I'm starting to doubt that Roos will ever be a serious contender for 8.
Talking about the backup for Wiese and the injured Kwagga, Rassie says...
All of those guys are apparently ahead of Roos. Some of them barely play at 8.
I think our assessment was correct. While Roos has more attributes to be a versatile player than almost anybody else, he is seen as an 8 that does one thing. And I can't say that's an unfair assessment because he does seem only able to play one way. Marco, Andre, Cam, Divvy...all of them can play more than one position.
It looks like the future Rassie has in mind is one where, unless you're a prop, you won't get away with only being able to play in one position. There is a bunch of debate to be had around that idea. An obvious point being that if multiple players in the team can play in more than one position it bakes a certain baseline of synergy into the unit. I must say, for better or worse, Rasman keeps on innovating and I can't help but cheer on new ideas.
Roos has the goods to play in more than one position, here's hoping he gets to do that at WP. Honestly, I think he needs to leave WP. Go somewhere else for a fresh start and fresh ideas.
For me, it's interesting that van Staden was used to come on for Jasper. To my mind, he's the player most similar to Jasper in the squad. The only other guy I can think of is Porthen. I think Rassie basically understands that Roos is a one trick pony and wants to bash and smash like Jasper. I think he gave him the chance to do that and I think Roos came up short in Rassie's view.
Divvy must be feeling like a million bucks at the moment. Straight into then Test arena, instantly puts in very notable performances and is the talk of the town. So chuffed for the guy! Here's hoping he steals more balls than than a gender re-assignment surgeon in Los Angeles.
