Buderus is completely different in club games for some reason, and he disappears in rep games and doesn't justify the form that leads to his selection. Nowadays it seems the way is to put an explosive and agile ball running crowd pleaser in at hooker, like a run-on utility. Maybe they have a 'game plan' for Buderus, but if so it sucks and he's being wasted. I don't know what happens to him, he's only really played a handful of rep games where he has made an impact. He is a classy player that is more than capable of that kind of play, but isn't like Wing or Farah in that he gets his hands on the ball as much as possible as they do. Instead I sit there waiting for him to do something but he never does. It's really, really, really frustrating.
Most positions nowadays seem to be sort of redundant anyway, particularly lock, second row and 5/8, cos all you need is an all-round athlete with some ball skill that plays a free role in attack; the only difference is the number of the back which is a formality. If the point of a hooker today though is as a dynamic utility then we're better off putting someone like Bowen or Hodgson in the jersey, yeah.
