Bok team for June

There goes rooitwit with his assumptions again. I challenge you to find posts on any Cheetahs, Bulls or Kings players in the last few weeks that they have been home. You wont find that. When I commented on Labuschagne, it was during their 4 match tour this side of the world. When I commented on JJ, it was whilst he was on tour with the Bulls here. I do not watch the games due to time difference but I do watch the 20 min highlight package for most SA games over in SA. I do record the games but im too busy living life and enjoying my weekends to watch them when they dont involve the Sharks. You should find something to fill your days instead of gazing over pics of women in your dark bedroom pretending they all want you!

You are too easy to school Rooi. You are easily the most brain dead and immature 50+ I know. Anyway, we cant give up. Maybe one day you will leave your parents home and grow up a bit.

You trying to entice me into a threatening scrap over here with you but its not going to happen. You are not worth it. No one takes you seriously on here. I mean who can take a man of your age that behaves like this on numerous message boards seriously. You had to hide from your original name already..You are a sad rat and I have a good picture of you in my mind.

Tell you what, dont try get me to tell you what I would do to a prick like yourself. Ask your dad for your pocket money and come check it out for yourself.

After waiting for a while - and with due regard to the invitees to the second training camp - I am going to stick my neck out and indicate that Meyer is likely to choose the following team:-

15   Kichner,14   Mvovo,  13  Engelbrecht,12  De Villiers, 11 Habana ,10  Morne Steyn,  9  Vermaak,  8  Spies, 7  Botha,   6  Louw,  5  Kruger,  4  Etzebeth,  3   Oosthuizen,  2  Strauss,  1  Beast

Bench:    16  Bismarck Du Plessis,  17 Jannie Du Plessis, 18   Du Toit,  19   Alberts,  20  Hougaard,  21   Lambie, 22 Mapoe

The above team is compied with due regard to Meyer's preference for Blue Bulls players and his disregard for talent.   I did not include Serfontei since he is unlikely to be released from the JWC squad and hence will not be available in June.

There are a number of players above I would not select - namely the completely out of form Kirchner, for one.   I would use the term "horses for course" and not ewaste time with Players like Alberts - who has hardly played any rugby this year and showed nothing on Saturday and is likely to show nothing on Saturday as well.

I would play Le Roux at full back and forget about Kirchner - he is mediocre at best.   I thought long and hard about the 13 situatio - lets face facts Meyer may just go for Engebrecht - he has the right jind of franchise contract.   For scummie I would have gone for Van Zyl and Reinach (the latter will be back when the series starts) - but they do not have the right contract.   I have more fait in those two scrummies than I have in eiter of Meyer's favourites.

Spies is to my mind a no-no - I would have gone for either Botha or Van der Walt - the latter probably be at this stage the better of the two - but he is not even a training squad - because Meyer wants Kankowski in the team come hell or high water - hence the fact that he prefers to invite Kankowski and not Van der Walt   Insofar as 7 is concerned - there will be a huge outtcry in the media if the inform- Labuschagne is ignored  - but Meyer does not like players with the wrong contracts and Lappies is one of those.   He will definitely insist on the locks - but I would have Have had De Jager in the mix - forget about Kruger (he is going to France and not rally a good lock) - Du Toit at 5 and De Jager on the bench.     

However, there may indeed be soe Bulls players that I left out - that Meyer may selet - a person can expect anything from him when it comes selection time.   He may yet surprise all of us - but his head in a hole and forget about the need for future players and Pick Bakkies Botha for this series.  That would be a totally backwards move and destroy the confidence of the younger players.   And then there is always Guthro Steenkamp to consider. '

Bakkies would be a fabulous choice.

Kankowski?? If there is one area of bok rugby that we are spoilt for choice that is loose forward. Kanko has been nowhere this year but lets forget about this year. He has been very ordinary for the past few years now bar his patch of great performances late in Super rugby last year. He has not found the form that made him a Sharks starter all those years back and resulted in a justified Bok call up. He has become a "patches" type player.  He had a great finish to Super rugby last year but all in all, he has simply been below average for some years now.

He has also never been great for the Boks. Much like Nonu is ordinary at Super rugby but great at international level and Wynand Olivier is great at super level but shit at Bok level. Kanko is very similar to Wynand in that regard. The step up just seems too great for them.

Mike, you mention something about Meyer WANTING Kanko in the team come hell or high water. Is that your thoughts or has this been confirmed somewhere? Why has he got such allegiance towards Kanko? Its clear to see that he is just not up to it anymore.

Pfffffffffffffhahahahahahahaha!

I can picture Twatlogic - the pimple-faced little stick-insect - running off to tell his Mommy something along these lines:

"Boohoohoo, it's not fair, Mummy!! I keep telling those horrible posters on Ruckers Forum what a hard case I am and how I'll punch their lights out and . . . sniff . . . but . . . but . . . none of them believe me and  they're ugly to me! Boohoohoo! They all think I'm the forum joke every time I tell one of them I'm going to beat them up. And there's one called Rooinek who's . . . sniff . . . very ugly to me all the time! It's not fair, Mummy! Boohoohoo!"

Gosh, what an angry little chappie this Twatlogic is . . . but, whether he's threatening other posters with physical violence or pontificating about players he hasn't seen play all season, he does provide a lot of humour!

LMAO!

There are a few posters on this board who have absolutely no opinion on anything rugby related and practically copy and paste others contributions, claiming them as their own.

Why they even bother is beyond me.

Then on the flip side you have the likes of old Fat Dave who comes along and posts his thoughts regularly, whether they make any sense at all is not the point. He at least has his likes and dislikes and whether he’s watched any matches of late or not, will not be swayed in any direction … no matter the stats … no matter expert opinions … no matter whether his pick is in form or not … whether he had a shocker or not …

It’s as if he’s unaware that other folk also have televisions sets at home … that they watch the rugby matches every weekend … that they see the inform players as well as those who blunder constantly and understand the requirements, concepts needed to be a valid, merited test rugby player selection.   

Take his worship of Hougat as an example. According to Fat Dave Hougat is our best 9. The entire planet has seen what a dismal season he’s had this year, how he’s struggled to pass a simple rugby ball to his outside man (a basic requirement I'll have you know) and how things turned completely around when he was replaced by a better player. 

Yet Fat Dave the Floater sticks to his guns and goes as far as to select him as his starting Bok scrummy, thus confirming his complete ignorance and lack of understanding.

It’s hilarious ….

But hey … at least he has an opinion of his own … no matter how laughable it may be or how ignorant the man is  … he has an opinion ... and tragically ... the right to voice it.

Mozart

Bakkies will be the worst choice Meyer can make.  First of all this hearkening back to the past is sickening - the man will soon be 34 years of age -and what investment would that be with a view to the 2015 WC.   We need to build a team  up for the future - not sit and use players way past their prime.  In the meantime it discourage local players and can only lead to further deparure to play elsewhere in the world.  Fact is we should follow the New Zealand and Australian eample and not select foreign based playrs for the Springboks.    

Mozart

Bakkies will be the worst choice Meyer can make.  First of all this hearkening back to the past is sickening - the man will soon be 34 years of age -and what investment would that be with a view to the 2015 WC.   We need to build a team  up for the future - not sit and use players way past their prime.  In the meantime it discourage local players and can only lead to further deparure to play elsewhere in the world.  Fact is we should follow the New Zealand and Australian eample and not select foreign based playrs for the Springboks.    

Capcap at least I am not stupid enough to make the call that Kockott should be our 9 - that is just how stupid and ignorant you are.

On the contrary Oom.....Bakkies had a great NH season.  He is still more mobile and has more rugby sense than Flip Flop. The only reason we aren't clamouring for his return is Etzebeth. But players get hurt and lose form. Bakkies in the mix is a great alternative.

As for his being "too old".......do your homework. Add four years to Brad Thorne's birth date of Feb 75 and you get Feb 99. Bakkies was born in Sept 79.....he'd be a relative youngster at the 2015 cup. And we all know Thorne was a huge factor in NZs win.

Mozart

Bakkies is WAY TO OLD.   Have you actually seen any games Bakkies Botha or Throne played in before making that wild statement about how well they perform?   I saw two games in which Bakkies played - but cannot sy he really was anything special.   At full go he can last maybe 30 minutes and he is always subbed at haftime.  

Because they cannot keep up with the speed of the game - they give away more than their fair share of penalties.   Both are way past it.   

Selection of Bakkies would be a serious mistake - a dream of the past that turns into a nightmare on the field of play.

By the way - there is a rason for the Highlanders being bottom of the log 0 they have far too many golden oldies in their squad  - one o whih obviously is Thorne 

So if Thorn is currently the reason the Highlanders are losing......by logical extension he is so pivotal, he has to be  the reason the ABs won the RWC. What a dumb argument Oom.

Mozart

Do you have problems understanding the English language?   I never said Thoorne was the reason for the catastrpophic performances of the Highlanders =  I said they have too many players way past their prime and Thorne is one of them.   He just does not contribute enough to them and thats the end of it.   Where did the WC came into the discussion?   He was bloody average in the WC anyway - so why have an over-aged average performer in teams? 

He outplayed his direct opponent in all three of the RWC knockout finals. Check the stats. The problem here isn't that Thorn wasn't a great test lock. The problem is SA fans just thought he looked smaller than Bakkies. But he is a tough man and Bakkies never messed with him.

Oh pleeeease Dr Moz bad thorn had a licence to do wha the wanted. Recall his spear tackle on Smit that put Smit out o fthe game for months? Nothing happened to bad brad.

If Bakkies so much as looked sideways at brad it was a yellow. What do you think the nz smearr campaign that followed Bakkies throughout his career was about. Trying to get Bakkies to hold back on them. They loved pap matfield (106 kg) and were in terror of Bakkies (120 kg).

Those gentlemen are the plain facts of the case.

Please dont compare a donkey (brad) with a thorougbred racehorse. A master with a journeyman (Brad).

All should salute Bakkies one of the best locks ever.

End of story!

Mozart

Thorn was really hyper-active in that final - that is according to the stats as interpreted by Mozart.   Listen - if those stats reflects what is really expected on a field of play - then we must really think tot change the player post haste.   My interpretation remains - he was bog ordinary and definitely not a house on fire.   He my have been slightly better than his opponet - but the stats for his opponent is definitely sub-par.

He was played by New Zealand then and by the Highlanders now on reputation and that says it all.  

Thorn statistically outplayed Bakkies in every test I have examined since RWC07.....I haven't gone back further. Here is a typical example from Bloem09.....a time the Boks were dominating:

You see here at a typical pattern. Thorn actually takes more lineouts (Bakkies took none)  in spite of being shorter. Thorn makes more tackles. In this test Bakkies made more metres....generally that was also Thorn.

I'm afraid this is just another untested myth in SA supporters  minds. Look at the tests....see for yourself.

Come on Moz, if we were relying on all these stats we would be concluding that Thorn was a better lock than Bakkies when we all know that it was not even close.

There is no context in those stats and lets face it, Thorn would have been playing in a winning side in most of those tests sadly.

I dont recall Thorn ever outplaying Bakkies. There is a reason Bakkies and Matfield have been regarded as the best pair to ever play the game. An average player like Thorn, was never going to challenge that mantle.