Springbok future SARU should invest in.

The underlying assumption being that the younger players can change their fundamental skills, but the older ones cannot. 
Many of those younger players lack the skill to even be standouts at SuperXV.
Rhule had one good Curry Cup season but has done nothing at SuperXV levelCobus Van Wyk has been ok at Curry Cup level. Jessie Kriel could have potential, but he looks well on the way to becoming another fattie with no step after another year of creatine an gym.
Hougaard has proven that if he does not get clean ball he is the worst scrumhalf in the world. 
Jaques Du Plessis is a dumb muscle donkey. He is not able to learn much, let alone change. I have never heard of Eighthman, but hopefully he is a good prospect.
It does sound like a case of out with the old and in with the new. Which is all fine if they are thinking players, but replacing a thinking older player with a young donkey will not solve much. If anything it has to start at school level. Our culture needs to change from being less conservative win at all cost, to playing more expansive and skills based rugby. By the time the juniors have broken through the ranks they allready have inherited the same crash ball and kick and chase mentality. 

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Sharkbok, it is much easier to teach new skills to a youngster than a player that is 30 years old, have played 80 tests and as stubborn as hell. 

Biltongbek that may be a case of rigid stereo typing. Behavior can be explained because of condition xyz. 

A player like Schalk Burger looks willing and able to expand his game. More so than someone like Donkey Duplessis (Jaque). 
I would rather have a young 22 year old Schalk than Donkey duplessis, but an older Schalk would still be my preferred option as a thinking player. 

Pretty good list BB. At prop add in Kitshoff and Kebble. Kyle Cooper is underrated 25 and 109kg. There are locks to burn - Ruan Botha and Jean Kleyn.How about that Pumas number 8 making waves or Van Der Walt who went overseas. How will Labuschagne go at the Bulle.How would Pat Howard go given a fair chance. Stokkies Hanekom . Stephan Watermeyer is also a good center, Van Der heever as well is 25 and 105 kg but like Howard  ignored by that dof Alistair. Some fragile wings there and Kolbe needs to go to scrumhalf.

 You guys have depth, but it is quantity vs quality. Right now I well say NZ has better quality of depth, because it has been cultivated. All quality in their position, who can get their job done regardless of who it is. SA has quantity, but lacking that quality. I guess Meyer knows this, and relies on the evil he knows, opposed to the evil he doesen't .

 
What's your take on Odendaal at 12?

Marcell vd Merwe is a better tighthead in my opinion.

I would also include Ruan Dreyer of the Lions at tighthead.

You seem to have missed Faff De Klerk.

I think BB has a point here  - although there may be some reservations about some players he listed.  However, it seems that he is thinking of constructive development of players to play in the next 6 to 8 years 
I think the needle got stuck in a groof because the performnces of players is not the only criterium for selection by Meyer.  The problem with the older players is not only stubbornness - but a  serious detrioration in their performances.

There is a general norm that indicates that the prime performance age of internationals are ebtween the ages of 25 and 29.   Once they hit the 30 year old age barrier - decline routinely sets in.   This is a general assessment - but accounts for the fact that no team has ever been retained the Rugby World Cup - basically because of lack of team renewal by the cup holders.   New Zealand seems to go the same way - they are not the onvincing winners of games they used to be and next year they will even be worse.
If one look at the present SA team  there is serious decline in performances noticeable and the following are examples of those:-
*  Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers - their loss of form from last year to this year was spectacular and the wquestion is what will happen next year.
*   JP Pietersen was never the fastest of wings - but he is now a cart-horse sped merchant.
*    More Steyn never learnt the art of playing at flyhalf and he is now so bad - his club wants to get rid of him
*   Fourie du Preez was invisible in all tests played since his return to international rugby and both Pienaar and him lost speed and sericvce abaility in th last year.  
*   Alberts is notorious for his clumsiness and low work rate ratio - that will never improve.
*    The jury is out on Burger.   He looked absolutely fantastic in some games and vanished in others.  Probabky a good sub to have around for playing off the ebnch - but he is likely unable to last longer than 30 minutes in a game.
*    Matfield came back with the reputation of being the ebst line out jumper in the world.   That did not last long - he started off well in the 3 June tests, when he veven took two line outs of oppositon throw-in balls.   By November his line out takes has decreased by 30% and the opposition throw in takes to zero.   So he is not even remotely a good enough line out jumper anymore.   He never was a physical player and was constantly moonlighting in the backline.     That is still the case and account for the number of tackles he made.  However, his tackle quality range from average to poor with a substantial number of missed tackles thrown in.   He also is dismal in cacrying balls in traffic and sucjh carries too often result in penalties or possession losses.   All-in-all a serious handicap in the Springbok team.
*    Jannie is another player without a future in the game.  There has been a serious deterioration in his performances this year compared to last year - so what will he produce next year?
*    Bismarck is in the same category as De Villiers and Habana.
To my mind it would be necessary to carefully evaluate the performances in Super 15 next year of-
*  the players listed by me above to see whether they are still making the grade and whether their has been continuous decline in performances as was witnessed this year; and 
*  the players listed by BB and even some he did not list.   
Based on the latter evaluation assessment Meyer should surely replace the real donkeys - for Sharkbok's infomation there are more donkeys in the present Springbok squad than there are in the list provided by BB.   From my own perspective we should get rid of the 2011 WC team failures who are still in the squad and disappoints more often than not.
I am not saying make all changes based on the age issue -  I am rather saying get rid of the Matfields, Morne's and Alberts' typ es in the squad.         

 
Mike ... in your enthusiasm to see a vibrant, strong, young Bok team, you at times end up cutting not only the deadwood away but some good quality live wood too.

Your comment about Bismarck is absurd. He is the best hooker on the planet. Yes he has lost a bit of his impact but all it will take is for a competent coach to go to him and tell him what's expected of him ... to tell him to stop his nonsense with the ref and get on with the task at hand.

You don't just drop him. 

As one leading a team, you don't just bark out orders and expect everything to go accordingly.

Maybe Bismarck didn't have his usual Thursday evening noekie and so today he's a little upset ... or maybe Jannie received a bigger piece of rump steak than Bismarck did and now he feels neglected or a little sorry for himself. He ends up taking that mood to the field and his performance suffers because of it.

Next week though he ends up shagging his honey all week long and not only does he get a large piece of rump but he's offered a second piece ... so now he's feeling top of the world ending up having a cracker of a match.

I still believe that Alberts is needed in the Bok squad. In fact I would start him at 7 no questions asked.

It's all to do with managing them properly. Those that can no longer cut the mustard need to be replaced ... but others that need a little motivation and encouragement should be left for a spell to find their form again.

You as a quality coach / manager should now the difference between the two.

Apart from a runaway victory against the Wobblies, who on the day were very sub par, have the wee abs scored so many more tries than the Boks against top opposition?I think the abs backline is being stopped more easily and their forwards are not anything much to be concerned about -pretty pap bunch really. In fact England A forwards will whip their sorry butts and a properly selected Bok pack likewise.
We talk about skillset. However before we reach that we need to determine strategy. If your focus is defence and kicking the ball away you are not going to look good.
However there has been a change in approach and look at the great tries the Boks have scored. Then one asks how come if our skills are so bad we score these tries.
What is reallly silly are comments made about the problem starting at school boy level. Anybody watching our schoolboy rugby will actually be struck that they play very attractive running rugby with very good skills.
Jan Serfontein initially showed huge skills, brilliant vison and passing skills. The bulle (To be blamed for so much that went wrong re strategy - it even messed up the Mighty WP? Stormers)) turned the kid into a crash baller!!!
No decide to play a balanced game and we find amazingly the skills are mostly there.Take the Lions and Cheetahs with their skin deep squads. They are amongst the most attractive sides to watch.
Now I am not saying skills improvement is not necessary but I do thing folk are confusing issues (Strategy and Skills) and that further , there are more skills available than is being given credit for. They are there at schoolboy level and then unimaginative game plans suppress them and dont help to develop them more.
What one needs is a dominant tight five. Then a losse trio well balanced to support the tight forwards and the backline. Having a loosie or two with real speed around the park helps open things up for the backline. That is why matfiled has been the biggest disaster ever to hit the Boks. The loose trio had to be bolstered becuase we were a tight forward short and hencec lacked pace. Fortunately matfiled will go no further than 2015 but it could cost us another world cup.