15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk; 1 Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Kwagga Smith.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Rynhardt Elstadt, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Damian Willemse.
Weak bench.
The backline is as expected, but a few surprises in the pack.
The front row looks more like a B-team. While they are excellent players, surely the front row on the bench is better.
Bongi is good, so not too much difference between him and Marx starting.
However, Malherbe is surely the form tighthead.
The backrow looks bare without Vermeulen at 8.
Kwagga appears to be part of the game plan, perhaps extra pace to counter the B&I backrow.
The backs pick themselves.
The forward picks are of great interest.
Very clearly the selection reveals the desire to go for mobility above physicality.
They obviously think the Lions will try and run them off their feet.
Then in the second half bring on the physical players to dominate.
I cannot but wonder how these two starting props will do.
Mostert lacks grunt. As do Kwagga and Kolisi.
This starting pack lacks grunt.
Its quite a deviation from the RWC pack for sure and not what I expected. It looks like the Boks could be running the ball.
What think the oaks?
Not really that suprised by the starting front row as the selectors were probably under pressure to achieve certain numbers but I don't think any of the starters will let us down and we have a world-class front row coming off the bench.
The surprise for me is Kwagga ahead of Jasper Wiese or Dan du Preez. Hope Kwagga can compete against the likes of Toby Faletau and whichever one of Courtney Lawes or Tadgh Beirne Gatland picks.
Think the Lions XV is only being announced tomorrow but I don't think it'll differ much from this:
15 Liam Williams/Stuart Hogg, 14 Anthony Watson/Elliot Daly, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Duhan van der Merwe/Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Conor Murray; 8 Toby Faletau/Jack Conan , 7 Tom Curry, 6 Courtney Lawes/Tadgh Beirne, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Tadgh Furlong, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola/Wyn Jones.
I'm not convinced by the front row, really risky selecting them. They are going to get destroyed by the Lions. Ox was poor in the curry cup, Bongi hardly had any game time and neither did trevor get any time.
Definitely a numbers game here.
Bench is poor too, why on earth would you select Willemse and Jantjies.
But they have not gone for a 6/2 split.
Not sure the ball will move a lot as it is in Cape Town and wet conditions to be expected.
Going to be really slippery under foot.
I think Qwagga is selected because he does the same as Vermeulen when it comes to marshalling the defence and the break down.
I really think Rassie has rolled the dice one too many times and painted himself into a corner.
Can't start Kolisi, hardly played this season and now to expect him to play test rugby when it was quite evident that our A team was running out of steam in the 2nd half and only able to score in the first 40 minutes.
Being in isolation for 14 days with no training + covid, who know what it did to his lungs.
Really bad move by Rassie in my opinion.
Looking at the team I have some real reservations. Those are -
* the two starting props - Nyakane is very weak at Tight-head and Nche is not particularly strong in scrumming;
* Franco Mostert at 5 and Kwagga at 8 are weakening the forwards - they are putting a lot of pressure on the great Etzebeth and Du Toit to keep the forwards formidable.. ,
* As to he bench it is clear that Du Toit and Etzebeth will remain on the field and that Mostert will be replaced by De Jager earlier than normal, while Jantjies will not be used - bar pe rhaps the last 5 minutes if the Springbok have a good lead. Jantjies in the flyhalf position is a really poor selection after failing in the A matches.
* Kwagga is likely to be replaced by Elstadt in the second half. - the former is really a better sevens player than he is in the 15 man game.
Maybe hope there are very few scrums in the first half and bring on the heavy ammo in the second as beeno said. However, Erasmus and Nienaber must have a very good game plan in place to stymie the Lions as he did with the English in the WC Final. We are dealing here with a really brilliant coaching set-up.
Will be interesting, I don't know what the obsession is with stacking up the front row and leaving your best scrummagers on the bench.
If anything, I would have like to see the likes of Kitshoff, Marx and Malherbe play the whole game. I would at least have koch on the bench and drop Trevor as Malherbe is the only prop I think who will run out of juice during the game.
Os played the full world cup final game and you wouldn't be able to pull him off the field.
So I don't see why you would use your best front row for only half the game. It worked in the WC but everyone is wise to that now and the current front row is not world class.
Agree mostly with your comment mozart but I think Marks is not starting as per quota numbers and pleased to read that Connie has been sent packing.
Kolisi can count himself lucky to be selected or is it yet another transformation order from the ANC senior sport selectors.
Frans, Loop and Elton will add zero strength to the Bok side should they be called upon to earn yet another Bok test for the record.
Sure hope that the Boks are set to perform on game day.
Frans looked better as the Georgian test progresses. Looks like he just needs game time. Outside of Esterhuizen, we are very, very short at 12. No Frans, our next bet is Pollard at 12. Nobody else I'd trust in a tight test.
Kindergarten Imbecile
Birdbrain is at it again. Just tell me when last did Esterhuizen actually played any club rugby? Last I hear in four months he had two bans - one for three weeks and the other for 5 weeks. That together with his poor performances when playing for the Springboks and iffy performances for his club is why he was not in the Springbok squad.. And Steyn did not produce anything of note when he was in the field as a bench player in the important games. Happy Idiots Day to you - birdbrain.
Yes Frans did. More so than Steph or Willemse!
Esterhuizen has ability, the alternatives aside from Frans have little to no ability. It's that simple.
LOL - idiot supreme at his normal idiocy.. What did Fransie do in the games he came from the bench. in major games in the WC? Lets hear it in full.- I need some jokes to laugh at.
Esterhuizen had a fine game in the Quinn’s/Exeter Premiership decider in June:
A scintillating attack saw Quins' backs combine down the left as Cadan Murley sprinted forward having been released by Smith, before offloading to Esterhuizen, who then found Marchant with another offload. The England centre did brilliantly to earn extra metres going forward in contact, before Danny Care played the ball quickly for the Springbok centre to score in the corner.
Get your facts straight Oom,
I covered many 2019 Super games, with the intention of catching the plastics out. It worked everytime. Esterhuizen is not a media darling, and very seldom receives any praise. If he were the incumbent, he'd likely be an under appreciated grafter like Juan was.
Kits and Mal are very important for the momentum of our heavily scripted ball-control gameplan. Against New Zealand, in the World Cup, Mal was a tick off his usual pace to breakdowns and it made a big difference to the outcome of the game. When these two are playing well, the Boks control their possession almost effortlessly.
Kwagga is plenty physical. He just needs to be more hungry in every test. He was good against Georgia, has been good before.
Lood is heavy, not strong. There's a difference. Lood always loses the physical battle and is too slow and unskilled for anything else.
Dan is explosive and has skills. But José is afraid of players who offer dynamism, it threatens the ball-control model. A plodder is more predictable, and that means the system is safer. Just like José's insistance on demoting both RG and Esterhuizen, both lightyears ahead of those put ahead of them.
It's the organization of the defense role our 8 plays. Gonna be very difficult replacing Thor.
If the Lions pack cant get on top of this mobile by non physical pack then they are really not much to write home about.
I don't think the Lions will be worried about the Boks starting pack.
If scores are close at half time we win.
Giving up physical dominance in the pack is a bold move. The Lions would have most likely be trying to avoid an in the trenches pack battle, But can easily change their plans as this Bok starting pack wont push them around.
Its an intriguing tactical move.
Having poor little Kwagga at 8 seems crazy. The guy gets obliterated when it comes to big matches. Its not that he hasn't got heart, lots of it, but at 95Kg he is not even a big back. Reminds me a bit about the Keegan Daniels saga. Poor Keegan was also outgunned at test level.
I do wish ou Organhuffer would learn the game. Calling Kwagga a physical forward is plain nonsense. Kwagga has skills but they are in the loose where he can run and off load. He could have made a good center.
Another facet touched upon is the weather. It seems the pitch will be dry and firm underfoot if the Accuweather forecast is reliable.
Another bit of nonsense from the Huffer is that Lood is slow or lacks physicality. Where does this guy get all this nonsense!
To me this Bok side is selected to play running rugby and tire out the Lions before bringing on the big guns to finish them off. It could be helter skelter from the first minute. That is my hunch but who knows. You don't launch a forward domination game plan with this pack.
There are many ways to skin a cat. We shall see what happens.
Just hope the scrum holds and Malherbe not forced onto the pitch too early if his fitness is, as suspected, not quite there.
Meanwhile ou turncoat rooiwtit has his Lions jersey all washed and ironed and ready for wearing over his Welsh jersey. It is winter.
I was surprised to see Kwagga included, I must say.
Lomp was physical until Vunipola ran over him…..much like Kaino face planted him in 2015. He’s about as physical as a piece of pasta.
Damian gets busted head on, he is a clasper on defence, not the brick wall Frans, Esterhuizen are, or Jean was.
Steph? Maybe if he could make a read he could show something, or if he had more acceleration than an old Skoda going uphill.
Lood has never dominated physically. He runs into traffic thinking he is Thor and gets turned over or fumbles the ball as he is manhandled. Another slow unskilled player. Would have been better suited to 1940s rugby. He was born well after his time. If Saffers were smart they'd have learned from Australia and New Zealand that heaviness doesn't equate to strength. We always gush over lardy Afrikaners who tip the scales and then get inverted into their own backsides by athletic players with explosive power and strength. If Saffy's taste in women is like his taste in players he has a fetish for BBW. I imagine one day him letting slip how thicc Lood and Steph are. Wouldn't that make Lügnerin giddy!
An exercise in logic. Spot the inconsistency:
The Great Erasmus rates Mostert
The Great Erasmus is omniscient
Mostert is a useless lightweight.
It may seem incredibly obvious viewed that way. But Dave and the Pervert make exactly that argument on al most every string.
It's a very simple simple system that these players have been thoroughly exposed to. Try another excuse.
Common sense will be restored….ie the Great Erasmus is wrong? I think we have the beginnings of a bowel movement!
Rassie isn't even a coach, he is a philosopher who relies on his subordinate to implement the technical stuff. He is the only coach of this kind in SA rugby history. As per the RC? Not a big achievement given the standard of opposition. The WC? We were fortunate to have NZ in the same group and not in the knockout rounds, as we can't beat them. Wellington was a win against an error strewn All Black side based on emotion (a one-off, not a reflection on the season which was worse than 2017). The great Rassie botched the home test, botched the EOYT and relied on wins against the worst Wallaby side in 45 years, and injury hit Welsh side and one good game that season: against England. And through it all, the players most vilified produced and saved the Boks. The golden boys nothing.
Saffy, you embarrass yourself. Embrace reality. No wonder Josè, he of no ideas and a backward and archaic model, decided to jump ship and dump the spotlight on his crutch, he knows how lucky he was. Rassie is at best, perhaps better than Snor. Both relied on others, like when Rassie and Nienaber lost the 2011 WC for him with a star studded team of legends.
This is crazy - the Kindergarten imbecile make statements he sucked out of his thumb and then said it is proven. Lets me give an example. There was the case of the Springboks attacking the Aussie gain line with Jantjies being tackled a meter out. A ruck is formed and De Jager ended up forcing his way over the line and scored. When in the Japan game before the WC a similar situation arose and this time it is Mostert who tries to force his way over the line - but is carried back by the forwards.
When Mostert missed open-field tackles - the players just ran over Mostert and he ended up on the ground with the attackers going on with the attack and tries are scored, poofters tried to blame du Toit for the missed tackles. One was in the Argentina RC test and the other in the All Black WC test. The latter confirmed that Mostert open-field defense routinely fail - it happened twice in the game the Springboks win in Wellington in 2018 - Mostert was dropped from the starting line-up.
No the birdbrained idiots come up with their new disinformation - Erasmus is a poor coach - Nienaber is the real coach. That is a joke as well - Erasmus is a manager and not even a coach at present. Erasmus was chosen as coach of the Year in the Guinness Top 14 in 2017 at Munster - the real flops the Kindergarten Imbecile regard as good coaches Meyer and Coetzee after they failed as Springbok coaches were both fired by their clubs because of their gross incompetence.
The comments of both Mozart and the Kindergarten Imbecile either stem from ignorance or from prejudice and both are shit-spreaders who nobody could ever believe.Their shit attitude experts throughout the world is wrong - they are correct. Mozart even at one stage admitted that he and the kindergarten Imbecile see things the experts fail to see. and his assessments are always correct and everybody else is wrong. When they describe what happened on the field o f play they come up with unbelievable BS and when the players they hate come up with good things they ignore it.
Kwagga and the two props are clearly not our best starters...the props aren't bad, but not the best. Might be another strategic move...we'll see, Rassie and Nienaber are no fools.
So who is pulling the strings?
Nienaber is a defensive genius. What is the entire Bok model founded on? Defence. Man, how clueless are the plastics? The plastics worship the mediocre, so now Nienaber is just a physio, according to self-proclaimed expert Lister.
