And the Bok team is:

 Cape Town - Coach Heyneke Meyer has named his team to take on England in the first of their three-Test series at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday. Kick-off is at 17:00. 

The team contains three new caps in Eben Etzebeth, Marcel Coetzee and Juandre Kruger.

Teams:

South Africa:

15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira

Substitues: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Pat Lambie, 22 Wynand Olivier

Voeitog....The hapless wooli bulli at fullback and a pap loose trio...one inexperienced at Test level and the other two clearly out of form. Other than 15 the backline picked itself.

Keo and co were certainly on the ball then with their predictions.

Zane Kirchner is nevertheless a surprise of sorts but that is about all.

Keegan Daniels on the ebnch is an interesting one. I would never start a tough test with him. But as an impact player one could consider it. He could make an impact if the poms are tired in the last 20 minutes.

Cant say I have too many complaints given the circumstances including injuries. I believe this will be a fired up side. Glad to see Bissie honoured with the vice captaicy. He will lead from the front.

Sapster will probably avoid comment about his favourite chilli boy being left out but Meyer (and Beeno) also got that right and sapster got it wrong. Little changes.

Bench split is 4/3 so maybe we will see more runing than we thought? The pack weight is about 907 kg which is not big by todays standards but respectable. This pack is pretty mobile also.  Well suited to a running game. Makes one wonder if we will see a change of tactics in th second half to a more running game?

Congrats to the newcomers.  Go Bokke!!

 @Beeno1: Makes one wonder if we will see a change of tactics in th second half to a more running game?

Looking at the impact players he has on the bench - Lambie and Daniels, Ruan and Straus; you may just have a point - a game of two halves.

We are missing the Hulk in a big way! Not only do we have to make room for Jean as Captain, your go to man on both defense and attack is a debutant - Marcell.

Sure the others will make a few barn storming runs and big hits - but he is most prob gonna be expected to top both the tackle and carry counts - and I hope he comes through.

Which is why I would like to see Heinrich on the bench. He would be better at replacing/helping Marcell than Keegan if it doesn't come off.

Denny provided Kirchner doesn' t do anything stupid he will be okay. His overall game is not as bad as some make out. His game has come on this year so one hopes he will cope.

"Denny provided Kirchner doesn' t do anything stupid he will be okay.".........we shall see....

Good point Jeremy I would also have preferred Brussouw to Daniels but Daniels i t is and he may surpirse as an impact player?

I don't think Daniels is going to get a handful of chances of playing for the Boks. He has to grab this chance!

Its not the side I would have selected, but its still a very good side. It at least excludes little pretenders and all the retired hasbeens.

Moving forward we need Lambie at 15, Taute at 13, Goosen at 10 and a host of options ahead of Alberts at 7

Sapster some new faces will no doubt appear in the not too distant future. Apart from injured players this is, I agree, not too bad a selection.

Looking fowrd t oseeing is Coetzee can replcate his super comp form. Hope also that Alberts plays like he did against the Stormers.

Interesting that Spies is NOT vice captain.

Not at all a bad side given injuries. I am sure some new faces will emerge in the not too distant future sapster.

Looking forward to seeing if Coetzee can replicate his Super comp form. Also hope Alberts plays as well as he did against the Stormrs.

Very interesting that Spies was not named Vice Captain. In all the side has  five bulle starting and two on the bench.   No too bad from Meyer given some extreme expectations from Mike!

This is exactly the side that we expected. A bit sad to see Olivier on the bench because I don't think he has done anything to deserve it, but on the whole this is still a very strong side. We have a couple of serious impact players on the bench, so I think you guys may be on to something regarding our tactics in the second half. Can't freakin' wait!!!!

Go Bokke!!!!

Not to bad and entirely expected:   A few comments though:   Two weak choices for the back line - Kirchner and Pietersen (the slow cart-horse).   Bad. bad news about Meisiekind - Engelbrecht is ten times better than him

Half-backs as expected - but this could indeed be a game of two halves as mentioned by other members if the slow service half backs are replaced in the second half..

Forewards  :   Two poor performers - Spies and Alberts - maybe they will improve.   I think I agree about Bismarck as VC.   No confidence vote in Spies?   Is that a sign of changes to come.  

Wonder how fresh the guys are and will we fade as a consquence. Hope we are simply battled hardened. Probably the adrenalin of playing a test  will carry the guys through any weariness.

We were incredibly fortunate to not suffer any injuries last week end.

Yes indeed very  looking forward to the test - Go Boooooooookke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am bitterly disappointed after all.   My level of needloing of Meyer has been depleted drastically.   He is not a Blue/Pink Maniac as made out by me previously.   he only have five Bulls in th starting line up and two on the bench.

The Sharks suddenly come to the top with seven players as starters.   Plus the VC.   Where is Meyer living nowadays?   In Umhlanga, Zimbali or Ballito?

However, the Stormers remain the suckers of the hind tit - so no comment on that one.

One thing that I have noticed that is a little out of the ordinary, is that everyone seems pretty happy with the side. Now given how many Bulls are starting and the moaning and groaning that took place when the squad was announced, it seems people are actually happy for the most part, even the Stormers and Sharks folks seem satisfied. It has been a long time since we experienced an overall satisfaction on this site regarding a Springbok team announcement.

clevermike you have it all wrong, Stormers were not the suckers. They have 3 players starting, 2 who would have started were they not injured, Schalk, Bekker. And another two Kolisi and Eltstad, that have clearly been favoured by Meyer for the near future and were only left out due to a lack of experience. Also, Koster and carr may also have been in the squad were it not for injuries. No man, I think the Stormers defensive game plan is the reason so many top guys are injured. Therefore, it is the Stormers fault there aren't so many Stormers in the team.....

....and the Stormer Duane Vermeulen would almost certainly have been called up as well.... 

Good point bluebok-in today's hard-hitting game it amazes me how these guys get up on a Monday after! The Stormers players have indeed taken one for the team tactic of brutal defence at all costs.

Bluebok and Benjamin

Please give me a break - my comments on the team selection by Meyer - was an attempt at  making fun of the process - never meant to be serious at all.    The comments on the Stormers was a bit of provincial stirring.

I agree with you about the reason for the injuries amongst especially the Stormers loosies - the defensive play of the Stormers probably account for 70% of the injuries of their players - but it no doubt is also effective taking into account their position on the log.

By the way needling and stirring is my stock in trade - I sometimes write to see and laugh at the comments made - especially if people take me as being serious - so please go for it.  However - on the other side the idiom "many a true word spoken in jest"  is also applicable - in other words sometimes I am really serious about some things and sound out the water about it. 

All good clevermike. So what you are actually saying is, even though you are joking, you are serious....sometimes. LOL