Bok team vs Scotland

South Africa: 15 Willie Le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw/Siya Kolisi, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Morné Steyn, 23 JJ Engelbrecht.

Meyer did his ordinary for this year - two steps forwards and 10 steps backwards.   He believes implicitly that rugby geriatrics should be involved - even when they have failed repeatedly.

Lets start with the backline.  The performances of both Fourie and Pietersen last week showed two unfit and slow player being brought into the squad,  Maybe this is a good thing  - two more flops this week should teach Meyer something to the effect that players playing touch rugby  in Japan is not good enough for Sprinbok selection - but will he ever learn.  The selection of Lambie is the only improvement in the backline - anything would be better than watching Steyn with his perennial flops.

 Amongst the forwards - the fat and useless Steenkamp - even a flop on club level in France - is brought into the starting line-up - that is what I call an utter disgrace.   The same player flopped  in the  test against Scotland last year and was a disgrace after his first 15 minutes of the field of play.   The selection of Bakkies Botha is another one reflecting a move backwards to the future.   If the performances of other foreign-based players are borne in mind - this one will be a flop as well.   What is worse is that Meyer shows NO CONFIDENCE whatsoever in Du Toit and drop him even from the bench.  A stupid selection to say the least.   Then we have the disadvantage to see the Alberts or Kolisi show again.  Irrespective of which of the two starts  - there will be another show of 80% absence from the game and  for the rest one-dimensional play.

This time around I will keep full notes on the following expected flops so as to deal with the thunderous rubbish that would be shouted about - especially by the prejudiced ignorant on this site:-

   Fourie, Pietersen, Alberts/Kolisi, Botha and Steenkamp.              

Duplication

The Springbok team to face Scotland in Edinburgh is:

15. Willie le Roux 10 caps 15 points
14. JP Pietersen 49 caps 70 points
13. Jaque Fourie 70 caps 160 points
12. Jean de Villiers (captain) 94 caps 125 points
11. Bryan Habana 93 caps 265 points
10. Pat Lambie 30 caps 57 points
9. Fourie du Preez 66 caps 75 points
8. Duane Vermeulen 14 caps 5 points
7. Willem Alberts 28 caps 30 points/Siya Kolisi 9 caps 0 points
6. Francois Louw 26 caps 25 points
5. Flip van der Merwe 32 caps 5 points
4. Bakkies Botha 76 caps 35 points
3. Frans Malberhe 1 caps 0 points
2. Adriaan Strauss (vice-captain) 31 caps 25 points
1. Gurthrö Steenkamp 47 caps 30 points
Replacements:
16. Bismarck du Plessis 55 caps 45 points
17. Tendai Mtawarira 51 caps 10 points
18. Coenie Oosthuizen 12 caps 5 points
19. Eben Etzebeth 22 caps 0 points
20. Marcell Coetzee 14 caps 5 points
21. Ruan Pienaar 72 caps 130 points
22. Morné Steyn 52 caps 627 points/AN Other
23. JJ Engelbrecht 11 caps 20 points

Stats and facts:

•The Springbok starting team boasts a total of 667 Test caps (412 in the backline and 255 in the forwards), while there are a further 278 caps worth of experience on the bench.

•South Africa and Scotland last met on 15 June 2013 at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit during the Castle Lager Incoming Series. The Springboks outscored Scotland by 30-17 and three tries to two.

•JP Pietersen will be playing in his 50th Test for South Africa. He played 47 of the previous 49 on the wing and two at fullback.

•Jean de Villiers will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok centre, with 79 Tests in this position. He will be the captain for the 23rd consecutive Test, which will put him in fourth place on the list of SA Captains behind John Smit (83), Gary Teichmann (36) and Francois Pienaar (29). Jean and Jaque Fourie will also extend their SA record of 27 Tests as a centre-pairing.

•Bryan Habana will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok wing, with 92 Tests in this position and if he scores a try, will extend his record of 53 Test tries for South Africa.

•If he takes the field, Morné Steyn will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok flyhalf, with 51 Tests in this position. If he scores a try, he will also extend his record of eight Test tries as a flyhalf for South Africa.

•If he takes the field and scores a try Bismarck du Plessis will extend his record of nine Test tries for South Africa as a hooker.

•If he scores a try, Gurthrö Steenkamp will extend his own record of six tries as a prop for South Africa.

•Bakkies Botha last played for South Africa at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand against Namibia, on 22 September 2011.

•If Jaque Fourie scores a try he will extend his record of 28 Test tries for South Africa as a centre.

•The referee is Jerôme Garces of France. This will be his second Test involving South Africa – the first was the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against Australia on 28 September this year at DHL Newlands in Cape Town, which the Springboks won by 28-8.

Springbok Test match records at Murrayfield:

•Most points – 26 (2t, 8c) by Percy Montgomery on 6 December 1997 against Scotland.

•Most tries – two, by six players, the last was by Adriaan Strauss on 17 November 2012 against Scotland.

•Most conversions – eight by Percy Montgomery on 6 December 1997 against Scotland.

•Most penalty goals – four by Morné Steyn on 20 November 2010 against Scotland.

•Most drop goals – three by Jaco van der Westhuyzen 27 November 2004 against Scotland.

Ceradyne

Thanks for the late posting of the team and all the useless stats provided. 

Thanks for the update Cera, got my team off SArugby.com's home page. Obviuosly there were still one or two updates after the fact.