Meyer catch a bloody wake up

Its bad enough we have the bog ordinary gruntless Kruger starting at 5 against the AB's of all sides.......but to insult us with Franco v/d Merwe ahead of Steph du Toit on the bench is just plain stupidity. Bloody hell it was bad enough having fat Steenkamp on the bench, now we have another gruntless lock warming the bench next to fat Guthro.......can it get any worse?

Awarding Franco a test cap, cheapens the cap........its insulting and smacks of Meyers conservatism........the very conservatism that is going to quash his progression as a test coach.

Damn poor selection

Steenkamp as a rule has serious scrumming problems and was up against a weak scrumming set up of the Wallabies and he did manage to survive in the scrumming situation  Saturday without giving away his standard penalties when scrumming.   He is so bad Toulouse would normally not start with him but play him from the bench. 

I agree with Saffex about him and also about the Franco van der Merwe issue. 

Steenkamp has been useless all year, but that was always going to be the case, the man cant even command a starting spot for his French club side.

The likes of Nkanyane, Kitshoff or Marcel v/d Merwe are streets ahead of fat Steenkamp.

Meyer has made a few good selection calls like Taute, Willie, JJ, Serfontein, Goosen, v/Zyl, Coenie at 3, Etzebeth, Coetzee, Arno Botha and Kolisi..........but equally he has made some howlers........with Steenkamp being the top of that list, closely followed by CJ v/d Linde, Pat Cilliers, Franco v/d Merwe, Basson, Werner Kruger, Juandre Kruger and de Jongh.

Yes PSDT was ready for Test rugby last year..........he does not need months in the squad before being selected.......what a load of shit. If he is good enough, you select him end of.

He is twice the player Kruger and Franco are and for that very reason you pick him, just like Meyer picked Etzebeth straight away.

PSDT should have started with Lood de Jager on the bench.......two real locks, not bloody pretenders  

There are a number of arguments as to the issue of Frannco van der Merwe and Gurthro Steenkamp - even C J van der Linde is brought in.

In my opinion I do agree with some issues raised -  but have to express the following factual situation as far as I am concerned:-

CJ van der Linde

CJ van der Linde was a key player in 2007 and was also good in 2009-10.   In 2011 the Storermers/WP signed him up as a prop forward.   They found he has lost his mojo and they could not get rid of him fast enough.   Van der Linde in 2012 played for the Lions and was mostly used as a bench prop.

Meyer made a fool of himself and selected Van der Linde for the EOYT in 2012 and then not surprisingly found that he was not up to standard.   Van der Linde at one stage was the top prop in SA - but he is not anymore and I do believe he never was an Os du Rand and is at this stage playing CC rugby - far from good enough on higher level.    Age took care of this one - I am afraid.

Gurthro Steenkamp

A top prop and a worthy Springbok before he departed for Toulouse.   Gurthro - already 32 years of age - decided to play rugby, but his most serious effort was  to damage the food supply resources in France as best as he could.   Already heavy before departure for France he got fat and became the Toulouse bench prop.   A few weeks ago (after the Argentina test in Mendoza) went back to Toulouse and because of injury, Toulouse was forced to use him in their starting line up.   He was very poor in that game and one of the major reasons for the loss of the game by Toulouse.  

Interesting enough - because of the injury problems and the absence of Steenkamp - Toulouse called up Frerreira from the Kings and used him as their prop.  From the games I saw him in, he really did well.

Steenkamp is not an international level player anymore - the fact is that his club has not enough faith in him to use him as their front line prop.   Meyer picked him for the EOYT and although he stood up reasonably well in the scrums for 30 minutes in every game - he obviously was too fat and not match fit.   He was not really a reasonable prop anymore and his performances in the tests this year was nondescript and at times not acceptable.   To his credit it must be mentioned that he surprisingly had a good game on Saturday when he came from the bench - but it should be borne in mind that the Wallabies pack is not really up to standard.

At 32 years of age he definitely has no future on test level and he should be replaced asap.

Franco van der Merwe

Looking at the Super 15 games as well as the CC games - there is one common trait between Kruger and Van der Merwe nd that is that both call line out throw ins.   For the rest there are playing elements to be borne in mind as well:-

*   Kruger has no grunt at all - but to be fare to Franco he does have some

*   Kruger is fairly poor in line outs - Franco is slightly better.

If I have a straight choice between Kruger and  Franco - and there are no other candidates available - my choice would be Franco.

To my mind both the two players are not really international level locks and should not really be in the team.   However, I do not think that Meyer thinks that Lood de Jager is ready yet - he probably will be after another good Super 15 season.   I also think that the real deal is Pieter Steph du Toit.

However, I can understand why Meyer is not playing Du Toit this coming weekend - he is still very young and is coming from a long injury-enforced lay off.   I think Du Toit is a definite for starting in the EOYT tests.

Basically I think that there are a couple of players in the team that will let us down in the test against the AB's - but they are there because of injuries to key players and the fact that Meyer is absolutely dead set on the present loosie combination.   Bad news that one.   

At this stage, regards to how poor our senior locks are, I would almost welcome Bakkies or even Danie Rossouw for another season or two before the world cup, even if it’s just as a reserve while the youngsters find their feet. Much better choice than Kruger and Flip.

Franco actually played really well in 2011 / 2012 but got overlooked. It was only this season for the sharks that he struggled.

It is a hard call to have PSDT on the bench, real great talent and was in fantastic form at the beginning of the season. One of the few players that made real difference in a poor performing team.

Estebeth showed that he can face up to the best, why not get PSDT a crack?

kingcorn

I would have - but Meyer obviously thought otherwise because of the injury lay-off of u Toit.   By the way - I saw a recent losing game of Toulon - which they lost - and B akkies Botha was poor at best.   Definitely past his prime and I would rather have Franco than him in the squad. 

Lood was not handled by the Stormers locks, handled in what way really?

Lood has been one of the finds of the season......this 20 year at 2.05m and 125kg is just what we need in the Bok set-up. He is the perfect back-up to Etzebeth and PSDT because not only does he get stuck in, is great in the line-outs, he can cover  either 4 or 5 as he has done for the Cheetahs.

His omission by Meyer is glaring, its not even a marginal call. Investing in Kruger and Franco is insulting. 

 As you know every diabolical plan i've hatched for world domination has been thwarted by these cursed All Blacks.

Why must i be surrounded by idiots?

If only Meyer would listen to the evil genius Dr Evil -( i am very very naughty)

.... the key elements to a good world domination plan is

1. Thermonuclear device

2. Exotic delivery system

3. closed circuit TV to talk to the President/UN

4. sense of self

5. there is no fifth

 How about we finish these pesky All Blacks once and for all with ....

 1) A giant lazer with which we could hit these All Blacks Zot Zot Boink  

 2)  We unleash more of the crazy Dutch bastards .