Lets hope Coetzee has learnt a lesson

Its pointless picking a good squad, getting our hopes up only to dash them with a poor match 15 selected.

What on earth was Mvovo doing in the squad in the first place. Exposed at Super rugby level for having lost the pace that made a difference and never been one blessed with great hands. He was severely exposed under the high ball.

On comes Combrink, our form wing of the last 2 years and boy what an impact he made. Why on earth did he not start the first test? Quotas no doubt.

JP showed signs of getting back to form in his last few games for the Sharks but I cant help but think we can do better, starting with Sergeal Petersen who has been outstanding for the Cheetahs and was huge against the Saxons. Brings zip to the table.

Mapoe has had a good season for the Lions but Jessie Kriel has the x factor and needs to be reinstated with de Allende.

Jantjies and Faf were good and true to the form they have been showing. Will both get better once entrenched and playing with security of selection.

Kitshoff should be playing ahead of Beast, he is at best solid these days, Kitshoff is far better.

Strauss is a good player, not a good captain.....Bismark should be starting, with Marx on the bench.

Malherbe has been solid in the scrums but disappointing with his silly infringements. Redelinghuis got his arse kicked in that first scrum he replaced Malherbe. Marcel v/d Merwe is better than Redelinghuis

Etzebeth has been solid, but I want so see him making more of an impact with his sheer strength. PSDT is our best lock right now, what a player.

Did Louw play? The biggest let down in the Bok side is Louw playing ahead of the unrivalled Jaco Kriel.

Playing Kolisi at 7 is unfair on him, he is not a 7. Having watched Jacques du Plessis having an outstanding game yet again for Jake's Montpellier I could not help but think we have missed a trick here. What an athletic player for such a big guy. By far Montpelliers best player in the semi. Some ignorant fool called him toothless the week before.....oh boy.

Vermeulen is done.....time to move on. Predictable and making little impact. In form Whiteley showed him up in a big way.

My side for the final test would be:

15. Willie 14. JP 13. Kriel 12. de Allende 11. Combrink 10. Jantjies 9. Faf 1. Kitshoff 2. Bismark 3. Malherbe 4. Etzebeth 5. PSDT 6. Jaco Kriel 7. Jacques du Plessis 8. Whiteley (c)

16. Marx 17. Nyakane 18. Marcel 19. Lood 20. Notshe 21. Groom 22. Goosen 23. Serfontein

Dave

I think it is high time Strauss should be out – his contribution at scrumming is zero-minus and his contribution outside of the scrumming is equally poor.   That is the main reason for the Springboks scrum misfiring.  

I personally do not think there is a problem with our locks – with Du Toit the shining star at present.   Etzebeth is getting better – but nor up to standard yet.    

Our loosies during the last two tests were atrociously poor and that goes for all three – low tackle counts and no contribution to ball protection and recovery and ineffective carries sometimes resulting in ball possession losses. 

I like Jacques du Plessis as a lock - but he is definitely not a 7 - too slow in pace for that position and not enough ball sense to constructively follow the ball.  Although I do not really like moving our best lock (Du Toit) - I would prefer him at 7 to the much slower and less mobile Du Plessis.   My own preference at replacement lock is in fact Jenkins.  He seems to have more pace and ball sense than the other competitors – Du Plessis, Willemse and Snyman.

As to Jantjies – he was way out of depth in both tests – his negatives far outweighs any positives he may have.  He seems to be top class in the Lions when they are up against equal opposition – but his contributions are normally sub-standard when playing stronger opposition.   He made no contribution to any of the tries scored – he missed 40% of his kicks at goal and for me the typical example of his poor performance was missing the penalty line kick – which would have given th Springboks an advantage in scoring their fourth try.  

I would prefer Goosen to Jantjies as a flyhalf – but Goosen will not be available for Saturday – he is bound to be a key player for Racing Metro in the Top 14 final on Friday.   I wonder how many times commentators have called Goosen this year the most valuable player in the Racing Metro backline – especially  bearing in mind Carter’s presence in that backline.

The issue with Mapoe is another one of a player very good on Super Rugby level – but not up to standard in the Springbok team.  I looked at the game twice and think the solution is to play Francois Venter at 13 – Kriel’s form this year was sub-standard and he cannot play himself into form on test level.

Malherbe was good in the scrums but has been giving away stupid penalties in general play. Have never rated Redelinghuis that highly....these little props don't have what it takes to play test rugby.

Marcel v/d Merwe has had a great season for the Bulls and should be the back up

Nope PSDT has been great as a lock, he has been better than Etzebeth

We have options at 7 like du Plessis or Kirsten, play them.

Jessie Kriel is the obvious choice at 13, breaking the centre combination that was work in progress was very short sighted of Coetzee. The combination takes time to gel, why break it and undo the success gained last year.