15 Willie le Roux, 14 Grant Williams, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi (c), 1 Ox Nche
Substitutes: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20, Jasper Wiese, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Jesse Kriel
I'm a bit surprised...
Grant Williams on the wing could be interesting but it highlights the imbalance in the squad with Rassie selecting 4 scrumhalves.
Looks like De Allende and Kriel remain the first choice centre pairing.
I'll forgive Rassie if he wins us the RWC but if he doesn't, he has a lot to answer for.
hopefully only a bit of poker.
Yes, it appears that Delande and Kriel will be the first-choice Boks for the remainder of the tournament. That is a sad fact that we have to come to terms with.
I don't understand. If the Boks are going to play small wingers that score tries, the whole idea should be to get the ball wide with space.
Willie Leroux's starting could mean he is now also a bench player.
Grant Williams is listed on the Sharks website as a scrumhalf/wing.
He obviously has the speed to play wing, but perhaps not the experience at test level on say defense in a tight test match.
Although it will be great to watch him on the wing when the Boks get good attacking movements going.
He almost scored against Scotland after side-stepping half their team, only to be halted by a fantastic ankle tap.
Yes, apparently he is the fastest runner, and he might even have a better step than Kolbe and Aredense who have bulked up a bit for tackling.
That almost to be try against Scotland where he stepped half the team would match any wing in world rugby - at least on attack.
Willemse is going to be the pole kicker, but I suppose it does not matter as the Boks are going to get lots of tries in this match.
For team spirit, it looks like this match is being used to ensure everyone in the squad gets some game time at the World Cup. That way no one feels like a spare wheel and contributes to the positivity.
Esterhozen has to start at 12 against Ireland
Hope I'm wrong but the only decent game this w/end appears to be the Aussies vs Fiji
"Agreed Plum I fucking hate it when I see Mostert’s name on the team sheet"
Lol
Not surprised at all by the selections. Any WC squad has fringe players who play against weak opposiiton. Some f the players could end up in the team hat would play against Ireland - but Esterhuizen will not be one of those. Neither should Mostert be. He was too weak against Scotland to contribute to Tight 5 play.
I would rather see Etzebeth and Snyman starting with Klein on the bench than see Mostert anywhere against stronger teams. Mostert is a libaility in all respects of Tight 5 play.
Damian MOM against Scotland? In a game where the midfield was exceedingly poor? Interesting choice. Damian has never, ever produced a MOM performance at any level of the game.
