Bok side to play Oz

 I think Pollard is better managed off the bench for his own good. I think Reinach is a dangerman and if Allende goes to 12, as he should, then best have the more experienced Morne at 10? Or just go for broke. Reinach, Pollard and Allende - the WC configuration.
Whitely would be great to see against Oz. If the pack is going well take off Duane and give him a shot - 30 minutes in second half. Duane could do with a break - he has also been playing far too much.

I agree with your front row, Jannie has been very poor at scrum time, and does not exist outside the scrums. Bizzie has just been missing lately, but for the odd penalty he gives away. 
Etzebeth, Matfield (Loodt had a bit of a shocker and was pretty lazy to me) Now you know I am one of the Anti-Matfield champions, but just until Loodt can find his feet, I'd start with Matfield with Loodt backing up. Just out of a lack of options, and to get rid of another lazy player, Bakkies, that just gives away penalties. 
Alberts, Vermeulen, Louw (The three work well together, and Alberts seems to perform better when in a bok jersey) 
Reinach, Morne (Pollard and Pienaar just kicked hopelessly from a tactical point of view. In fact, I think their kicking got us into waaaay more crap than our hopeless front row. Morne was less crap, and therefore gets my nod)
12. De Allande, 13. Jean (Because it would improve our deffence and De Allande would be in his preferred position)
Habana, Hendricks, Willie (No comment needed)

 pollard wont be ready for the world cup. hell be good but i doubt he will ever be in mornes class right now to be honest. but why change so many for australia? it'll just ruin continuity and australia are never going to match that power of argentina or scrum that well. but they will bore in though. its time though to start morne and if poenaar doesnt deliver after aussie test then bring hougaard in. reinach doesnt have the ttools for test scrummie play.

 Marcel van der Merwe is worse than Coenie or Malherbe. He is no test tighthead. Lood is a lethargic big man who seemingly only gets aggressive against weak opposition....he was poor against the Bargies. De Allende is going to get skinned against NZ....his positional play at 13 is a major vulnerability. Reinach will be a problem....the ABs will have the Crusaders book on him.

 Bluebok
Matfield "scrumming" behind any prop will be a diosaster.  He is physical-deficient and is that in all facets of play - bar the so-clled line out genius.   He will try and satrt a maul and pop out at the side while the other forwards will try and maul.   
We have a chioice - 
*   play him for his line out ability; and *   loose out in evrything else.
Bad move that one - he is not up to st6andard at all - same as Bakkies Botha and the foreign club gang.

Mike, it won't take much for me to overlook Matfield, but Loodt just didn't come to the party against Argentina. I say Matfield because, for now, his leadership and "line-out prowess" will be more valuable than; a) Bringing someone new in, or b) playing Loodt who, as Moz pointed out, was nowhere against Arg. Remember, we should get away with a slightly weaker lock pair against OZ's scrum....provided our props can get their shart together. But that is a whole new discussion. 
Mike, please don't get me wrong, Matfield should never have been in the squad, but there is no time to prepare an alternative. 
Moz, I was also not convinced by De Allande, but I think he will do better at his natural 12 position. Jean has the experience to make the switch to 13. Again, who would you replace De Allande with? Reinach may get owned by NZ, but Pienaar got owned by Arg and Hougard, well........

 victor has outclassed other locks all year. i see no problem in having him in the starting xv. and as much as you guys diss loodt eben was a little sissy girl out there. both struggled to dominate, if you have an issue with one then also the other.

This scenario has a very familiar ring to it and I've seen it several times before in SA rugby selections...too late to do drastic changes once the ship has set sail in stormy seas.

Drastic changes should have been phased-in, in stages sometime ago...the ship is not seaworthy to take the storms in the Tasman Seas.

Having said that, one or two changes have been forced due to weak links and players either too bombed out or just plainly not ready for the heavy artillery.

Sadly most of the team has to stay but lazy slap Lood must be replaced, this is just too much for him,and Itzebeth just might well improve.

As much as I have been shouting my lungs out against Matfield and Morne Steyn, we don't have much option or preparation,and the huge error of short sighted coaching that these veterans (who should not have been there in the first place) are left to patch up much of a bad job. Steenkamp must go and Jannie must be rested and his younger as a starter being replaced by Strauss.

Panic stations will end up in total embarrassment...sherbert!, I seen this scene and stage several times before going back to the seventies when SA went into a flat spin against Willie John Mc Brides British Lions every game there was dramatic and huge changes and every game just got worst...we were beaten, and thrashed hands down until the last game when I think the British Lions rested as they had completely annihilated the series with the last being an academic motion and draw. The problem here was just so simple in that that British Lions were the strongest and most perfect rugby side ever and they would have thrashed anybody, a very true fact that arrogance and fragile egos in rugby couldn't have the humility and honesty to accept and live with.

Panic and we're totally gone...sadly we have to stick to the best of the bad bunch. Selah.

The simple fact is, we are currently struggling for 13s, 9s, 3s and perhaps even 1s. We are not as strong proven talent wise as we have been every year since 2004. To win this year we will have to play to our strengths and be very tactically astute. We can't make any stupid mistakes.
And I think the team is reeling....this Bargie thing has been a bit of a shock.

 "Allende (12) Jean"

Is it a good idea to move our alreday "absent" captain further away from "the action"?

"As much as I have been shouting my lungs out against Matfield and Morne Steyn, we don't have much option or preparation,and the huge error of short sighted coaching that these veterans (who should not have been there in the first place) are left to patch up much of a bad job."

Which coaching are we looking at here? HM has tried what was on offer from the unions/franchises and these two are the ones who he has to rely on. Out of all the fly halves, only Pollard (who Meyer identified as a fifteen year old) has come close. Goosen has disappeared, Jantjies was a joke, Lambie is ............... Lambie, etc. PSDT is still injured, Flip is injured, Etzebeth only returned recently, Lood is ................. Lood.

 iexpected argentina to play well. just saffer arrogance expecting a huge win after the loftus test. it should nevet have been a shock. i can only think if 1 big test win in history by us in argentina.

 more than anyobe we missing flip the guy sends our power through the roof. always performs strongly against new zealand too. flip and matfield would be awesome! 

 You are smoking some real strong sh1t beano1 and you seem to share it with that sa77ex dude who becomes totalle delusional.   Both of you know a lot about the game but you both lack serious people knowledge.

 My side would be 15. Willie 14. JJ 13. De Allende 12. Serfontein 11. Habana 10. Goosen 9. Hougaard 1. Beast 2. Bismark 3. M. v/d Merwe 4. Etzebeth 5. Lood 6. Coetzee 7. J. Du Plessis 8. Vermeulen
16. Strauss 17. T. du Toit 18. Nkanyane 19. Willemse 20. Kolisi 21. Reinach 22. Lambie 23. Senatla

Fortunately Dave, like most of your sides, that balls up wont see the light of day. But i t is good to see you finally drop JJ though....did they give you Novocain before you posted?  

 We struggled against them last year as well...their home game anyway. Our scrums weren't a desaster though.

 Um JJ is I'm my side hello. But moz given how pathetic your and Meyers side is as evidenced by the two tests against the argies I hardly think you are in a position to pass judgement on my side.
You have obviously learnt nothing from the fact that geriatric has beens cannot live with the modern game.
No doubt you will be beating the same ignorant drum after we get creamed by oz and nz. My told you so has come earlier than expected. Hell we could not even dominate a second tier side like the argies.
My side is spot on - it comprises our best young talent mixed with worthy experienced players

I'm relieved Dave, for a moment I thought you'd become partially rational. 

Has JJ, the best 13 since Dani e Gerber now become JJ, the best 14 since Ray Mordt, or who?

 My sides beat the crap out of the insulting junk you lot com e up with

 @saf
Agree with 93.33% of your side.
But Goosen over Pollard? Thats a big call.
To drop the kid after 2 games would be harsh and probably kill off a lot of his inner confidence.

I'd like to see him stay on through the RC.

I'm not anti Goosen at all, but I dont think he has played enough rugby consistently to warrant a call up.

Pollard certainly has the make up to be a great 10. Give him some time to settle.

 FD 
Agree with you there.

 Flash I'd be more than happy with pollard as there is little to choose between him, Goosen and lambie. I went with the loyalty option. Goosen had done nothing to merit his dropping by useless meyer

 @saf
Yes on Lambie, Goosen and Pollard.
But whoever get the nod, needs to be given time and patience.

My concern over Lambie is that he ha been consistent rather than a star at SXV level.
Maaybe thats what we need? Someone consistent as opposed to hot and cold... I dunno.

A fit and confident Goosen is in my opinion, the most well balanced flyhalf that we have. But I'd prefer to see him playing a FULL season of SXV first.

Pollard... hell, the boy can play. I think he is mature way beyond his years. Composed and solid... I've had my eye on him since i watched him in Grade 11!

At least we have some options!

As you were, I was a MASSIVE Elton fan. But since the silly move to the Stormers and the passing of his dad, he hasn't been the same player. Touches of brilliance mixed with big moments of stupidity capitulated him from hero to zero in many peoples books.

So Pollard it is for me!

 Well moz you think that insult of a pivot in morne is the answer - enough said. Anyone who finds favour in such an average player is hardly worth listening to.
Goosen has played very little test rugby and been far better than morne when he has

 Flash I am with you. We need long term investment in a 10 and we have quality in those 3. Our useless coach keeps going back to a proven failure and wonders why we can't progress beyond the ordinary.
How on earth could anyone select morne

For exactly the reason he was subbed on Saturday....to win the test.

 Did morne win us the test bwhaaahaaaaa pity his overall record for the boks is so poor 

Those so worried about the Boks should look at the last twenty minutes again. Look how assured our scrum was, how dominant the pack was etc. Loodt is getting a raw deal from certain quarters. He had a pretty reasonable game. Etzebeth was very good but obviously still building up to a full 80 minute go.The lineouts were very good we stole 2 and lost one. No problem. We dont need pap victor the backline wannabee.NO NEED TO CHANGE LOCKS.  Its madness to put play the worlds papest lock. The Argies would have had wee matfiled for breakfast.Also you dn tpaly Alberts agaisnt OZ especially since neither Vermulen or Louw are particlualry fast. It will be a high temp game and Coeatzee MUST join Louw and Vermuelen.
Jannie needs rest and being on the bench could be the wise thing to do. Watch also Malherbe. He had a very good spell. Tragic he broke a bone in his ankle.
Lets see what Meyer comes up.

 Lood was good etzebeth was quiet but will be back to full throttle soon. We need willemse in the equation as well

 @moz

Morne's introduction was good on Saturday, but was largely due to the introduction of the new front row who managed to hold their own!

Naas's best line from Saturday was when he said "as a flyhalf you know you are in trouble when you are suddenly offsides if you stay standing where you took your mark before the scrum took place".

There is little doubt that Malherbe, Strauss and Beast played an even larger role than Morne did.

Had Morne started, he would have been disastrous!
At least Pollard stood up like a machine in defense.

Moz, you need to watch some Allan Gray ads...
You need to invest now, to reap future rewards brother.

 Jannie paif a wonmderful dividend on Saturday - unfortunately the dividend cheque was made out to Rugby Argentina.  None of the geriatrics did anything of note.  So the dividend players is all in thr mind of the delusional.   

 Ok Moz...
You are right.
Malherbe was poor!
Jannie had a good game.
It was because of him that we managed to pull of the win.

Oh for heaven sake Flash. Jannie had a tough, disappointing game. But Malherbe has scrummed all of four times in two Argentinian  tests and conceded two penalties. He hasn't made it through one scrum. Believe your eyes, not the hype.

 Ha ha moz you and your scrum analysis....about as real as noddy.
Flash is spot on the Bok scrum took a hiding of a lifetime with steenkamp and jannie at prop.
Malherbe and beast restored some pride. The argies should never have got that penalty as they were scrumming in.
Against steenkamp and jannie there was no opportunity to scrum in as the Bok scrum was retreating so fast

 @moz
i disagree on every level.

I'm not saying that Malherbe was a revelation.. and yes he did concede some penalties.
But man, lets me honest, 2 of those penalties had the argies scrumming in at almost 90 degrees!

Furthermore, Malherbe hasn't played over 50 tests and over 100 first class games with his brother next to him. Let us not underestimate the value of that experience... though it didn't count for much on Saturday. Bismarck was equally woeful.

But lets agree to disagree.