Given the Boks are unlikely to win this weekend, I would rather choose a backline that can offer something different on the attack.
We need Delande out of the team - at least until he regains form. He looks stale and overplayed.
9. Faff/Jantjies
10. Pollard/ Elton Jantjies
12. AM / Willemse
13. Nkosi
14. Fassi
15. Leroux
11. Mapimpi
This is a more attack-focused backline. It gets rid of Delande, and it will be more unpredictable than what has been served up so far this 4-nations.
You will be very disappointed. Reinach, and I can't believe I am even saying this, has been by far the best 9 on display, for the Boks. Pollard is now questionnable at 10. Am at 12 is interesting, but not Willemse. True, they are both better than Damian, but not our best options. Frans at 12, and Am at 13. Defence is the first consideration at 13, and Nkosi is one of the worst players to consider. You won't get any constructive attack out of him either. A passer with penetrative running is what we need. We always go for wings with no vision. Mapoe would have been a good choice, but José is about as good at handling the backs as Unteromlett.
09.Reinach, Faf
10.Pollard, Morné
11.Mapimpi
12.Frans, Pollard
13.Am
14.Nkosi
15.Le Roux, Fassi
I don't recall Nkosi being a bad defender for the Sharks. He does not seem to understand the Nienaber defence system where the wings rush inwards instead of using the touchline as an extra defender. Although it would be a big gamble.
Delande has to go, and AM could be an option at inside center. He can pass, and take breaks.
You just watched a much better 12 two weeks in a row….open your eyes Dave. Let’s have a poll.
I remember when JJ Engelbrecht was the best 13 in the game ... and then Jesse Kriel took his place as the best 13 in Bok history.
Stupid even rated him as better than Gerber.
Nothing has changed.
Stupid still has his head firmly lodged.
.
Articulating interactions between forward and back players takes more than selecting players.
Written for years now on this board: SA has never known how to put a backline into action and will never know how.
SA rugby is antiquated, it failed to take the turn of professionalism, its consequences and kept stuck in the past. It wont change by now.
It is over.
