Lets look at the squad again and see what he came up with.
The Bulls and Ex-Bulls
Meyers cannot shake off the constant admiration for the players he used to coach and with whom he is familiar.
There are 13 of those players in the squad of 36.
That just happens to be most players of any category included in the squad.
His Masters Voice
The squad allows for the inclusion of 12 players of colour - five of them being in the team despite the fact that they are not even the front line starting players for their franchises and only start because of injuries to players. Aside from that 2 further players are included that are dismal failures in some aspects of the game.
The foreign component
There are 10 of those in the team and there would have been more of those but for a request not to be included and one injured player.
At least two of the regulars fail to be in the starting line up for their clubs and the performance of others cannot be assessed because they play for clubs whose performances are not really accessible. They are in because of reputation and it is not known whether they can still perform on international level.
The Retirement Cillage group
Here is included the following:-
* Victor Matfield at 37 the oldest player ever to be a possible selection for the Springboks side - a real showpony who does nothing on the field of play in respect of tight 5 performance other than in line-outs, where he calls and manipulates the situation. If the opposing number 4 jumper is weak. Matfield jumps at 4 - if both are good Matffield does not call line outs to come to him.
* Bakkies Botha at 35 - a player who was out with injury for most of the past three months and in his return match for Toulon showed nothing of substance.
* Schalk Burger at 32 - a very good player still, but after a three year absence are constantly out of matches because of frequent injuries. The sporot is strong - the body less so.
Of the 36 players roughly a third is 30 or over. Most are hangovers from the failed 2010 and 2011 failed Bok teams and being much older is likely to fail in future again.
CONCLUSION
Meyer wants to have a huge squad to answer critics and to select the match day 23 from and the answer as tow ho would be in the 23 is going to be very interesting.
My guess is the match day 23 would be a problem. Meyer will stick to some players he is familiar with and none of the younger players will in fact be in the squad. What will come up with is going to be no surprises at all and the team is going to fail in many aspects of the game - especially in respect of backline play.
My guess is that bearing in mind Meyer's past history and preferences the team would look like this:-
15 Willie le Roux
14 JP Pietersen
13 JJ Engelbeecht
12 Francois Steyn
11 Bryan Habana
10 Morne Steyn
9 Fourie du Preez
8 Duane Vermeulen
7 Willem Alberts
6 Francois Louw
5 Victor Matfield
4 Bakkies Botha
3 Jannie du Plessis
2 Bismarck du Plessis
1 Tendai Mtawarire
16 Callie Visagie
17 Gurthhro Steenkamp
18 Coenie Oosthuizen
19 Flip van der Merwe
20 Marcel Coetzee
21 Ruan Pienaar
22 Johan Goosen
23 Jan Serfontein
That represents 11 Blue Bulls or ex-Blue Bulls players. 8 Sharks or ex-Sharks, 2 Cheetahs players and 2 Stormers or ex-Stormers players. Of the 23 player 8 plays for foreign clubs and 2 are not front line players for their clubs.
Lets see whether I am correct in what I wrote above.
