So what should we do against Scotland?

Prepare ourselves for France, is probably the wise approach. So while the pack should probably stay the same....we could see Strauss, Stephanie and Kolisi starting....allowing Eben whose looking a little over played, Bismarck and Alberts to get some rest. Whether the defensive sieve Malherbe starts ahead of the vulnerable Coenie is about the only issue in pack selection.

In the backs Jean, Habana  and F du Preez have to play to avoid embarrassment. If Morne is fit I'd play him ahead of the bumbling Lambie....he needs a bit more NH exposure before playing France. Willie is an obvious choice at 15.

So that leaves 13 and right wing to be decided. Even though Fury was a bit slow on Saturday I'd probably play him again, just to fully explore that data point. His pick up and pop to F du Preez suggested he might be more creative as he gets back into the flow.

The right wing comes down to a choice between JJ and JP. It might be quite instructive to see JJ on the wing. Clearly after almost two years of centre play, the lad still doesn't really get it...it's beginning to look like a failed experiment. But the stint at 13 may make him a better wing....and while not in the Habana/Nokwe league he is certainly fast enough.

So I'd play :

Willie, JJ, Fury, JdV, Habana, Morne, F du P

Beast, Strauss, Coenie, Flip, Stephanie, Kolisi, Louw and Vermeulen

With Serfontein, Lambie, Pienaar,  Steenkamp, Bismarck, Malherbe, Bakkies and Coetzee on the bench.

Mozart

There is only one real defensive sieve in the Springbok team - there used to be two but De Jongh is gone - and that is Morne Steyn.   Amongst the forwards the biggest sieve is Jannie - whose misses often enough results in tries being scored.  You have found a very convenient weapon to use against Malherbe playing his first test - but will that weapon remain in place in subsequent tests?   You may wish it does but there is no certainty about that and his record in Super 15 and CC  indicates otherwise.   In any event his scrumming was ten times better than you said it would be and you could not fault him on that one - so live with it - he will be around for a long time.  

I hope Fourie plays again - he would continue to prove that he should not have ben in the squad at all  - and the sooner he plays, the sooner he will be left out of he squad and the less the ultimate damage would be.   Sane with Morne - piss poor at Ellis Park and not better yesterday before his benching.  Play him and watch the standards be robotic and unacceptable.  

I think the chances are that Coetzee will start at 7 - he is a better all round performer than Kolisi.   Louw made a farce of the game yesterday.   If I was a one match or one incident junkie like you - I would say send him to Bath - he is not acceptable.   I am sure he will get his act together and should play in the remaining two tests.

Time is ripe for Steenkamp to go - whats the use of having him on the bench on Saturday?

Mozart

That says it all - are you same or is it just pure prejudice that took over?   Jenkins was penalised twice for taking the scrum down and was under pressure in every scrum.   That was evident for anyone to see.   The ref gave for some reason or other a penalty against Malherbe -  after a succession of penalties against Jenkins - probably because he apparently thought that Jenkins - a vey experienced player -  would not repeat an offence after being penalized twice.  

Be it as it may Malherbe was benched afterwards after the ref spoke to both Jenkins and Malherbe and Coenie came on.  Next scrum the same happened and instead of realising nthat Jenkins all along was the guilty party as common denominator in both cases - he sent of both Coenie and Jenkins.   A prop cannot hold up another when the other one is  under pressure  and collapses the scrum - so your following comment is the normal Mozart prejudiced false bullshit:-

 "His scrumming led to a converted penalty and to Coenie being sent off....not much of a recommendation." 

Saffex is right - the ref was poor in his decision making all match long and that was merely one of those decisions that was poor and showed no real grasp as to what he was going on in the match  - the off-side of Fourie being another example. 

Damn Mick, if you hadn't spotted the wind up I could have really got the OOM going. The fact is the ref was like a school master on steroids. There wasn't much to say about Malherbe, plus or minus, other than he missed a few tackles.

Mozart

You went bananas again in your rush to find a reason to get at Malherbe and so you again made a fool of yourself.   You took the initial stats of ESPN - often changed afterwards as a result of study of the game itself - as basis to get at him - and now ends up with egg in your face.

I have a problem - if you look at games in an objective and critical basis and not in any other way there would be no problem.   The outright lies and prejudice in what you write is what winds me up.   Glad you are at last admitting that you lie to get me to respond. Nice one that. 

The next moment you came out with another lie - and that was about the scrumming.   Malherbe was scrumming against Jenkins - who was all over his opposite number in the Lions series and was part of a completely dominant scrum during the Lions visit to Australia in June-July.  In the CR the SA props had some real problems against the Aussies - especially in the Cape Town test -  against the same props that was a pushover for the Lions.    He in fact was the reason why Jenkins struggled badly on Saturday - as was stated by for instance Mallett - but you went  the totally illogical way again.  However, but that is standard practice of writing about performances - especially those who can be of use to SA in future - the list is endless. 

Xtramick

Point taken - I am no expert in that aspect id rugby.  That is why I listen to people like Mallett - who given his background - should be an expert.   I also do believe that you can judge a player on one test or game performance - and that is where I differ from Mozart.   For him one game - or even one incident in a game - is career-defining. 

Lets accept that Malherbe had a good record on CC and Super 15 level and wait and see how he performs in future tests before we come to a reasonable conclusion.