In terms of depth, we certainly have more pieces than we have ever had before, though the quality of some of those pieces is certainly questionable. Some have said that we have the best players man-for-man of any other team in the world, even New Zealand. Lets have a closer look:
FRONT ROW
Our depth in the front row is the best in the world, Argentina and Georgia aside (not sure about Italy these days). We can field two competitive front rows for the first time in probably any other time that I have been following the game. That's quite remarkable given that we have just lost Beast! Our front-rowers are an important contributor to the ball control game of José and Krutch, cleaning and controlling our possession. When the likes of Kits and Malherbe were a tick slower at getting to the breakdowns in the World Cup, we were noticeably on the back foot and struggled more - not the New Zealand game and Malherbe's drop in work rate, which was elite for most of the time before that. José likes to sub the starters around the 50 to 55 minute mark, but can change them at half time without seeing much of a drop-off. This is an understated advantage to the Boks, and the best XVs posted by journos highlights their oversight in this area and their penchant for representation and adhering to populism. The Bok front row depth is the foundation of the current Bok game. With Marx back to being the best hooker in the world, ironing out his poor lineout throwing, we have a serious weapon at our disposal who can turn the balance of a tight contest in our favour.
SECOND ROW
It starts with Etzebeth. We have RG, Mostert and JVR. The best combination of locks in the game. There is Itoje for England and Retallick for New Zealand, but our stock of locks are vastly superior, even if the implementation isn't great. If we include Steph at lock, which he really is, then you have another who can play the Johann Muller role successfully. Where other nations might boast one top tier lock, we have four, and, Itoje aside, we comfortably beat every other lock in the game. We should beware of the use of New Zealand's locks and how that expands their attacking game, even if they are not better players man-for-man. Fans and the media talk of backlines when talking about attack, but the distinctive feature of All Black rugby that the rest of the world has only started to catch-up to is the use of the forwards in general play, as viable units on attack. Their pod work is lightyears ahead of what we have now. Their three and four man pods play like their own midfields, and the backs become an extension of this in greater space, with incredible with. Exploiting some of our trademark weak defenders, they have been able to exert immense pressure on us once these clever and skillful forwards get the backs past our first line of defence. The potential for us to match them in this area is there. We don't need to copy, but to expand our play a bit and better utilise the abilities of the players we have will greatly enhance out game. We have the best and most complete locks in the game.
BACK ROW
We have quite a varied group. We no longer have Louw, but there is still Thor, though questions linger about the state of his game at this point in his career. Wiese has stepped up nicely, and not merely as dumb muscle. He looked a bit hesitant at first, and made some unfortunate errors, but they have been largely corrected. He is learning, and growing in confidence. Wiese's first season is unfolding more promisingly than that of Thor in 2012. The potential is there, but it is refreshing to see a player that learns from his mistakes and turns potential into reality. Right now, I wouldn't select another 8 man ahead of him. Even if Thor is merely 60% of his best, this duo alone is a potent force that would lift any loose trio and team. They both allow us to play on our terms, getting over the gainline and attacking the breakdown. They both have good skills and field awareness. As for flank? Things become more complicated. Kolisi is the man of the people and a nice story for the game. He has not really delivered on the pitch, and his leadership has often been even more anonymous than that. Kwagga is clearly the better player, and is surprisingly not gaining recognition for his good work. Kwagga is actually quite physical and is very aggressive at the breakdown. A very skilled player with great movement. Probably the closest we have come to another Brussow (the best opensider in Bok history who always outplayed Hooper, Pocock and McCaw). Speaking of Hooper, he is clearly the best opensider in the Rugby Championsip. His leadership can rival anything we have to offer. In fact, I rate his leadership as being better than anything we have to offer. Isi is another Wallaby who has caused us problems. van Staden has had very little to do, but has looked better than previous test outings where he largely looked lost and out of his depth. Questions linger, so we will have to wait and see what he does moving forward. Dan has been very successful at Super rugby level, rivaling the best of Thor. He also hasn't had very much to do, but his energy and movement off the ball were actually excellent in the last test. He was very strong in the maul where he applied considerable buckling pressure to the short side of a maul to allow the Boks to pour through for a Marx try. He has great skill and explosive as well as brutal physicality. His combative nature adds an abrasive mental edge to the Boks - an ingredient that has been filtered out of the Boks under José. For New Zealand Frizell and Savea stand out, and give them a bit of an edge. Where we lack balance, they have balance as well as implementation again. The back row has been a mixed bag this season. World player of the year du Toit is dangerously close to negative yards as a carrier, and Kolisi has been largely absent. We have potential in these positions, but we need to get the mix right. At present I'd say only Wiese and Thor are certainties as better options than other player pools.
HALF BACK
We possess one of the best 10s in the game, a player who could become the best 10 in the game. He hasn't looked like it. Certain elements of his game have improved, such as his ability to exert more control with the boot and his place kicking has been mostly very good. Outside of that, we really haven't seen very much. In fact, the last good all round performance from Pollard was against Scotland in 2018. Out half backs are primarily used to kick and link short balls to one-off runners who set up phases for more kicking. We usually don't get beyond two phases, and often kick the ball we sometimes win from high balls immediately before the defence can set (which has seldom amounted to anything constructive). Reinach has looked like the best version of himself. Not a player I particularly like, but he has stepped up to the plate and looked better than Faf. None of our 9s rank highly for completeness. We have Januarie 2.0 in Faf (when on form) who amplifies the rougher side to our pressure game, but his skills are actually quite poor. The rest are primarily runners who can kick a bit above average. We start to really drop off from rival nations here. Jantjies has been good this year, but not dominant. Outside of these two (Pollard and Jantjies) we really don't have many options. There is Willemse, Frans and Bosch, but all of them are better in other positions. Frans is the only test quality alternative, but is the best 12 in our squad. Sanchez has been very good for Argentina, and he bamboozled our defenders. The best 10 we have faced, and the best in the competition. I rank him the best 10 in world rugby. New Zealand have Barrett and Mo'unga. Australia have O'Connor, Toomua, Spencer. Finn Russell was excellent on tour. At scumhalf, we can't compete with what our biggest opponents have at hand. This is the weakest pool of talent at 9 in my time following Bok rugby.
CENTRE
The drop-off continues. Damian hasn't been effective on attack, and patchy on defence. Frans is clearly not the player he once was, but is the best 12 we have in the squad and still an effective contributor. Our only productive play at 12 this year has been twice from Frans. Am is potentially the best 13 in the game. An excellent talent who is not being as productive as he could be. Kriel is below average. He is at his best exploding onto the ball at pace and if put into a gap. Nothing else of note. los Pumas have Moroni, Ezcurra, de la Fuente, Chocobares and Millia. An embarrassment of riches who really showed us up in the first test and in patches of the second. New Zealand have so many options here its bewildering. Australia have a very talented group who caused die Schwazewelle all kinds of problems. Esterhuizen has delivered and has the highest ceiling of all our 12s, but is, like RG, unfavoured for more unsophisticated and thoughtless players of lesser physical quality. We have some tools here, but the implementation and depth is an issue. We are quite comprehensively outgunned by most nations.
WING
Mapimpi, Kolbe, Nkosi, Fassi. We have a lot firepower here. Mapimpi has the best try ratio of every Bok, making him one of the deadliest finishers in the game. He currently stands at 16 tries in 18 tests for an 88.9% strike rate, well ahead of second place Gerber with 79.2%. Nkosi is third with 8 tries in 12 tests for a 66.7% strike rate. Kolbe is in 11th place at 50%. Still impressive, and only a shade off Terblanche. This is undoubtedly the most potent wing group we have had since the days of Roussouw, Terblanche and Paulse. Again, implementation is an issue. Our wings are finding ways to score, but the numbers show it's something of a miracle given how little ball they receive and how little space they have. Our top three wings are all highly elusive and look for work. Aside from Mapimpi, I don't think I'd rate our players as clear cut favourites over every other wing out there, but we have a group who can match the potency of anyone.
FULLBACK
Lean picking here. Fassi is officially listed as a fullback, but I'm not sure that's where he belongs. We have Willie and Willemse, with Frans also able to slot in. This hasn't been a productive position for us under José. Willie's production has fallen off a cliff, and it's not down to ability or form. Implementation again. He is as good as any other play maker out there right now. We are comfortably beaten at fullback by other nations. Liam Williams, Mallia, Carreras outplayed us from here. New Zealand doesn't really have one quality option here at present. The slow, predictable and deep patterns and play of the Boks is preventing Willie from exerting his influence. We haven't really had one successful test ball in hand where I could say, "that's top level modern rugby". Implementation.
