Springbok props......assessing the options

We are well into the S15 so what have we learned about our props for the WC? New candidates include Koch and Kitshoff....the rest we know. 
On the tighthead front it looks like a choice of Jannie, Koch, Malherbe and Marcel. Of these Jannie  is a known....not the best tackler but a technically excellent scrummager, who has never let us down.  He is the money bet in the group and so either starts or sits on the bench as insurance.

Of the young aspirants they have all conceded penalties at scrum time. Marcel who gave up three penalties again yesterday has probably been poor enough to discard. The moment any pressure is exerted he pops up. We can't have him doing that in a final.

Malherbe  may also attract penalties. He is very stretched out in the scrums....and often ends up flat on his face. Sometimes it's because of pressure on the loosehead....but often because he is inclined to fall flat. As he did against the Bargies. Even if he is in the right, it's in the eyes of the ref. he is penalty liability.
Koch is the best general player, tackles and runs well. He has had many dominating scrumming days this S15.... But his struggles against Robinson raise some pesky questions.

On the loosehead side, the Beast is king...a magnificent player, who rarely concedes penalties and can destroy opponents who scrum high. Kitshoff has had a fine season so far, but I'm not sure he is a stronger scrummager than Kebble. Unfortunately the latter is still a bit inexperienced.
And then we have two cross over props, Coenie and Nyakane. Both have looked pretty vulnerable scrumming, but they can't be counted out. And Coenie has scrummed better for the Boks than in the S15. Nyakane is solid and helps the quota cause.

To me it looks like Jannie,Malherbe   and Coenie at tighthead.....the  Beast, Kitshoff and Nyakane at loosehead. But Koch may yet force his way into the team.

  Again a concoction of rubbish as a basis for arguments - inclusive of some outright lies and misrepresentations.
First of all Mozart's "national treasure"  Jannie du Plessis is in serious decline - the guy is already 33 years old and does not last past the first few scrums.   He was disastrous in most of the games where he scrummed at tighthead in tests last year - especially against the Argentinians he was atrocious.   Lets look at his performances in Super 15 this year:-
Cheetahs - Mienie as opponent - 2 penalties given awayLions       - Van Rooyen as opponent - no penalties, but he lasted 3 scrums onlyBulls        - Mellet as opponent - 2 penalties given awayStormers  - Did not playCheetahs - Mienie as opponent - neither he nor his opponent gave away penaltiesChiefs     - Makintosh - a weak scrummager - as opponent. Did well  Force     -  Cowan as opponent - 1 penalty given away - definitely deficientCrusaders - Crockett as opponent - both gave away penalty, but he was deficientLions      -  Did not playBulls       -  Greyling as opponent - both gave away 1 penalty in scrumsHighlanders - Did not play
Lets look objectively at the above.  Of the 11 matches played - Jannie missed 3 altogether.  Other than Van Rooyen and Cowan his opponents never were top class players - some are in fact known as weak scrummagers.   Crockett is a special case - he was dropped for a few matches because his scrumming technique was illegal, but against Jannie he did not have any problem - showing that Jannie was not really a star scrummager.   
To state that Jannie did not let us down in the past is meaningless.  He was getting weaker as a scrummager over the last two years and is not the money bet Mozart gives him out to be.   Matter of fact he would based on present performances a dicey selection.
 Lets quote the following:-
"Malherbe  may also attract penalties. He is very stretched out in the scrums....and often ends up flat on his face."
The above has never been proved and Mozart is spreading an outright lie in this case.   Even in the Argentinian test last year he was compared to Jannie solid in the few scrums after he came from the bench.   If Mozart can substantiate his statement it should be based on facts - not his imagination.   
To me it looks like Malherbe, Coenie and Koch at tighthead - Jannie would be a disaster, since his performances is in serious decline.
I cannot argue about the loosehead situation - and agree with Mozart as to Beast, Kitshoff and Nyakane.     
           

 Sorry you both are not getting it right.
The best props for the world cup we could take based on the evidence thus far are:Looseheads -  Beast, Kitshoff and Van RooyenTight heads - Here I would. go with Jannie as insurance as per Moz. Handle him correctly to the wolrd cup and he will be okay. So its Malherbe , Koch and Jannie.You have enough expereince there and guys like Malherbe and Kitshoff are not green horns. Newboys really are Van Rooyen and Koch.This world cup comes a bit to soon perhaps for huge young talents like Du Toit and Kebble?
I dont think Marcell, Coenie or Trevor are up to it. Coenie is a big pity given how good he si outside of the scrum. I am not even vaguely interested in quota picks. Trevor must earn his spot or stay home.
Our cup runneth over re props for sure.
The hookers pick themselves. Strauss, Akkers and Bissie.

I like the idea of Koch....he looks like a tighthead prop. But this is a dirty game and he was bamboozled by Robinson a few weeks back....my guess is he needs a bit more seasoning.   

 Yes, Koch is a youngster would should benefit from more experience. He has power and drive but the sly old foxes would make sure he is negated and even penalized (unfairly). Such is the nature of the dark arts of scrumming. 

 Rubbish.....Marcel stood firm against Kitshoff and was cheated by v/Rooyen with upwards scrumming and an ignorant ref.
Coenie has been anything but vulnerable in the scrums he has been good there in particular at the start of the season.
We have prop options to burn....at tighthead the options are Marcel, Coenie, Nkanyane, Malherbe, Jannie and Koch. All are worthy test 3's.
At loose head the options are Beast, Nkanyane, Kitshoff, Coenie, Kebble and Thomas du Toit

 Dave
Sorry - Marcell is not an option at Tighthead at present.   Even his own family thinks he has some way to go to be in contention.  His last two games scrumming wise was poor - so his selection is indeed dubious.   The fact is it is no use to blame the ref or the opponent - it is what the player produces that is unacceptable.   

We now have the Beast, Kebble, Kitshoff and van Rooyen.....all having driven through Marcel and been rewarded by penalties. The number of scrums where Marcel has popped are far greater than the number he has finished in the last 4 weeks. He is a liability. A kind of Greyling among tightheads.

 Mozart
I checked the Marcel van de Merwe scrum penalty situation.  In the last 4 games he gave away 8 scrumming penalties.   That is way too high for any prop.   Those were not the only scrum penalties given away - the looseheads had more than their fair share as well. 
It looked to me that in every second Bulls scrum a penalty is given away either on the Tighthead side or the Loosehead side.  That is a bloody poor show.    

 Our props for the RWC will probably be Jannie, Beast, Coenie, Nyankane, Malherbe and Kitshof.  Sadly I can't see Coenie being left out in favour of Koch. Koch would be the first name I pencil in for my squad, but sadly I don't see him going. He would be lucky to start one proper game for the Boks this year. Hope I'm wrong....but I think not.