All Blacks Select Experienced Side

Steve Hansen has selected a hugely experienced side amassing a total of 1295 caps! The Bok midfield has something like 35 combined caps, a much lesser side in terms of experience. Hansen noted this is the part of the tournament when the big boys have to step up, i.e., the experienced core of the group. Interesting to see what happens.

 The most experienced Bok side ever was selected to play the Japanese - and we all know what happened to all that kind o   f experience - especially if not matched by performance.   Experience without performance is an abomination.  
I know there is a reason why no country has never won the WC twice in succession and that relates to experience without regard to performance.   
If there is one thing that makes me hesitant about the chances of the AB's in the WC this year it is summarized in one word - experience, especially  if it is coupled to deficient performance. 
You cannot help it - now can you.   What has the Bok Midfield to do with the experience issue in the AB game tomorrow?                     

Michael operates under the assumption that if you select an older, more experienced player you are not selecting on form. Youth always trumps experience is his mantra. In the Japanese test, how many players were regular test veterans as starters? Du Toit, Kriel, Mvovo, Kirchner are not regulars just yet. It was an unbalanced side in the loose trio and had a weak backline. Yet there's another assumption Michael makes: if we lose, he looks through the team sheet for a name he doesn't like. He will then proceed to weave a whimsical tall tale about why they let the side down. He blames the Japan loss on the experienced players yet it was the youngsters and lesser fan favourites who bungled the game. The final nail was Kriel. He likes to talk about what the "experts" say but denies this one though it has been discussed in the media by "experts". He also neglects to mention that it takes experience to guide a team to a WC title in the first place. In Michael's eyes a team of juniors have the very best chance of storming the WC and taking it all and then repeating the same feat again four years down the line. 

 DF
You are near to talking absolute tripe.   I have repeatedly said age is not a factor and that experience is important - but the emphasis should always be performance.   The craziness is when players are purely selected based on experience without showing the required performance.   
Then the dud has the audacity to claim the following:-
"But here's another assumption Michael makes, if we lose he looks through the team sheet for a name he doesn't like."   
The famous story here is that is exactly what this dud DF does.   The real case as looking through names and then assign blame.  He said the following:-
  "It was an unbalanced side in the loose trio and had a weak backline."
Lets accept the dud is correct here insofar as the backline is concerned.  The backline was in fact deficient - yet the backline had only one really ineperienced player - Kriel.   So the backline was a dud and he blames it all on the inexperienced Kriel who rarely saw the ball.  The fool  looked  through the team sheet for a player he does not like and found the name of Lambie - a pet hate of his and went bananas about Lambie being a failure,   He finds an escape route for anther experienced dud - Kirchner - by saying he is not a regular.    Yet he is experienced and the reasn he is not a regularis because the player was always a dud - yet the fool constantly in the past claimed this self-same Kirchner is the best international full back we have.
The fool said nothing about the experienced Tight 5 - where the only inexperienced player was De Jager - who turned out to be the best Springbok player that day.  The rest were abject failures.   Here we had an experieced team consisting of 10 experienced players and 5 inexoeirienced players.  The best player that day was  the inexperienced De Jager - the longest list of failures were not the other 4 inexperienced players - the main failures was the BS dished out by at least eight of the experienced players.        
Hpwever this Dim Fox attacks me for saying that experience without performance is a no - no.   The same can be said is that inexperienced players without performance is also a no-no.   The DIM Fool has no idea about performance evaluation though and the key when it comes to that  is  looked  through the team sheet for a player he does not like  and then fakes an evaluation.   Hell Dim Fox is the biggest BSter on the site.           

 Luke
I think you read something into what I wrote about the AB's that was never intended as such.  There are some of the experienced players in the AB squad whose present form is not really up to the standard it used to be - and for me it is a bothersome factor.   On the other hand their inexerienced players - like Milner Skudder and Fekitoa are in great form. 
So lets see how things turn out.  I think the key match would be in the semi so lets discuss that one later on.        

 I have never seen you say that experience is important, nor have I seen you say that age can be a positive. Not once, yet I have seen you drop the word performance haphazardly into conversation. And by chance, can you tell me how Japan scored the winning try? Why was our backline devoid of ball? Where was the breakdown presence or ball carrying? And at what point have I ever said Kirchner is the best fullback? More lies! But I did say Kirchner was one of our most productive players in that test but many wanted to single him out foremost for the loss which was ridiculous. It was just as ridiculous singling out Victor and Schalk who were the only ones who turned up omongst the forwards. 
But of course, we fielded an established loose trio, we had a veteran backline. Mvovo, Kirchner, Kriel, Lambie are all star matetial in established combinations! Take out Victor and Jean and the caps drop off significantly. The team at the QF stage in 2011 had marhinally frewer caps but do much more experience across the board, that's an experienced side of starting combinations. 

 DF
Then you did not read my consistent statement under numerous threads where the issue was dealt with.  I have consistently said - age is of no importance - performance is.  Age without performance is an abomination.  
However, you made some curious deductions from what I said in my respponse to your illogical statements.   I never said Kriel did not make that missed tackle - I said that the players to blame are not only him - there was a lot of deficiencies in other players - ro name some obvious ones - Bismarck's 4 penalties, Burger's 4 spillings of the ball in tackle situations, Louw's abysmal defense and poor contribution to ball protection and recovery, Matfield's moonlighting in the backline and Tight 5 deficiencies to name but a few.
The team fielded in the quarterfinal - has a better performance record than the one against Japan and has in fact substantially less experience with De Villiers, Matfield and Du Plessis gone from the starting line-up.   I did not count the number of caps - but the over hundred number of caps have been reduced by 2 and their replacements all had less than 15 caps each.   
You stated the number of caps has been reduced marginally but I am not sure of that.   Please explain.             

 I said the caps compared to the 2011 WC QF team. I was comparing experience of an overall team as opposed to a team of newbies and fringe players bolstered by a few individual seniors who spike the total caps significantly. The Japan side is thus vastly less experienced than the side who faced Australia in the last World Cup QF. This one was not a particularly experienced side with few working or established combinations, and they were the letdowns of the team. The loose trio and the backline, and of course Bissie and his four penalties - which I pointed out after the test - that put points on the board for Japan.

 DF
Sorry about the misunderstanding - I was specifically referring to the Japan test - where a famous claim was made that the team was the most experienced team ever fielded by SA and I think the result proved that there was in fact in that test too much emphasis placed on experience and too little on performance.  That is how I see it.
Incidentally there are talk in the media that if De Jager continues to perform in the manner he did thus far -he would be a strong candidate for player of the Tournament in the RWC according to Supersport comments on TV.  That would be fun to see happening   
 Mozart will have a fit about that one.   

Nobody is denying Lood has been playing well, the point has been that Victor has not been playing badly either. I don't think Lood has been that crucial to the Boks though, but if he came through the Welsh test as a key contributor in a victory, and get us through to a final? Then I won't have a problem about that at all. 
Right now though, Du Preez is the most important player in the team. We don't have a single alternative and without Morné, he is our only reliable tactical kicker in the entire backline. He takes charge of our pack as well, something crucial that the journos never talk about. Without him our game is directionless.

 DF
The only thing I was initially really worried about was his lack of match-fitness after virtually no matches for 14 months.   He was a huge improvement on Pienaar and did bring extra to the Springbok performances.  
The interesting question would be what would happen to the team captaincy after the quarterfinal.  I think that Matfield may not be played again as a starter - especially of De Jager continue to perform like he did thus far.   Unless there is a crucial injury of either - I think that it is likely that De Jager and Etzebeth would be ou r starters should we go through to the Semis and further.   

 Quite right Mike Experience without performance is no good as the match against Japan showed. Those of us criticising the selections were proved correct and the EGG landed heavily on you know whom.Also remember the very experience OZ side in the 195 TWC. Well these over the hill has beens were beaten by the Boks - very short on test experience.
The wee abs are in trouble as predicted by Beeno some time ago - writing on the wall posts.

Beeno, you have been predicting the downfall of the Mighty All Blacks for years. Just like the clock which is stuck on one time, eventually you have to be right but this "prediction" has no credibility. 
Sort of "end of the world" thing, we all know the world will end one day but predicting it every day is tedious & meaningless.
JW, trying to help his mate wee Beeno to stay grounded.