cashead wrote:Before we have a laugh at Michalak's low points total compared to everyone else, let's also not forget to chortle sensibly at the fact that Naas Botha was the record point scorer for South Africa on a paltry 312 points until Monty overtook him around 05 or 06.
As much as I hate to say it about a racist-era Springbok, let's be fair to Naas Botha. He was one of he most prolific scorers of his time.
His career spanned two interesting eras of the game - the isolation of SA due to Apartheid, and the beginning of shamatuerism. So he played relatively few games for his time, and even fewer compared to those who came just after him or played a bit longer.
You can divide Botha's career into 3 eras:
Pre-isolation (1980-81): Botha played 15 matches in this period, for 150 points. By the end of this era, the record points scorer was Porta with 198 in 38 matches. Botha was 11th in the world. No-one else in the top 17 had played fewer tests than Botha and he was on track to take the record.
Isolation (1982-1991) SA capped against only rebel teams (NZ Cavaliers) and weird non-national selections (South America, World XV). Botha played only 8 tests in a decade, scoring 118 points averaging 14.7. No other player with 8 or more caps in this era scored at a higher rate than Botha except Grant Fox averaging 15.0 with 525 points in 35 tests. By the end of this era, the record holder was Lynagh, with 689 in 53 tests. Botha actually
increased his ranking to 10th on 268 off 23 (no one in the top 22 had fewer caps). If Naas had played 29 more tests in this decade, scoring at the same rate, he would have been the record holder by the end of it. For comparison, in that period, Lynagh played 53, Fox 35, Hastings 40, Porta 28, Blanco 83.
Post-isolation (1992) Botha was 34. He ha't played a test in 3 years. He then faced NZ, Australia, France x2 and England (i.e. the four best other teams in the world) and still scored 42 points in those 5 tests. That was 7th highest for the year, despite others playing up to 10 tests that year, and facing weaker oppostion.
