It's a fantastic squad says Mallett

Will this satisfy the barking dogs several of whom worship Mallett?

'It's a fantastic squad, one that most of us expected from Heyneke and the selectors. There's lots of experience and they've given youth a chance in Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Rudy Paige.

'There have been some great players left behind, and I've written down a list of them that could represent South Africa. You've got Marcel van der Merwe, Scarra Ntubeni, Steven Kitshoff, Franco Mostert, Flip van der Merwe, Jaco Kriel, Heinrich Brüssow, Warren Whiteley, Cobus Reinach, Faf de Klerk, Elton Jantjies, Lionel Mapoe, Jan Serfontein, Cornal Hendricks and Ruan Combrinck. So the guys who are going to the World Cup have a huge responsibility on their shoulders to put in a fantastic performance for our country.

'Schalk Brits is an absolutely outstanding rugby player. But with the third-choice hooker, shouldn't we be looking towards 2019? Scarra had really bad luck because injury prevented him from getting an opportunity to show what he can do. It would have been nice to have taken him to this World Cup as the third hooker. That's not to take anything away from Brits, as he is one of the best off-loading forwards in the world. He has brilliant skills and a brilliant side-step.

'I'm a little worried about the guys coming back from injury. How much rugby has Willem Alberts played this year? You've also got Pieter-Steph du Toit and Francois Louw coming back from injury. Frans Malherbe had a bad injury, Coenie Oosthuizen had a neck injury and Duane Vermeulen is coming back from a neck operation. So a number of those forwards are brilliant players, but let's hope those injuries don't curtail their performances at the World Cup.

'I took two different countries, South Africa and Italy, to the World Cup and in both cases I had to speak to the guys who didn't make it and explain that no matter how hard they've worked and well they've played, I had a tough choice to make and had decided to go with someone else. What a player respects more than anything else is honesty, you can't sugarcoat it at all, as it's a bitter pill not to go to the World Cup. I'm absolutely certain that Heyneke and his coaches would have done that with all the players who didn't make it.'

 Sure - Mallett is on contract with Supersport and it is in their interest to try and convince massive numbers of their viewers that they need to support the team and not lose interest in the WC in view of perceived question marks about the competitiveness of the Springboks in the tournament.  
Mallett started of by praising the squad and then raised question marks about some worries that is causing doubts in the mins of most people about the fitness issue of players who have not had sufficient game time to prove that they are worth selection.  That is what he said in that regard:-
"'I'm a little worried about the guys coming back from injury. How much rugby has Willem Alberts played this year? You've also got Pieter-Steph du Toit and Francois Louw coming back from injury. Frans Malherbe had a bad injury, Coenie Oosthuizen had a neck injury and Duane Vermeulen is coming back from a neck operation. So a number of those forwards are brilliant players, but let's hope those injuries don't curtail their performances at the World Cup."  
At least he did not even mention the worst two cases in the relevant regard, namely Du Preez and  De Villiers - he only referred to forwards.   Du Preez had zero real rugby since June 2014 - but the others at least have had some rugby since their injuries.   This remains a bad joke.  He started of by mentioning Alberts who had not been up to standard for years - whether injured or not.  Malherbe had an injury last year and had a lot of playing time this year - with a minor injury problem against the Aussies in that test.   During Super 15 he was the best tighthead by some distance - so he is not the worrying factor.  
There is some hope for the team yet - but that is that players like Vermeulen and Du Toit start in matches and that passengers like Matfield. Steyn and De Villiers is not starting and is at best on the bench.  The scrummie case is a real drawback though.  If too many of the passengers are in the team - there is no hope for Meyer's team.
    

 
Well, how else are they to get the country behind this pathetic team?

Even Ashwin "Sarks" Willemse had to bite his tongue and conjure something positive about this embarrassment.

The country would have rallied behind a properly selected squad on their own ... there would have been no need for all this coercing ... 

Even Government felt the need to market this pathetic squad ... have us accept their enforced quotas.

Instead of a country being excited about our chances, we have a rugby mad nation walking away shaking their heads in disgust.

What else did they expect?

How do you cheer incompetence on?

How do you become passionate about a team that's filled with unmerited selections?

Perhaps you can lie to yourself ... I on the other hand find it a little difficult to muster enthusiasm.

I hope this team is embarrassed by Scotland and I would celebrate a Japanese victory over these boys like there's no tomorrow.



 

 CC 
I would not celebrate any victory of an opposing team over Meyer's team - it would break my heart.   However, if they had an opinion poll today about which team will win the WC - I would say that not more than 20% of the respondents would give any chance to the Springboks.  Those who do, will be doing it out of loyalty and in the main will comprise the non-thinkers and the slobs that support non-performing players of which there are a long list in the squad.
However, I would not be surprised if Meyer's team lose matches in the pool stage of the competition - I am particularly worried about Scotland and Samoa.  In the 2011 WC - where Mozart also glorified the geriatrics - they barely managed a 1 point win over Wales and a 6 point win over Samoa in the pool stage and then lost in the first play-off game afterwards.  This squad is even worse than the 2011 squad - so the only saving grace would be the youngsters in the team - the old reputation loafers will produce nothing of substance.   The same reputation players were bad in 2011 and are seriously worse in 2015.




   

 It's a fucking crap squad selling us down the river 

 
Unfortunately I am a person without the shade of grey in me.

I wish I had a smidge ... it would have uncomplicated my life big time ... cause then I too would have been able to accept mediocrity ... incompetence ... sub standard performance ... enforced racism with demographics playing a huge role in our society.

There is nothing about Meyer's team that I care for. 

This is not a team that represents the best we have to offer ... not even close.

It's poorly coached, poorly selected and has the fingerprints of the Government all over it.

It's not for me.