Bok Barometer April 23....steady as she goes

Final team, taking into account the comments below, previous team selections in brackets:

Willie

Sergeal Petersen(Combrink)Mapoe (de Jongh)VenterUlengoJantjiesFafCharles Marais (Dylan Smith)Strauss(Marx)MalherbeEtzebethPSDTKrielKirsten(Coetzee)Whiteley The only change in the team from last week is Mapoe for de Jongh.
Combrink made his case but against weak opposition and so Sergeal  keeps it on cumulative performance
The centers were all awful. Venter was miserable, but so were Allende and ...Esterhuizen, so no change at 12. No 13 was credible, although JP was solid.
The halves pick themselves.
At loosehead Marais was less dominant and even penalized for scrumming in, but to me it looked more like the  Rebels' tighthead at fault. And no other looseheads did much, I thought Kebble  might, but really he didn't.
Nothing new really on the locks or loosies either.
So we have a stable, but unconvincing barometer. The Barometer reflects S15 form, with a modest amount of emphasis on recent games. Make your suggested changes and they will be incorporated in the first posting on the string if they appear to reflect a majority view. A new Barometer will be posted under a separate string each week. 

Combrink disqualified because the opposition "was weak!!!!!LMAO

de Jongh at 13.....no go....cant say he has impressed me. Mapoe has been the best with Jessie Kriel coming up trumps in his last two games.
Venter had an average game but that's his first average one. Esterhuizen was anything but poor, he had a good outing but for a fumble or two......great break with a beauty of an offload. Serfontein has also looked good in his last two games
I'd say our wings should be Combrink and Sergeal
Flyhalf and 9 are easy choices
Nyakane has been our best loosehead
Marcel v/d Merwe is pushing Malherbe close
Sadly Coetzee is gone for the season

Marcel Van Der Merwe has been slaughtered by every good prop he has faced. Against Marais he leaked 3 Penalties. That said Malherbe has been a damp squi b as well so I suppose bad could be closing in on mediocre?
The Esterhosen offload was a high pop over a defender...nothing special, and his charged clearance at the death almost cost the game....but he was better than in previous weeks  which isn't saying much. Step and Kriel have looked more energized...but Step still looks toothless and Kriel still misses a third of his tackles.
I have no problem with including  Combrink, but let's gauge the Board support. I will update this with Board comment by tomorrow evening.

 Tokkie are you suggesting the Kings were strong opposition? If not explain yourself.

Mapoe over De Jongh
Mnisi and Mapoe were both decent and so was Rohan Janse van Rensburg when he came on

 Noted...let's wait for other comments.

 Sergeal Petersen impresses almost every week. 
Combrink should surely be a top contender for national honours.
Mapoe seems to be shutting Comrades mouth a tad. That in itself is certainly a blessing.
Kriel is a defensive liability ... he lacks insight and is as poor a midfielder as JJ was. 
Marcell is dead average at 3. There is nothing special about him. A good solid prop at super rugby level ... We're not looking for average. Ruan Dreier as well as Redlinghuys are both better tighthead props. 
Dylan Smith and Marais are running away from the rest of those competing for the Bok 1 jersey.

Trevor needs to up his game. He probably knows that he's a definite pick because of his skin colour and therefore doesn't have to put in his best effort.
Kirsten could be our answer at 7. 
       

NZHerald in their weekend's postmortem gave the forward of the week award to Jean Deysel .......... not a bad substitution that . Btw. Philip vd Walt was having a mighty game as well until injured . Guppies are definitely missing any try scoring smarts but their defence was outstanding.

 
Wins don’t hide the reality check