Meyer: Strong Ball Carriers will improve performance.

I read in an article earlier that Meyer believes the return of strong ball carriers will improve Bok Performance.
We have been missing a bruiser in the backrow to dominate the collisions and get go forward ball. A bruiser that does not recover ball but hits the rucks backwards to protect ball.If our backrow does not contain Vermuelen- we at least need one bruiser. 
The mobile backrow with fetchers works well against Australia and New Zealand, but not against the more physical packs. Our backrow was toothless against Argentina. Their was no strong ball carries to get front foot ball.
They were slow to the breakdown given it was a small and allowed Argentina too much leniency at the rucks. 
Alberts has always played well against the bigger packs, but he looks like he is constantly injured. Maybe moving Steph to 7 is an option. He was a passenger for the Sharks this year- and also mostly last year. 
Their is a good chance Alberts will start at 7, or even an SOS for Jaques Duplessis.
Vermeulen is still injured but it is unlikely we shall see the likes of Wee Whitey starting in the meantimeMeyer will probably revert to Bulls mentality of having the biggest pack possible. 

If Alberts starts it will be Schalk at 8, with Brussouw at 6 as a specialist fetcher

I doubt Brussouw is living up to HM's expectations.  

Brussow is doing well, but he is not an Alberts or Duane. Alberts is like Juan used to be, very underappreciated. Drop Lood for Flip. The 2013 model was the right direction and opened the game up for our backs. We tried to play fancy with no platform and got what we deserved.

With Matfield as one of the locks we have a tight forward that does play more in the loose, so we need a brute at 7 to do the enforcing. 

Problem is that Alberts is a reputation players whose effectiveness is to be assessed to see whether he really is a loosie of value to the Springbok team:-
*   Alberts is too paceless a player to be of any value in ball protection and recovery in breakdown situations - he  is too slow to get to breakdown points to protect balls in such situations with a non-existent capacity to recover balls due to clumsiness;
*   He has a very low tacle count for a loosie and due to pace deficiency misses way too many tackles - at best his missed tackle ratio borders on 30% plus;
*   He has a reputation for being a strong ball carrier, but his  ball carrier capacity is limited to carries of balls for less than two meters per carry, which happens only a very few times in matches;
*   He does not pass balls effectively and his ball handling is suspect
*   He is basically unfit and has not played for more than  40 minutes in any games he played in because of fitness deficiency and factually unfitness he has continuous injuries and the number of matches played have been extremely limited.
Since June 2014 - when he was injured - he played in exactly 3 matches.  In the first match of those he limped off after 45 minutes and did not play for two months - after which he played for 40 minutes in a match and then in the next match was injured again before half time.   He was still treated for the last injury until about two weeks ago when he was according to a statement by the Springbok management declared fit to play.   The sum-total is that he had at maximum  2 hours of game time since June 2014.
If Alberts is of any real value in games he would be appreciated as a loosie - but when a low-production player is injured regularly it is a bad sign - it indicates an over-weight and unfit player.
If he is brought on board you can expect only minimal value in real terms from him - a low tackle count with a high missed tackle ratio, no effective ball protection and recovery, a low number of ball carries of minimal consequence and an inability to handle balls effectively.   It is a miracle that a player like that is even considered as a loosie - he will not make the grade in any rated NH team and will always be a passenger in games played - especially in tests.   He is unappreciated because he does near to zero in games. 
The joke is again a suggestion to drop De Jager and play Flippie.  That was tried less than three weeks ago when Flippie replaced De Jager and did nothing at all in the 20 minutes he played - matter of fact he was a serious flop when he came from the bench in his latest game and part of the reason why we lost that test.         

I'm becoming more inclined to want Alberts in the side, whilst I believe that his breakdown skills are non-existent we do need someone to dent holes in the oppositions defence. 
Props usually contribute to this but Jannie and Beast have been crap in this department for a number of years but we've managed to make do with our loose trio, Etzebeth and Flip all being decent ball carriers. Lood showed us against Argentina on the weekend that he can also help us win the collisions and get over the gainline. 
Coetzee is decent in this department but he was a lone ranger along with Lood and to a lesser extent Etzebeth and Bismarck on Saturday. Schalk has regressed and his physicality in the collisions has become tame and Brussow isn't big or powerful enough to batter opposition into submission even though he packs hell of a punch for his size.
We need a human wrecking ball, Alberts was this in 2012 but since then he has shown no sign of this form and has had little opportunity this year to show it. Hopefully he can fulfil this role for us this year but it's unlikely. 

In 2013 Alberts was immense, and was a key breakdown threat alongside Duane. Those two tortured everyone that year, even on the fast track of Brisbane! He isn't super fast, but his positional play is exceptional as he moves around with deceptive speed.  He has often done some exemplary tackling out wide, in space, against fleet footed backs. There is no evidence that his speed or mobility is a problem. The vacuum his ball carries create allows our speed and invention through Willie to wreak havoc. You need that power up front. 

 DF
Sorry to differ - but Alberts at breakdown points has been and will never be worth anything at breakdown points.  If he arrives at breakdown points and the ball is not out yet - he stands around behind breakdown points - he never enters the maul and idles around at the back of it in the hope that the balls come to him and he can carry one of his huge ball carries - which has been highly ineffective with minimal territory gains.
He never was massive at breakdown points ever.  The nearest he came to a ball recovery at a breakdown from opposition ball was in the Ellis Park test in 2013 - when he was less than meter from where Aaron Smith was brought down, but instead of recovering the ball - he fell over his own feet and the AB's retained ball possession and Mellam first try was the result.  
His tackling stats shows a very low tackle rate for a loosie and an alarming percentage of tackle misses.  That is due to his deficient speed.  He cannot even tackle Read in the Ellis Park test and unless backline players run straight at them - he would miss a\tackling them.  
It never creates a vacuum when he is tackled - because a maul is the inevitable result.
Nice words - but no real practical examples of where it happened in 2013 or in any of the Super 15 games he played in.  One of the lowest production loosies in the Springbok team ever - if he does anything positive - it happens by accident - not by intent at all.