hypothetical rugby question,,,

heres a hypothetical rugby question for u guys, but if u were able to recruit any player in the world to come play for the Boks who would u select and why??? :o)

obviously considering im All Blacks all the way, its who i would want to come play for the All Blacks.
i would love to have picked will genia who IMO is the best halfback in the world, but given the quality of the depth we have with our hookers & the fact our incumbents are on the worng side of 30, i would prob pick bismarck du plessis who is the worlds best hooker.

Mamuke Gorgodze

Not sure if he would currently make the bok side but he is one of my favourites, just cause he plays for a minnow country. Imagine he had the coaching from a young age that some of our okes get. He definitely better than Pierre Spies :)

Sasue

I think the All Blacks are well-covered in most positions, but I think - as you said - that their hookers are not top class.   I also do not really rate their locks as top class and I would say if you can have both - it would be Etzebeth and Bismarck Du Plessis  or Strauss

@mikey,

i know u dont rate NZ locks, but i rate them big time and i wouldnt trade rettlick, whitelock or romano for ezeebth. ezeebth is class, but u need a brain to make it in the All Blacks, & eban dosnt strike me as the sharpest tool in the shed. nathan sharpe played him for a fool last year and that ultimately cost him a game against the All Blacks, where hsi presence could have made a difference.
i also remeber the sowetto test where ezeebeth was schooled by the All Black contingent, even forcing ol meyer to sub him before the 60min mark, o_O

so thanks but no thanks, if was allowed to pick two players, it would definately be will genia hes aver smart player who operated behind a forward pack who regularly get creamed by the best.
then i would prob pick francois hougaard, a strauss and manu tuilagi and it would also be in that order.

Sasuke, it would definitely be a fullback so I'd probably go with Israel Dagg, although any of James O'Connor, Ben Smith, Charles Piutau, Jesse Mogg, Leigh Halfpenny, Rob Kearney, Yann Huguet, Ben Foden or even the out of form Andre Taylor would be an improvement on the hopeless Zane Kirchner or Frans Steyn.

Pretty much any other international fullback would improve the Springboks . . . unless we played Pat Lambie at #15 in which case we'd need a quality flyhalf.

@rooinek,

i forgot about james ocnner..... ultimately hooker and halfback are the areas All Blacks have the meast amount depth, but halfbacks do have a very young talneted pool of potential players there, so it shouldnt be a problem in the next year or so. i would prob pick oconner ahead of tuilagi, though i do love the idea of tuilagi at 12, especially with nonu only having a few years left and SBW chopping and changing his major all the time.

Umm, halfback is probably the position we have some of the most potential coming through, Kerr-Barlow, TJ Perenara along with some decent incumbants in Weepu and Smith, hell even Willi Heinz has been playing real good footy.  For the first time in a long time I'd say our halfback stocks look a little healthier than South Africa's.

I'd agree that Bismark would add something to the AB squad, I can't think of too many others - maybe Sergio Parisse because he's the clear second best 8th man in the world.

@poi-e,

i think most of the peeps from the land of the long white cloud would agree that bismarck would be the No1 draft pick under those circumstances.

my line of thinking with will genia and froncois hpugaard is, while NZ are sorted in terms of depth for the next 8 years when it comnes to the halfback with the likes of a smith, t kerr barlow, tj perenara and now even bryn hall, IMHO i believe that none of them will reach the heights of where genia is. genia is to the number 9, like carter is to the 10 & McCaw is to 7, simply the best of the best. only our lack of depth at hooker stops me from picking genia first.

i also believe that hougaard is a world class halfback &has the potnetial to challenege genia for the worlds best, but his pro running game is years ahead of where SA rugby is. SA rugby simply dont know how to incorporate hougaards style with their brand of rugby.
if hougaard were a kiwi, hed be given a license to thrill and would show the owrld how kiwis fly.
its unfortunate for him and lucky for the rest of the world that hougaards game is simply not compatible with where the bulls & SA rugby are at at the moment.

i rate genia higher then all our halfbacks & if hougaard was in NZ rugby, i would rate him higher too.

but at the end of the day its just a hypothetical and NZ halfback stocks dont have me worried one bit.

 I'd probably go with SBW

 For Wobblies have to be a decent no 8 but I think (hope) mowen is the answer but not sure deans got brains to... If not Kieran read is good team man and solid no 8 as any.

but... Weak link in aust rugby for me is deans... No less... Take any number of coaches over him...

Nice idea for a thread Sasu, I have always been a fan of Hougard, but his name on a team sheet has for some reason always made me a little nervous. But you've hit the nail on the head, he is a fantastic talent that is freakishly strong, fast, tackles well, and can do everything else required of a scrummy, the problem is all his talent is being wasted by the South African (Except the Cheetahs) style of play. I am sure he'd be the envy of every scrum half in the world if he played for a team that would allow him to exhibit his talent, as I am sure the All black team would. Very interesting thought.

Politics and indecisiveness aside, SBW, simply because we lack a centre that can really assert himself. I have said it before and I'll say it again, South Africa has a problem at centre. Serfontein, might have what it takes, but he still needs to prove himself. As for the rest, a bunch of nearly's, maybe's and almost's!