Depressingly this is the emerging Bok team:

There  are some p[ositios where your guesses mat not even be near the mark,   Lleyds os unlikely on the wing and so is  the scrummy.   Whiteley has been constantly injured this year and may be questionable too.

Rassue will not select players based on anything bar proven performance, as well as  to how they perform within a within a structured framework,   So there could still be changes  and your prejudiced mention of some players in your evaluation is really a joke, because you have no idea about player performance evaluation because of prejudice.     

However, don’t be depressed – even the somewhat  flawed team mentioned by you will not lose against Japan or the at home game against Argentina..

But back to the team quoted above by you,   There are serious signs that the destructive gane plan and coaching by Meyer and Coetzee will not be followed and recent performances by players like De Allende and Kriel has already showed massive improvement in  performances  this year,   The way for instance  De Allende handled SBW went way over your head.    

On  average the best performing locks this year have been De Jager and Du Toit  and both have been superior to even the NZ locks they played against in Super Rugby.   Rassie will probably pick Etzebeth and De Jager  as the starting combination and Du Toit as bench lock – or may select Du Preez at 7 or more likely at 8 with Du Toit at 7,.  

Not to worry -  despite the fact that there will be some duds in the team – but a hell of a lot less than there were in the 2015 world cup squad of Meyer.  And it will be a coached team playing positive rugby and not the junk of the past decade.  

Missed the point as per normal,   I did indicate where the selections  are unlikely and I dealt with the Mozart depression in particular,   He did not mntion anything - bar his usual rant against certain players - so he is a nice one to complain.  

Duplication

Sure they failed in some tests - but what plan did they play according to and what coaching did they receive?   Take for instance the WC in 2015 - by that time they had played as a combination 3 times and the whole system was set up doomed to fail.   The ball was passed routinely  by the scrummie to a forward - who either crashballed or gave hospital passes to De Allende who was supposed to do something with it?

Then there was the failure against Japan where De Villiers was the inside center and he failed as well because of the so-called game plan mentioned above.   Even Pollsrd suffered under the rubbish he had to put up from Meyer.  

In this year there was a massive improvement in De Allende in playing alongside Willemse and in Kriel playing with a proper coach for the first time since his junior years.   They were then suddenly this year taken back to an era of proper coaching - the first time since their junior years.  

The BS Meyer and Coetzee thought were backline coaching and a game plan have  nearly destroyed other backline players as well.    I mentioned Pollard - but there were others as well.   Besides that both Meyer and later on Coetzee  for years picked seriously defective flyhalfs and then expected from the backline players to function - the poor flyhalfs were Morne  and later on Jantjies,     Pollard as mentioned was nearly destroyed  when Burger became the stand-in flyhalf in the WC.     

But then we h ave the Huw Jones example - Coetzee played De Jongh ahead of him as a center for years and the moment he played for a Scottish team he walked straight into the Scotland side where he made hay constantly,     

I looked at the present scenario and not the past insofar as performance is concerned  and am much more optimistic that we may end up with a proper functioning backline for the first time in a decade.          

Willie 

Ismaeil.

Kriel.

Allende.

Lleyds

Pollard.

Cronje

Wilco

Marx

Beast

Etzebeth

Lomp

Stephanie

Kolisi

Whiteley

Pollard hasn't shown enough improvement this season to warrant the 10 jersey. Willemse is a much better option at 10 and he ticks the demographics box.

Cronje hasn't shown much form either. The up and coming star at 9 is undoubtedly Papier. He too ticks the right boxes regarding race. I don't think we'll see Cronje in a Bok jersey again.

Gelant will take up his position at 15 and leave Rassie with one less darkie to worry about.

Sadly I think you may be right regarding your two useless centers. So many have gotten onto the band wagon in support of these two useless rugby players that I think Rassie will have no option but to select them.

As for your wings ... anything can happen there. It will probably be given to two darker fellas so I guess Leyds and Ismaeil are as good as any.

Luke

I believe it is rather premature to select a Springbok coach at this stage and then there is a new coach as well,   What he thinks about the game and the way he wants to play and how the individual players will function in the set-up is not clear at present.

There may be surprises -  and I will not attempt to even pick a team - but rather to indicate likely candidates:-

Full back                  -     Le Roux, Gelant

Wings                      -      Ismaeil, Van Wyk, Combrinck. Mapimpi

Centers                    -      De Allende. Kriel, Vorster

Flyhalfs                   -       Pollard, Willemse, Du Preez

Scrummies              -       Schreuder, Papier,  Van Zyl

No 8                        -       Du Preez, Whiteley,  Coetzee (if his injury is healed)

Loosies                   -       Kriel, Kolisi, Du Preez, Du Toit, Coetzee

Locks                     -       Etzebeth, De Jager, Du Toit

Props                     =        Mtawarisa, Kitshoff, Nyakane, Schoeman, Malherbe, Louw

Hookers                 -        Marx - not sure about the back-ups 

The problem remains - how is the quota system going to effect the team selection.  

One thing is certain - Rassie has studied the players already based on their performances and he is going to also work out how they will fit into the team - so expect some surprises as well.      

Some ammendments

Full back                  -     Le Roux, Gelant

Wings                      -      Ismaeil, Van Wyk, Combrinck. Mapimpi, Dayimani, 

Centers                    -      De Allende. Kriel, Vorster Rohan and AM

Flyhalfs                   -       Pollard, Willemse, Du Preez

Scrummies              -       Schreuder, Papier,  Van Zyl,  Faf, Dylan Smith

No 8                        -       Du Preez, Whiteley,  Coetzee (if his injury is healed)

Loosies                   -       Kriel, Kolisi, Du Preez, Du Toit, Coetzee, 

Locks                     -       Etzebeth, De Jager, Du Toit, R G Snyman

Props                     =        Mtawarisa, Kitshoff, Nyakane, Schoeman, Malherbe, Louw

Hookers                 -        Marx - not sure about the back-ups  Akkers van der Merwe

The talent is there its putting it together virtually from scratch. 

Beeno

Unlike Mozart I am much more optimistic than I was over the past three years - after all the dud coaches we had are gone,   

I think there are players Rassie will not pick and some of those are the poor defenders   I am afraid that Rohan is n that classification,    Whos is that scrummie Dylan Smith???????

Back to Rassie - he will gradually make up his miond about players and determine how they fit into the game plan he intends to play - while encouraging players to read the situation and show some initiative on situations.   So there are certainly some surprise selections in store for us,      

Dylan Smith played for the Lions on Saturday. Looked Sharp.

The Lions backline cant function without Rohan. Great player and nothing in his defence a coach cant fix. Niemand will so rt any deficiencies

Poor defenders, Mike???

Ohhhh ... you mean like De Allende and Kriel?

You seem to think that Rassie is the answer to all our prayers.

HE HAS COMMITTED HIMSELF TO 50% BLACK REPRESENTATION, Mike ... so pleeeeeeeaaaaassssseeee stop deluding yourself.

We are NOT going to see our best players on the field. Those days are over. Those days will NEVER return again.

For every white player selected, there must be a black standing right next to him. It doesn't matter whether he knows what the shape of a rugby ball is.

In other words ...

Kitshoff, Beast ... Marx, Ralapele ... Louw, Nyakane ... etc, etc ...

The only question you need to ask yourself is ... how many of these quota welfare cases will he be hiding on the bench?

He already has a useless quota welfare case as his backline coach. 

It's going to be fun and games.

CC

Quotas is BS  - but there is a difference between Rassie. Meyer and Coetzee in quota selection.  He will properly identify players who may makes the grade and shy away from the BS Meyer and Coetzee selected as quota players.

There will be no dunces like Paige, De Jongh, Ruhle  and others in his squad ever,

Mozart

There are three facts about Meyer  insofar as his selection is concerned and that was saod in his own  words, namely -

*   he selected players on the basis of whom he is acquainted with;

*   he selected players on the basis that he "knows what players are capable of" (forgetting totally when the players showed what they wee capable of)' and

*    he really ha d no game plan and came up that SA backline players did noi have the skill to play ball-in-hand rugby resulting in total disregard of backline players and using Burger as a stand-in flyhalf in the WC.

The above indicates and confirms that he had no idea about selecting players on the basis of performance and when he did he dropped them before they got settled in - clearly indicating that he was clueless about identifying talented players.

Coetzee was even worse in the relevant regard and was more clueless than Meyer.

Even a half-decent coach would select proper players and start off the rebuilding programme after the destruction caused by Meyer  maximized by Coetzee.    Both did damage to the Springbok team.       

Yes Mike ... but there will be dunces like Kolisi, De Allende, Kriel, Nyakane and more than likely Mbongnambi in the mix. Don't be too surprised if you see the return of Oupa and Cassiem. The numbers have to be made up somehow.

Anyway you cut it, we will have many of our best sitting on the sidelines, so that your hero coach can comply with the 50% quota mix he's agreed to.

You know, Mike ... I don't think I'd be bitching as much if we were forced to replace our best with those second in line ... but the fact remains that many of our best will be forced to make way for those 6th or 7th down the line. There just isn't enough quality players of colour to select from.

CC

I agree with you on that issue - but the situation is desperate and I do not think the fools would carry on with their insistence on racialist policy.   The matter is going into the court situatiom and the selection based on race may be regarded as unconstitutional.   There  are more and more foreign comments being made on the issue as well and a further deterioration in Rugby in  SA will certainly became a serious consideration in future,

Rassie is not my hero - he is a damn lot better than our last two coaches,   He will only prove himself in future tests.      

We all had a lot of hope when Meyer was appointed Bok coach. It was based on his success with the Bulls. We all know how that turned out in the end.

Rassie has had a lot less success as a coach than Meyer. He will need to come up with something new and fresh. In other words ... no quotas ... playing winning rugby ... filling the stadiums with fans ... no excuses when teams like Italy thump his 50% quota mix ... and he must make us proud of the Bok once again.

How's he going to do that with Bongi and Kolisi in his side?

I can't see it happening. He already has an ignorant gravy trainer in his coaching staff and from what I've heard, he's done his best to validate this quota pick.

Not a good start if you ask me..

You speak of legal action correcting our racist issues. When? Nothing is pending. Nothing will come of it. The world will watch from afar ... and then come thump us in our own back yard.

Right now we have a 50% quota requirement for next years world cup and that could change to a 70% requirement by the year 2023.

Sorry, Mike ... I prefer to be a realist. 

Lets wait and see what happens.   I will give you an example of where the issue of the quota system is being ignored - namely in cricket,   Since Gibson was appointed he has selected the best players for the job and did not take into account quotas,   He routinely selected the best available players and he has taken a youngster like Wiaan Muller under his wing for introducing into SA cricket  in due course,   He has done so without regard to the other candidates and nobody moaned about it.

Afriforum has applied to the Constitutional Court to have a hearing on the issue of rugby quotas with the emphasis of racism - which is unconstitutional  and that case is likely tocome up over the next three to six months,    The Court is very strict when it comes to constitutional issues and the ruling might from a Government point of view be adverse to their quota policy;  

The recent storm as to SA farmers going to Australia has been accompanied by references to the issue of sport quotas also raised the issue of Sport  and that could ultimately gain stronger quota selections and that ha s already been mentioned in sporting circles in Egland and New Zealand..  

I am quietly optimistic that the issue of rugby quotas will go the same way as what happened iro cricket. 

Mozart

Welcome to the ranks of the depressed – now you know how most people felt about the BS selections of Meyer leading up to the Japan disaster.

You can be assured that  you may find in the longer term you may get out of the depression because nobody  could come up with bigger BS – like the Meyer game plan turning Burger into a stand-in  flyhalf .

Erasmus has been under attack from you for so long –  it was to be normal with the depressed individual who is also ignorant iro  r ugby - so maybe we might see an improvement in your chronic situation as  from June onwards

I think this actually deserves a thread of it's own. The Rassie Alignment Squad.

No matter.

I see Rassie seems to be having difficulty selecting black forwards and because of this he's resorted to the useless quotas that Coetzee introduced to the Bok jersey.

As I said ... he needs to bring in a 50% representation ... and it's becoming more and more difficult as we have no quality black forwards. AT ALL!!!

Notshe? Kolisi? Bongi? Carr? ... Really??? Is that the best he can do?

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaaa!!!

Need I say more?

His black back line players aren't any better.

Jantjies, Mapoe, De Allende and then we have Dyantyi who has made it clear that he doesn't want to play on the wing.

No Leyds? From what I've read, he was supposed to be first on the list. No loss.

Of his list of black players ... the only one I'd give a shot is Willemse. The rest are all sub standard quotas.

Well Mike ... it begins. So far Rassie hasn't done much different to his predecessors.  

I think this actually deserves a thread of it's own. The Rassie Alignment Squad.

No matter.

I see Rassie seems to be having difficulty selecting black forwards and because of this he's resorted to the useless quotas that Coetzee introduced to the Bok jersey.

As I said ... he needs to bring in a 50% representation ... and it's becoming more and more difficult as we have no quality black forwards. AT ALL!!!

Notshe? Kolisi? Bongi? Carr? ... Really??? Is that the best he can do?

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaaa!!!

Need I say more?

His black back line players aren't any better.

Jantjies, Mapoe, De Allende and then we have Dyantyi who has made it clear that he doesn't want to play on the wing.

No Leyds? From what I've read, he was supposed to be first on the list. No loss.

Of his list of black players ... the only one I'd give a shot is Willemse. The rest are all sub standard quotas.

Well Mike ... it begins. So far Rassie hasn't done much different to his predecessors.  

CC

We will have to wait for another 7 weeks to see what team actually materializes.   So be not too depressed.   In essence I  do not like the quota picks either,  but I will wait until the team is announced before making comments on the issue,