Rassie adds more players.

So Rassie has added Carlu Sadie and JJ van der Mescht. Herschel Jantjies and Lukhanyo Am have also been recalled.

I don’t understand the Jantjies or Am selections. Sadie and Van der Mescht are exciting picks. I rate Sadie up there with Wilco.

Jamtoes as [erfpor,ed well for t he Bulls - bu other scrummiesd xcept on the case of th Sharks and toa lese ecrntt the Stormer has not rally be shininhg lights,

"Jantjies has performed well for the Bulls, but other scrumhalves, except in the case of the Sharks and to a lesser extent the Stormers, have not really been shining lights."

Is this what you trying to say Uncle?

Iy ,eams tha I rate Jantjies as a player,

Fact is also I beleive Erasmus is biggein g u with tryin g to play lcks - - the best performing SA lock by a huge distance in the URC series is Shickerling Why is he nort called up as a lock?

Christ Mpower

that was pretty damn good. I was trying so hard to figure that out.

Who knew M was so fluent in Shitoric?

I'm very impressed.

I prefer the original Jamtoes myself. Absolute classic.

Don't get these selections either. Papier is electric every week, Am looked like a spent force last time he played in SA. Maybe the Japs fed him some magic eel or something in the meantime.

" JJ van der Mescht"

145Kg of pure baby face

JJvdM was such a promising youngster and then got a bit out of shape and lost the plot. Hope he's back to to his best because he has a lot of potential.

Jamtoes looks like a keeper.

I would also have gone with Papier. Van der Mescht is a huge lad. Our locally based locks are being treated unfairly.

Rassie has gone with most of the older crew again:

The other RWC winners invited to the camp are World Rugby and SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Lood de Jager, Thomas du Toit, Jean Kleyn, Franco Mostert, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Jasper Wiese (all forwards), as well as Damian de Allende, Faf de Klerk, Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe, and Manie Libbok (all backline players). rugby365.com

Other locks that's performing well other than JD: Ruben V Heerden, Adre' Smith, Reinhardt Ludwig, Ruan Vermaak, Corne Rahl.

BTW Rooi, Saffolk left you a message on your 2026 thread. He was posting again for a short while yesterday.

Maybe you missed it?

Mpower

Fact is that one has to look at the Bulls-Stormers recent match - the Bulls struggled in line-outs and lost a few on own throw-in mostly outjumped by Schickerling and I do not beieve that Nortje, Ludwig and Vermaak is on par woth Schickerling. at present. .

Uncle Mike, Schickerling is very good, I don’t doubt that.

The reason I also mentioned the other locks is to show that we have really good talent locally and that there is actually no need for Rassie to look elsewhere.

Also, because these locks ply their trade locally, shouldn’t they be considered first for Bok selection??

do not agree with you on the iissue of selection of local players ahead of players playing for foreign clubs. In essense the situation is that players shoul be seleced on the basu s of actual performances, A ctual performances should in all cass the norm.

I also bear in mind that the problem is not confined to forei gn and local player when it comes to the ock situation as well. The performances of the locks - whether pla yin g for S A fnc hises or fori gn clubs is a case in point. Th e S pring boks is in trouble in the lock situation. Etzbeth has not played in many matc hes this year nd wh en he dd he did not perform up to standard, Snyman was in the same situation - h e wa sof and on and now is injured as well.

I have not seen enough of Mostert to form an opinion on him and definitely Kleyn is supersht I wa h oping fo better by Nortje - but he has been so-so this year. The locks is a problem - the repalcements in the main are vergae even on URC level, A nd thn e h ave Moerat and Wiese - just average to poor on any level they play in. So we are not as strong on lock level as we should be.

The same applies onm the inside center level. Fact is we are in truble in that osition as well. Th only youn gster playing on that position is Milne - the rest re just not good enough. Whether memb ers like i or not that is the next problem and at this stage the only real option is De Allende . In Jpan the franchises ha v e Japanese captains - but theya re mot the tam eladers on he field, DE A llende is playin g as team eader on the field onf play and he is the team leader in he top team in the Japanese League, I am hopin g that Erasmus would consider Mulder as back-up fo him - t he rest are kust not good enough.

Another weak position is full back - where I think that Willemse and Horn are the only options left at present. I am not sure why = but F assie has gone off t heboil and is not teststadarxd at present,

All those locks I mentioned are performing well and have been doing so for many seasons now.

So it’s not only because they are locally based, it’s their form that should put them in Bok contention first. I agree, form is the most important factor in selection policy.

Uncle Mike, isolating Schickerling just because his your favourite is short sighted.

Adre' Smith has been just as good and in many games better than JD. Same counts for the other locks I mentioned.

You want to tell me, in all seriousness, that Van der Mescht is outperforming all of these locks??

Not a chance. He might be a exciting pick because of his size, but rightfully the SA locks locally are just as good and better.

It comes down to Rassie not selecting the right locks and having a serious deficiency and bias in proper player selection.

Is Ruben van heerden injured? Haven't seen him for a while...

Welcome, AsherKai. May the "Force" be with you...you sure as hell, going to need it on this Forum:)