He gave away both the penalties they kicked in the first half. To be honest, I don't think that makes him a 'penalty machine', but it is what it is.LeRouxIsPHat wrote:I can only remember one off the top of my head and thought he did what he had to do. It was when someone was caught behind the gainline and he got back and came in from the side. He did his absolute best to make it at least look reasonably legal but couldn't manage it. Don't think he had a choice though, we were screwed if England had got that ball back quickly.Leoslovechild wrote:And Stander is still a penalty machine
I think he's playing pretty well and showing a lot of guts in every game. It's his first tournament of test rugby and he has looked like he's well able for it – not the dominant player he is at Munster yet, but if you are to put it as a case of sink or swim, he has definitely done the latter.
One thing that has been apparent over the last couple of games is that opposition back rows at test level can match his physicality, and that he's not going to make too many line breaks by running through people. On the other hand, he will carry the ball all day and takes a lot of tackling, so he is very much the focal point for the opposition defense. If we can get a few more hard-running players into the team [namely Henderson and O'Brien] that will provide us with some extra weight of gunnery and allow us to use those three players more tactically [i.e. as decoys or slip runners].