kick, allowing the Brumbies to escape from jail. After that, the Kings lost the lead when they took a quick lineout in their own half that led to a Brumbies try. The Kings play with a lot of passion, but if they really want to plead their Super Rugby case they have to play with smarts as well.

Etzebeth not Springbok captain material

Talk of Eben Etzebeth as a potential Springbok captain should be shelved after his little open-handed shove in the face of a Blues player cost him 10 minutes in the bin on Friday night. Etzebeth is too much of a hot head to think clearly in the heat of battle. He hasn't yet found a way to control his emotions on the field. At the moment opposition teams are finding ways to get under his skin and he is reacting to it. Etzebeth is one of the world's great locks, but he is not quite captaincy material - at least not yet.

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