Franco Takes Flip Flop's place

Golden Lions lock Franco van der Merwe has been called up to the Springbok squad ahead of Saturday's clash with the All Blacks at Ellis Park.

The experienced Van der Merwe has been part of the squad for most of the competition and takes the place of Flip van der Merwe  in the group currently preparing for the final Rugby Championship Test of 2013.

“Losing any player, for whatever reasons, is never ideal but Franco knows our structures and plans very well, having been part of the squad since June last year,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.

Franco van der Merwe will join the squad at their base in Johannesburg on Monday.

On the injury front, apart from the normal bumps and bruises, only JJ Engelbrecht (centre) is a slight concern at the moment. He is nursing an injured quad muscle and will be given as much time as he needs to fully recover.

ntanga

You gave the correct picture - he is very poor and not worth knowing who he is.  Howwever, nothing personal against him - problem is he is not a good enough player.

Ceradyne

A flop remains a flop - also of the others so generously quoted by you.   Danie Rossiw left our shores after that one and is not a factor anymore - sure he made a flop and it cost us dearly.   Burger has played virtually no rugby since the 2011 WC and sure - he will get it in the neck every time he buggered up.

However, Kruger - being poor in line out play generally - is a serial offender - end of story.  

Ceradyne

Fourie Du Preez did make some mistakes on Saturday - but his general performance was good enough.   The mistakes did not lead to a potential loss of a try - neither did it make a potential difference to the scoring of a bonus point try.

The real flops made were by Kruger and Kolisi - the latter isolating himself and hanging onto the ball when he was a few meters from the tryline, thus giving away a penalty.  But he had numerous examples giving him that idea - all of Alberts, Louw and Vermeulen did the same, so he was just following the example set by them.   

Ceradyne

No offence meant - but over the years players have been discarded for such mistakes and even less - especially when they lost a game because of poor play.   There are enough examples of that - Kruger will not be a unique case.

I say not that he should be discarded altogether - I say put the bugger on the bench and don't start with him in a crucial test.   He is in any event not an absolute essential and key player - in fact at best a marginal test player 

Piss poor selection by Meyer.......Franco is a bog ordinary lock............Lood de Jager, Paul Willemse, David Bulbring, Peet Marais and Jacques du Plessis are all better options.

The obvious choice would have been the impressive Lood de Jager who can cover 4 and 5

Beeno

Meyer has a reputation to make weird selections and this will be another typical case.  He will be wrong if he does not start wit Du Toit - especially to counter the All Blacks in the line outs and in open and tight play.   Both Kruger and Van der Merwe has no grunt at all and Kruger especially is poor in line out play.  

Mozart

He will have ample teammates that will show him how to run away from his support.   Alberts, Vermeulen and Louw are experts in that exact category - so why should Du T oit not follow their example???