I am keen to see what Meyer will do insofar as the team for Saturday is concerned:-
Will he foul up the center selection?
Even though De Villiers is badly out of form - it is a definite that he will choose him at 12. The question is - who is going to be 13? That would eb interesting:-
* The attack deficient Serfomntein - good in defense, but incapabl of attacking play - he is an inside center - not a 13:
* the very indifferent Pietersen - limited in attack - but really a problem defensively; or
* the better attacker of the three in De Allende - who missed two tackles in his first game, but has been good in defense in his second game.
Whereas Pietersen is likely to fail in defense with vsevere limitations i attack - he is not going to make the grade. He failed in 2012 and will fail again in future.
Who will be the scrummie?
Du Preez and Pienaar are both injured and getting past it as well. As a matter of fact both will have a very limited number of games during the first six months of next year and the question will ultimately be - how matchfit are they?
Hougaard made a serious of flops in teh All Blacks game and the general question is who will Meyer select? I am hoping for Reinach - he has been a better scrummie than Hougaard throughout Super 15 this year.
Who will replace Louw?
That is an easy answer when it comes to the number 6 jersey - Coetzee would eb moved to opensider. The problem is the bndside flank - where Meyer has painted himself into a corner as a result of injuries. He has Mohoje and Whiteley available and the politicos are already shouting about Mohoje.
What about the Tight head prop?
Again there is an injury problm that impacts on selection. Jannie du Plessis can barely last two halftime before his scrumming collapses and he is a liability in respect of other facets of play as well - the latter as long as he is on the field of play. Typical signs of a player that needs to be phased out.
My guess is that in view of the injury to Malherbe, Du Plessis will remain as the prop during the first half and then replaced. Hope he lasts that lobng this time around.
MY SELECTION
I think the following tem is th strongest one we can field at this stage - bearing in mind Meyer's addction to some players who really have deficienicies:-
15 Willie le Roux
14 Cornal hendricks
13 Damian de Allende
12 Jean de Villiers
11 Bryan Habana
10 Handre PPollard
9 Cobus Reinach
8 Duane Vermeulen
7 Warren Whiteley
6 Maarcel Coet\zee
5 Victor Matfield *
4 Eben Etzebeth
3 Marcell van der Merwe
2 Adriaan Strauss
1 Tendai Mtawarire
16 Birmarck du Plessis
17 Trevor Njakan#
18 Jannie du Plessis *
19 Lodewyk de Jager
20 Tehojo Mohoje
21 Francois Hougaard
22 Patrick Lambie
23 Jan Serfontein
* Matfield is physiclly deficient - and is not adding value to Tight 5 play. He really remains a liability rather than an asset - whe he is reliable in line out takes - but nothing else.
* Jannie is on the way out since he can only last a limited time - it would be wrong to start with him - he should ebcome an impact player and thus measure up.
