Houwing's guess at our starting team.....for Japan and the ABs

While mindful of the neck-and-neck situation in some areas, perhaps this will be the Springbok starting XV against Japan: 15 Le Roux, 14 Kolbe, 13 Am, 12 De Allende, 11 Mapimpi, 10 Pollard, 9 De Klerk, 8 Vermeulen, 7 Du Toit, 6 Kolisi (capt), 5 Mostert, 4 Etzebeth, 3 Nyakane, 2 Marx, 1 Mtawarira ....... Oddly, once you boil it down the 15 players it doesn't look that impressive. Weakness in the centres and defensively /in the air, on the wings. And crucially a potential loosiegeddon with centre Kolisi and lock Stephanie leaving us two men short. Then you have the odd thing that our best hooker hasn't been playing with our best props.......is there enough time to mould the partnership? Still, oddly, NZ looks even less impressive on paper.

Given the below par squad my starting 15 would be: 15. Willie 14. Nkosi 13. Kriel 12. de Allende 11. Kolbe 10. Pollard 9. Faf 1. Kitshoff 2. Marx 3. Nyakane 4. Etzebeth 5. RG 6. Kolisi 7. PSDT 8. Vermeulen 16. Mbonambi 17. Beast 18. Malherbe 19. Lood 20. Kwagga 21. Jantjies 22. Jantjies 23. Am

Nkosi for Mapimpi is unclear. They are both so unprepared. Kriel for Am is not an improvement. Kitshoff for the Beast is a big step back. Snyman for Mostert is a potential improvement because RG is so talented, but thus far Mostert has added more value.

No way would Frans be anywhere near my 23 after being so exposed in that last test confirming why he should be nowhere near the squad. Louw would add nothing from the bench, Kwagga potentially could produce something special If that last test performance by Nkosi does not seal it for you then you have issues with your eyes. He is by some distance our best wing. Kitshoff is far better than Beast as is Kriel over Am. Mostert is not test standard, lacks grunt for a test lock. RG and Lood are far far better - not even close