Boks to Open with a Loss

Boks have only won 3 of 23 games in Aus during the 3N/RC so odds are not in our favour. A very good acid test for us - especially the center combination of Allende and Kriel, and can we impose physical dominance with a forward pack absent Vermuelen. Whiteley was decidedly average imo (apart from some good lineout work) against World XV and is a lot of things, but not a dominant physical player - on the international stage possibly better suited to the side of the scrum? Would not be surprised if Schalk starts at 8.  Will be interesting to see who Meyer names as the props and at right wing.

 oimatey
If we want a dominant forward pack - Meyer must get rid of two passengers - namely Matfield and Jannie du Plessis.  He will not and our dominance would be zero.  Without that we cannot win and that bis the problem.  
I am sorry - but I am waiting for the team announcement before I make any firm prediction.   If he selects the two players mentioned and Morne Steyn - a bad loss is on the cards.    

 Matey,  if I was a betting man,  I would have wagered a few bills on the Boks,  regardless of who play.  I watched part of the game tonight and saw some positives I did not pick up on Saturday.  There are clearly a very good team spirit and comradery within the group and more tgan enough skill and power to take on the best in the world.  Only fools will write off the boks at this stage. 

The Boks will be competitive. HM's teams almost always are. My main concern is the loose forwards....the Aussies have some great loosies.My guess is HM is hoping Malherbe can reproduce the Stormers scrum and harvest some penalties.

Agree Db. I think we take this one and thought the game plan against world xv picked up right where the last RC left off. I didn't mean for my comment to seem I was writing them off but will be watching what transpires with a lot of interest. Meyer always has his teams ready to play. We would have had the Aussies last year in Perth but for a last minute try and conversion. That was on the back of Steyns 6/6 penalties so whoever Meyer names I'm confident that we'll compete with an appropriate well prepared game plan.  
I think he's doing a bang up job of balancing youth and experience in the team, attack and defense, juggling the quota requirements and expectations. We're lucky to have him.

 Draad
I can only hope you are right - but I am not going to put the remaining R50 in my betting account on them with Morne at flyhalf.   Thinking of our record away against Australia and the negative role Morne played in the last one - we have a serious problem on our hands.  
There are indeed positives in the team - I think our center pairing was very good and Coetzee was massive, while Le Roux showed his usual ball sense.   I also think that Burger was great and there was nothing wrong with Whiteley's performance either. I also think that the line-outs was only good because of the inputs of Etzebeth and Whiteley and that fact is going to hamstring us if Whiteley is not in the team.   .   However, I have serious reservations still about our Tight 5 and the deficiencies shown in scrumming in particular.  
The other thing that bothered me - but was perhaps not as obvious to other people - was the performance of Pienaar.   I think his service put Pollard under pressure because it was a bit on the slow side and the fact the Burden broke past him and in a later move scored a try because Pienaar did not follow the ball - was a problem.
So despite the positives which you summarized well - the deficiencies showed by some players are worrisome.  I do not think we can win on Saturday if we do not dominate up front and that remains a problem.   However. the nail in our coffin will be selection of Morne Steyn - when a substantial percentage of the positives will go out of the window - especially if he is partnered by Pienaar..   I would rather have Lambie starting than Morne and bring Pollard off the bench. but my first choice flyhalf remains Pollard.   His goalkicking will come right - i am confident of that.    .  

 I understood just fine Matey,  and agree. Moz,  you are right.  Meyer is a fine couch,  but he has one big shortcoming.  He is a nice... and he has loyalty and believe in his players... good up till now... BUT,  I think his emotional attachment to some of the players clouds his judgement to some extend.  I saw a photo of him embracing Bakkies after Saturday's match.  It looked like he was in tears. Too much passion and emotion is not a good thing and I believe his conservatism in sellection stems from this. I do hope these players reward his loyalty... a rare thing in professional sports today. The best to Meyer and his team.  SKOP GAT MANNE!!! 

 Mozart
I am afraid your misgivings are about the wrong set of players and that there are deficiencies which needs to be corrected in other positions - ie in positions which you claim are not defici ent.  Out Tight 5 was deficient because of Matfield and Jannie - but you refused to see that deficiency.   You fail to recognize the problems stemming from below par performance of JP Pietersen and the slowish service of Pienaar and his failures in the case of Burden break out and subsequently the try scored by Burden.
You yourself said repeatedly that we can only win with forward dominance - but was that dominance really in evidence on Saturday against players not on international level performance-wise?   I think not and that is worrisome more than anything else.    

DB - what a classic photo. How can anyone not pull for this guy? Wears it on his sleeve
 

 Agree,  but it shows his clouded judgement.  If Eben weren't as good as he is,  Bakkies would have made the squad... and there is some merit in that.  Like I said,  I hope the players reward his loyalty. On a side,  I was never a Snorre fan,  but he got a lot more flack for doing what Meyer does. If not for Brycy,  he might have left a better legacy. Meyers heart is in the right place, and the players knows... they will give it their all.  My gripe is that he could have done a better job of preparing the next in lines. 

 Draad
Excess loyalty in any case is a problem and leads to selection of players based on friendship rather than on competence and performance.   The photo reminds me of the same virtually in tears situation when Morne Steyn was in such poor form in 2012 and Meyer was forced to drop him.  Meyer was virtually in tears when he spoke about it.
Even after the Steyn fiasco in 2014 in the Perth test - Meyer kept Steyn in the squad even though he never used him in tests.   
In a way that is why we are in such a problem situation in some positions.  Aside from the Morne Steyn situation, it is evident in the case of the centers, scrummie, props and locks.   
*   Meyer knew nothing about the physical condition of for instance Fourie and kept on pleading with him to make himself available for the Springbok squad - but he turned up at the squad camp overweight and seriously unfit.   It ended up with Meyer being forced to send him back to his Club in Japan - in the vain hope that he would reach the required level of fitness - which in Japan is a virtual impossibility.
*   His loyalty to Du Preez is another problem.  Last year in June Du Preez was chronically unfit after an absence of more than three months from rugby, produced virtually nothing in the games he played in and got injured in the second test he played in.   He was off for the rest of the year and since March 2014 played only 12 games of rugby.  When he went back to Japan for pre-season training he got injured and will not play any matches before the WC - with the result that he would not be match-fit, but he would be in the squad - a huge gamble.  
*    Matfield is physically-deficient and produce less and less in games he played in and is a liability in the Tight 5 - yet Meyer insists on playing him and even makes him the side captain in the absence of De Villiers.
*    Jannie du Plessis was a liability in the tests last year, in the  Sharks team this year and deficient on Saturday as well, yet he seems to be a player Meyer is too loyal to.
As you rightly said - the loyalty is causing a problem inasmuch it does not allow for overdue team renewal and keeps players in the Springbok squad despite serious deficiencies.   That in turn results in weakening of the team.   Unless - like Bakkies - Meyer's favourites declare themselves unavailable, Meyer would select them even if they only manage to stroll onto the field of play.