All Blacks named to face Springboks. Joe Moody gains first test start

 I was orginally picking SA. But this is a ver. Y good side Hansons picked. Meyer cld learn from Hanson about incorporating youth. And supporting them with exp. Based on Meyers selections. And NZ record of Ten Years at Joburg. And its a hard pitch. Im now picking NZ by 7. That said tho SA are a chance, but it needs to be an 80 min performance. 

 It's a B-ish team as in not an A team, lol. 
Good to see Moody get a shot (he is the third string maybe - What happened on Owen Franks?).
Good to see Fekitoa get a shot against the 2nd best rugby team in the world & having Crotty on the bench is safe & also shows they are developing the young guy. 
Rettalick exclusion shows they are looking after him. Crockett: hope his face is ok. Lock: we are down to third string with Thrush but he is ok & good they are giving him a shot. Kev: glad they have shown confidence in him & that Coles is backing him up. Good to see Messam on the bench - he is on the mend & will lead the haka
As I said, overall it is a sort of a B team. Boks are fielding a team that is closer to their A team.
ABs by 7 seems realistic 3ku1. Boks will play their heart out & if they pull off a win we will never hear the end of it

 JustWin i dont think theirs ever as such thing as B Ab Side. Anyone who is selected to be in the abs, should be good enough to justify that tag. I see no difference between Thrush or Retilluck techniquley. But yes NZ shld win haha, but SA win they get bragging rights . 

 3ku1: there are a lot of second string players starting but I agree that the standard is still high, e.g. Barrett for Cruden, Moody for Woodco*k (third string); Fekitoa for Nonu; Thrush for Retallick; Kev for Coles. That's 5 players.

 Retallick is a huge loss. Thrush is very average.  Surely the Kiwis have a better option than him?

 I respect your opinion Saffex. But i dont consider Thrush average at all. He has stepped up big time. Has a big game temperement, and work rate. As for who else? Well guess Tuip olutu, but too green. 

 JW
Like any team the AB'd has better players in some positions than in others.   
Amongst the props there are no outstanding props being better than the others.   There is very little difference between the four props mentioned.   They will pick anyprop combination and thatwil not really amke a difference to the team.
There is very little to chose betwen Coles and Mealamu at hooker.   
At lock Retallick is vastly superiror to Thrush - the latter at best is a very average lock.
I prefer Barrett to Cruden - but neither is really comparable to Dan Carter.   
Fekitoa is a much better player than either Nonu or Crotty.
Be it as it may - Meyer buggered up badly in his team selection and I think the AB's have a real edge on the Springboks - especially if Vermeulen is not playing.   Bakkies Botha has not produced anything of note in any tests he played in - he was in fact below par - and Mohoje is an iffy selection based more on politics rather than rugby performance.      Matfield weakens our Tight 5 and reduce it to Tight 4.   If Vermeulen is indeed out - that would weaken the Springbok team further. 
I think that the first 70 minutes against the Wallabies showed serious problems with the starting line-up o f the Springboks and that remains the reason why I think the All Blacks will win the game with relative ease.          

 Haha Saffex was replaced with a girl lol . AutoCorrect at its best . 

 Mmm "At best a very average lock". Mike i always appreciate your views. But alot of ppl would disagre e with your sentiments. The majority consider Retilluck worldclass. But its like Wee Matfeild under appreciated to SA bloggers .

Mike if the loose trio is Coetzee, Vermuelen and Schalk we could get away with the other selection errors.We do of course need a competent ref - that goes without saying when one plays the abs and their ref in pocket game.

 Looking for excuses already Beeno?