My SA team in the RC

The asterisks indicated not my choice - but inevitable selections:-

15   Willie le Roux, 14  Sbu Nkosi,13  Jesse Kriel, 12  Damian de Allende, 11  Aphiwe Dyantyi. 10 Handre Pollard, 9  Faf de Klerk, 8  Pieter-Steph du Toit, 7  Lappies Labuschagne, 6  Siya Kol isi*, 5  Franco Mostert, 4  Eben Etzebeth, 3  Frans Malherbe, 2  Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

16  Bongi Mbonambi*, 17  Stephen Kitshoff, 18  Trevor Nyakani*, 19  JD Schickerling, 20  Warren Whiteley. 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22  Damian Willemse, 23  Ruan Combrinck. 

Now you can have a go at it and see what you come up with.  Remember the RC is less than 2 months away  

Ou maaaive some major blunders oak!!

15   Willie le Roux, 14  Sbu Nkosi,13  Jesse Kriel, 12  Damian de Allende, 11  Aphiwe Dyantyi. 10 Handre Pollard, 9  Faf de Klerk,

 8  Pieter-Steph du Toit, 7  Lappies Labuschagne, 6  Siya Koloisi*, 5  Franco Mostert, 4  Eben Etzebeth, 3  Frans Malherbe, 2  Lionel Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Whiteley at eigthman. Steph at 7. Marx was out for the season? Locks Eben and Snyman who had a great series.

Your backline - Dyamani of the Lions should have been tried!!! 99 kg very fast, big step and appears to have it all.

16  Bongi Mbonambi*, 17  Stephen Kitshoff, 18  Trevor Nyakani*, 19  JD Schickerling, 20  Warren Whiteley. 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22  Damian Willemse, 23  Ruan Combrinck. 

Akkers before Bongi!!!!!!!!!!!!! Papier and Willemse need a bit more time..Robert Du Preez is ready.

Beeno thanks - but post you team, please.   I looked at all factors and you must not think I did nit bare all things in mind.

So let me start.    There is a serious problem with our loosies at present - if you bring in Whiteley and keeo Du Toit - none of our loosies would be able to protect and recover balls at breakdowns.   SA has a serious deficiency in such players 0 had it for many years/  The only really good loosie in that regard is Labuschagne - a specialist in ball protection and recovery with a very high work rate/.   We cannot go into tests without at least one good loosie capable of that.      

Marx was out for 2 months and started playing today for the Lions in a match against the Bulls s0 he was not out for the season.  Fact is he missed only three Super Rugby matches and the three June tests. 

I considered Snyman carefully - but he had one great test and was nowhere to be seen in the latest two tests.   He is not a better lock than Schickerling who should be phased in as our back-up lock for the WC next year.    When De Jager comes back - the situation will change - he s a better lock than Snyman as well .   

Did you notice the asterisks I put behind certain names? Bongi was one of those..

I am not sure about Robert du Preez and looked at Willemse carefully.  He is very young still - but he outplayed all the SA fyhalfs by some distance in Super Rugby and that included Pollard.   I do not know about Robert du Preez - he was problematic in his only test.  Not know whether he is really the man to cover for Pollard.

This guy Dyamani has not played a single game in a backline.  Speed is not everything that counts for a backline player.   If it was then sure - but unless he has been or will be used in a Super Rugby franchise backline - it means no thanks on my part.    .      

Dyamani played on the wing one game for the Lions and was sensational! Ask Plum about him!

Willemse is a great prospect but give him a bit more time. Another full season of Super rugby should do it

Snyman put in a huge amount of work!!!! Unless a guy is making yards in the open some oaks don"t know he is there!

Labuschagne is barely Super Rugby level ou maaaaikie! That Bulls 6 looks useful; - name escapes me!

Akkers is a class Hooker

Beeno

Erasmus has to prepare a squad for the WC and he cannot do so if he follows what you suggest/   Do you want Jantjies as back-up 10?

Well, Mike ... if you're going to post a team that has a list of players in, that you don't approve of ... then it can't really be called your team now ... can it?

So ... having said that ... who are the players you'd have in at 6. 16 and 18?

I see you favour Jesse Kriel ... again. ??

Oh ... and it's Malcolm Marx ... not Lionel.

Rassie said that the time for experimenting has ended ... so in other words, the next team he selects will be what he's going to work with for the coming WC... bar any injuries of course.

It's a pity he didn't experiment with a few more props.

Beast was given his 100th cap. It really is time to send him out to pasture. We have many better looseheads.

Bongi is a quota. He is a joke.

I am pleased to see you've finally realized how poor a tighthead Tank Du Toit is. Hamburger Nyakane is even worse.

Malherbe is a family friend of yours. That is his only qualification. As a test prop ... ??? No thanks.

PS Du Toit is being shunted around from pillar to post. One cannot expect him to produce the goods if he's a jack of all trades. In my opinion, he's a lock and should be selected as one.

The less said about your 6 the better. We have much better options available to us.

 De Allende and Kriel. It's two failures as individuals making up your midfield. Total madness. I wouldn't either of them as my last defender 10m from the tryline. Neither can tackle and neither can create.

We have better options available.

My team would look something like this ...

1. Kitshoff, 2. Marx, 3. Louw, 4. Etzebeth, 5 PS Du Toit, 6, Kriel/Cloete, 7. Ackermann, 8. Whiteley, 9. Faff, 10. Pollard, 11 Nkosi, 12 Esterhuizen, 13, Franscois Venter, 14. Dyantyi, 15. Le Roux

16. Akker, 17. van Rooyen, 18. Koch, 19. Schickerling, 20. Lappies, 21. Papier, 22. Lionel Cronje / Willemse, 23. Ruan Combrinck.   

The reason why I've brought Lappies is that he can cover both 6 and 7. He plays well to the ground has a high work rate. 

I would also be very keen to bring a healthy Janse van Rensburg back into the mix.

CC

An interesting team - and thanks for correcting the Marx name issue.

I added asterisks to a players which would not be my first choice selections - but hadtolook at the political pressure issue.

My problem is the fact that none of the present loosies can do anything at all about breakdown ball  protection and recovery and I was very mindful of that one,   I woul have picked Kriel - he comes nearest to being acceptable - the rest cannot really do much in that component of the game.  That is why I want Labuschagne in the mix - he is the only real loosie capable of doing that,   

I bore in mind comments made by you iro Whiteley - so spare me the criticism. 

As to the s election of Malherbe I do not think he is ideal - but they have tried other players like Wilco Louw and he failed as well.   In essence I believe the failures are to a large extent the result of playing deficient hookers in the absence of Marx.  The balancing of scrums is done by the hookers and scrums often fails as a result of deficient hookers.

To my mind we need an enforcer type at 7 and at 8 ... sadly we have no-one that fits that mould ... so what's the next best thing?

Bearing in mind that our 7 and or 8 should play a part in the line out.

Any suggestions?

Get a grip of reality .... the pair of you! Not-so-CC picks a pack full of snowflakes, nogal reverting to the ole 2 black wings only policy . ouMaaik's not much better .

Marx returns  .... Bongi out, a blow to the transformation policy. Jantjies self-destructs, another blow  ..... poor DiscoDassie must find seven spots for his black & brown contingent & two strong contenders are gone .

Come to think of it, Blob ... have you ever posted your side on here?

Well?? Let's have it!!

CC, your team wouldn't be allowed to leave Jan Smuts..

What t f. happens next year if a few of our key black players suffer injuries, ruling them out of the RWC ?  What price 50% ?

Well said Bob! Would say more about Sir CC's post but not this week Hahahhahaha

At 7 we have the world class Du Toit.

Blobbok

I think you are wrong when it comes to my selections and in my book Bongi will remain as back-u hooker and Willemse will replace Jantjies in the squad.   Not two players gone a mentioned by you.  

Look - there will be enough excuses not to meet the 50% requirement.   One of those would be injuries to key players - the other will be failed performances by some players.

However, the above were just some of my thoughts on the issue - you are welcome to make your own suggestions.  

"Bearing in mind that our 7 and or 8 should play a part in the line out.

Any suggestions?"

Roelof Smit

Bloody good player and about three times the amount of brain power possessed by the twins together :):):)

Plum I was punting on Smit as well, but not-so-CC reckons the fella's injury prone .

Plum

With respect - Roelof is a 6 an I have never seen much from him insofar as ball protection and recovery is concerned.

I think in the longer term Wiese and Van Dyk of the Stormers may make a claim - both are better than Smit and they are good line-out jumpers as well.   Wiese is to my mind the better of the two.

I may be wrong - but I suspect that Erasmus would take the foreign players (De Klerk and Le Roux) for further intensive training and discussion during he NH club holidays and he may just do the same with Wiese and Labuschagne as well.   That could include breakdown ball protection and recovery as well - the present two serious deficiencies in the team.   .