Guys who are not destined for Bok colours in June

This training squad is very broad, and excludes overseas players and injured players like Schalk and Taute. So if a player hasn't made this squad it's a fair bet he wont be in Bok colours in June. Of course many of these chaps, wont either. Still there are fan favourites who haven't made it. Here are a few and a bit of the reasoning that may have influenced their omission:

Willie Le Roux......a player we alll enjoy. I can't frankly see why he isn't there ahead of Kirchner who can't kick and can't tackle. A mystery.

Van den Heever......he has all the physical attributes, and is better than Mvovo and Rhule.  This could be politics.

Jordaan....can't tackle as we saw against Fruean

JJ Engelbrecht.....has looked a bit better this year, but may still be more of a wing.  He got deep sixed last year with no clear cut reason....whatever that was seems to still hold true.

De Allende.....a power centre, and a promissing one.....this is a bit disappointing

Catrikilis......out and Jantjies in.....it aint fair, but I'm afraid this is going to be Demetri's rugby existence. If Greece had a national team he would be a certainty.

Reineke....another favourite, but not skilled enough for test pressure.

Kitshoff.....he can't scrum and looseheads have to apply some pressure.

Wiehahn Herbst.....scrums like a titan. We need a strong back up tighthead, Malherbe is a much bigger man, that probably helped. As I prophetically pointed out 11 years ago tall props are the trend because of lineout lifting.

Becker....stunningly absent if I'm reading this right. This could only be ascribed to sheer lunacy

Elstadt......Alberts is better. But another big Danie Rossouw type option looked attractive.

Labuschagne the Cheetahs secret weapon....smaller, slower, less experienced than Kankan who himself has done diddly at test level.

I see Becker has Japanese comitments and wasn't considered for the squad. Does his contract allow him to return for internationals....anybody?

Mozart

You can never use size and weight as a conlcusive argument in this case,

The different stats figures are as follows:-

Kankowski     =     1,91      -       106

Labuschagne =     1,89      -       105

Labuschagne is 2 centimeters shorter and 1 kg lighter than Kankowski.  That really is minuscule and your usage of the size issue is really laughable.  The issue should be performance and there is Super 15 Kankowski was not even a regular starter in the Sharks team.   He produced very little this year. 

Please Mozart - if you want to justify something - please use more convincing arguments and give real information and not generalized statements that gives the impression of huge differences and not reflect the real picture.

 I'm guessing the Japanese contract does not allow for Bekker to be available for tests. It seems the norm with the Japanese contracts as none of Fourie du Preez or Jaques Fourie were available last year.

Am with you on your take on most the players mentioned above. We have had no standout 13 this year, JJ has been by far our best.  He has looked good with ball in hand and sorted out his defensive work having moved from wing to centre.

Kitshoff has been solid in the scrums, but the lad that has really missed out is Nkanyane - really baffling considering his form and the political slant.

Why Meyer cannot find room for Brussouw is mindboggling - its indicates a set pattern he wont divert from.

v/d Heever ahead of Basson would have made more sense. Rhule deserves a spot, he has been good this year.

Labascagne would have been a better option than Kankan. Elstadt failed to make Meyer's squad last year that effectively included every S15 player plus the odd Baby Bok. What he has against Elstadt is beyond comprehension. I would not be surprised to see Elstadt leave and that will be down to Meyer.

Reinache would have been a far better bet than Vermaak who has been woeful in his last 2 games for the Bulls. 

Its a squad that shows little progression other than Steph du Toit and Serfontein. He is sticking with his last year's squad in the name of continuity and sent a message to the players that current form counts for little.

Meyer continues to disappoint me

It's pretty much what I thought it would be......but if Bekker can't play......that would be a serious loss. None of the other omissions are starter types....except Willie as a roll of the dice.

 Yeah and disappointing from Bekker as well as he has never had a extended run as a Bok given the injuries and living in the shadows of Matfield.

You would have thought that a stint in France with a clause to allow him to play test rugby would have been the way to go.

Ah well it looks like we will get the Etzebeth/Steph du Toit lock combo sooner than later

 Well Dave if Steph is as good as you think he is, and I hope he is, that would be massive for our rugby.....especially given their ages. 

Guys wait a minute, before we can argue with certainty that these guys will not make bok colours, lets first see who makes the second training camp. He might include some other players, and he also stated that he did not consider any Kings players asthey are currently on tour.

So lt this training camp conclude, let him pick his second training camp. And then we can look at players that weren't in either camp. That also is not final as the chances are that he will include players that could not attend either camp.

It seems however that Bekker is out of contection, this might be because of his Japanese contract. This is not the end of the world though as they say where one door closes another will open. I suspect that you Steph du Tiot might get that call with Etsebeth as a partner, but we will wait and see.

Ek how many locks in the world are in Bekkers class? Lets not confuse the issue. Every effort should have been made to retain Bekker for the Boks. The Boks need about 4 top class locks given the need for rotation and injuries. This is a blow and there is no disguising it.