Erasmus says 80% of WC squad already determined

The squad comprises of 31 payer so the final decision has not been taken in respect of 6 to 7 players.   

One can expect that all the players who played in the Argentina and AB tests - bar Francois Steyn and Mostert - would be in the squad.   That makes it 21 players with a further 10 to be in the squad.

In essence the 10 players  would comprise of the following:-

1 Hooker         -  Likely Brits

1 Tight head    -  Likely Koch

1 Loose head   -  Likely Gqoboka

1 Lock             -  Likely D e Jager

2 loosies          -  Likely Kolisi and Coetzee

1 Scrummie     -  Likely Reinach

1 flyhalf           -  ????

2 other backs   -  Willemse and Lleyds?????  

"One can expect that all the players who played in the Argentina and AB tests - bar Francois Steyn and Mostert - would be in the squad.   I, Clevermike, will crap myself and sulk and bitch for weeks on end if either Steyn or Mostert are in the squad. I have not yet decided how I will survive if both of them make it. That makes it 21 players with a further 10 to be in the squad.  "

Fixed.

Relentless might be a better word.

As expected - too idiotic to i ndicate their selections.  

No Dave

I think Steyn did not show enough in any time he was on the field long enough and aside from one line break - he was poor in defense, They only take three centers to the WC and the chances of Steyn's selection in that position is near to zero,  

As to Mostert the line outs were called by him in the AB test and it was not effective since the line out formation was unstable.   Mostert was outjumped in the first line out and took two other line-outs later in the game,  What happened was also a lack of accuracy in line out throw-ins by the Springbok hookers as a result of instability,   

In the Argentine test Mostert -

*   always took up the line-out position of a 7 (second from the back) on throw-ins by the Springboks;

*   was moved from the middle of the line-outs with Du Toit being either in the middle of the line-outs or in front moving Etzeneth to the middle of the line-outs from where driving mauls originated; and

*   did not make the line-out calls at all.

It must be mentioned that Mostert was on test level always totally useless in forming and managing of driving mauls.  the reason is his deficient physicality,   In the Aussie test De Jager forced his way through a maul situation to score a try,   When Mostert tried the same thing in the Argentine test he was forced back by the Argentine forwards. 

Aside from that, in the Argentine test despite Mozart's distortion Mostert missed a tackle on Sanchez when the latter ran through a feeble tackling attempt.   Aside from that miss - Mostert also missed four other tackles in the Argentine test,

He gave away a penalty straight in front of the goalposts that was converted by Sanchez and in the second half gave away another penalty,  The penalty was blamed on Etzebeth - but in his clear comments the referee said 5 went off-side first and Etzebeth was blamed for the subsequent bringing down of the Argentine maul.  So effectively Mostert gave away two penalties as well.

The above is enough to ensure that Mostert will not be in the WC side,   Meyer made a total balls-up in the selection of the 2015 WC squad and  took 8 passengers along which was basically unplayable in the series,  That figure went up to 10 when De Villiers got injured and Matfield flopped whenever he played other than the test against the Argentine "B" side,   Erasmus is not a fool - he knows the implications of taking along unplayable passengers and will not repeat the Meyer stupidity,  So no places for Mostert or Steyn in the squad.            

Why did they cut out  Mostert from the line-outs in the Argentinian test?   Originally Erasmus mentioned De Jager and Etzebeth as his ideal lock combination - but injuries intervened and if de Jager do well  tomorrow he will walk into the WC squad.    

Lood de Totenbaum is a poor man 's Johann Muller. 

Ignorance? Shall we review the Lood missed tackle on Isi? 

Maaik, I'm with Saffex, Mosterdt and Fransie are going to Japan...end of!

Apparently some people here think that if they write a long enough essay putting a player down, it will have a real world effect on selections

Yes Pakie, and Maaik is not the only one writing essays...not even close.

Dave 

Read carefully what I said, please.  Mostert in the Argentina test was cur out of functioning in the line-outs where the Springboks had the throw-ins.    I know that De Jager was much better in the Aussie test than Mostert was in both subsequent tests combined - so nobody expect Mostert to play in the test tomorrow.   If De Jager puts in a good performance tomorrow - I believe Mostert will be out of the WC squad,       

Doubt that one too my friend.   Du Toit can also function at lock if there is a lock problem.  The extra forward will be a loosie I think - since aside from Du Toit the other loosies are not the best around. .  .   

Doubt that one too my friend.   Du Toit can also function at lock if there is a lock problem.  The extra forward will be a loosie I think - since aside from Du Toit the other loosies are not the best around. .  .   

Not so sure of that Dave - hope you are wrong here.  By the way there are 17 forwards in the squad and it is normally made up as follows:-

Props      =   6

Hookers  =  3

Locks      =  3

Loosies   =  5

Th at allows for rotation of players.   Meyer killed some players in 2015 because he had unplayables in the squad and there was no rotation really possible - he played the same players continuously and that led to a lot of very tired players in the final stags of the competition,   I believe Meyer would guard against that,   .       

Not so sure of that Dave - hope you are wrong here.  By the way there are 17 forwards in the squad and it is normally made up as follows:-

Props      =   6

Hookers  =  3

Locks      =  3

Loosies   =  5

Th at allows for rotation of players.   Meyer killed some players in 2015 because he had unplayables in the squad and there was no rotation really possible - he played the same players continuously and that led to a lot of very tired players in the final stags of the competition,   I believe Meyer would guard against that,   .       

No rotation in the 2015 world cup? Really? First and foremost, one cannot have the luxury of resting players in many games. There are at most two tests where the team may field a weaker team. No more. That said, we did see changes at hooker, tighthead, lock, halfback, centre, wing, fullback. The hardest working players were arguably Beast and Schalk. Lood was overplayed? Hardly. So too Damian, Kriel et al. These vibrant young men with no energy? You strain to make one point and defeat your long standing view on the potency of youth. You are so short sighted you can't see past the lens of your eye. 

@Pakie : It's called 'As Above, So Below'. They hope they can manifest their will in the heavens by going through this bizarre ritual of writing lists. 

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That allows for rotation of players.   Meyer killed some players in 2015 because he had unplayables in the squad and there was no rotation really possible - he played the same players continuously and that led to a lot of very tired players in the final stags of the competition,   I believe Meyer would guard against that,   .       

Because the number of minutes played by the 10  unplayables were  at maximum about 200 minutes (Matfield) - while the rest played from 15 minutes to 90 minutes. Out of 560 minutes played.

There were at least 8 dud selections in the Meyer squad and that is a fact.   Most played a few minutes from the bench at the end of games.   Why did the Springboks lose against Japan - because the duds buggered up badly when they played against Japan,   Some were kept for the next game against Samoa - but some just vanished from sight during the rest of the tournament - leading to the case where they had to keep playing some of the players  game after game.

The fact is it is idiots who do not  realize that the squad is made up of 31 players to allow for a rest day by players playing a key role in major matches and minions used against the weak teams in the pool games.  The disaster against Japan caused the better players to play in game after game - whether against weaker teams or stronger teams.

FACT               .