Willie / Fassi
Arendse / Kolbe / Edwil
Jessie / Moodie / de Allende / Esterhuizen / Willemse / Hooker
Pollard / Sacha / Libbok
vd Bergh / Reinach / Williams
Ox / Wessels / Boan Venter / Wilco / Koch / Nthlabakanye
Marx / Bongi / Marnus vd Merwe
Eben / RG / Lood / Cobus Wiese / Nortje / Mostert
Kolisi / Kwagga / v Staaden / PSDT / JL du Preez
No specialist 8 - Rassie really is not a fan of Roos
Willie still there - no Mapimpi unless he is injured
So venter did make it. Happy we atleast have another specialist LH.
I would have taken Faf instead of Reinach. And Koch is also a bit over the hill.
Hope Hooker gets some game time and I hope that to for JL Du Preez, otherwise it would just be sad man.
See Uncle Mike Esterhuisen is there:) All your moaning helped nothing!!
I really don’t get why Reinach is ahead of Faf
Mapimpi, Faf and Am lose out while Willie, Reinach, Koch and Mostert remain
Interesting that his golden boy Moerat is not in
Harsh on Vincent Tsituka not making it and Thomas and Roos
Three Baby Boks have been invited to train with the squad - flanker Batho, scrumhalf Pead and wing Jooste
Is it because Roos,s Father mixed in or why does he not like Roos? Will most probably play Cobus @ 8?
The persistence with Reinach is ridiculous. Du Preez over Tsituka likewise. Tsituka is probably our most versatile loosie outside of Kwagga - he can carry, tackle, jackal and even have some use in the lineouts. We lack versatility and balance in the loosies and Tsituka could have helped with that. Van Staden is only a borderline test player, Kolisi and PSDT useless on the ground.
But hey, we keep being told to shut up as the coaches know best, so yay, I guess.
Glad that Hooker has remained in the mix.
Spot on Pakie…..And the likes of Crazy Mike wants us to believe that Dr. Lucky is a genius…..far from it!
Erasmiss is walking a Fine line between Success and Disaster…..
There's no doubt that the squad could have been better, I too would have had Faf ahead of Reinach and the loosies look pretty damn ordinary.
Dave
I am surprised about one selection - and that is Willie. He produced nthing in recent tests and I doubt wherr he will play in any tests - he is there as art of the coaching program and when issues are discussd in the squad he is heir to come up with comments, I do not think he sis going to play in any tets since his recent contribtions were all raher dubious,
As to Andre Esterhuizen - the loosie posiion is rather thin and if he does play he may be used as a bench loosie as he is an utterly useles center and will not be used at center - but might be send in a spare loosie coming from the bench.
Cannot see how Mostert will be used though
Mostert ahead of Moerat is a no brainer.
Springbok squad for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship Tests against Australia:
Forwards: Lood de Jager (Wild Knights), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Jean-Luc du Preez (Bordeaux Begles), Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Siya Kolisi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Franco Mostert (Honda Heat), Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls), Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Lions), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), RG Snyman (Leinster), Marnus van der Merwe (Scarlets), Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), Boan Venter (Edinburgh), Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls), Cobus Wiese (Vodacom Bulls).
Backs: Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers), Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath), Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls), Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers), Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls), Handre Pollard (Vodacom Bulls), Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers), Edwill van der Merwe (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Morne van den Berg (Lions), Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers).
I am happy with the squad except
Reinach (Should be Faff, who may make the next World Cup)
Du Preez over Tsituka (The creatine twin is too one-dimensional)
Koch - too old
Sharkbok you should add Willie to that list. Thought Faf was absolutely brilliant in his short stint.......I've never been a fan.
@sharkie...
du preez is in the squad.
JL du Preez, Kolisi, Kwagga or Cobus Wiese at 8 I guess
Its a disappointing squad in that hasbeens have been retained at the expense of the future
Willie, Reinach, Koch and Mostert and then we have the never really been v Staaden
I feel for Roos, Thomas and Vincent Tsituka who all deserved spots ahead of these hasbeens along with the likes of David Kriel, Papier, Ruben v Heerden etc
It’s partly progressive leaving Faf and Mapimpi out but they deserve to be there ahead of say Reinach - I don’t get the fascination with Reinach who now all of a sudden seems to be ahead of Faf
Exactly the squad I would have chosen….stick with moz!
Looks like they are not taking Aus to seriously. Du Preez is long overdue to get a proper run. Already pushing 30 and have been carrying bags for 6 years now. Still shows up and very hungry. I think Rassie mentioned on his pod cast the other day. He believes these guys will get a run. Roos might have to wait 6 years. Who knows what Rassie is thinking.
Yeah, who on earth Willie is there is beyond me. He got his 100, seemed off the pace and it was a minnow team. Can't see him keeping up.
Wonder if he will roll the dice on Aus in the first test. Will he go with a youthful backline.
So happy to see Moerat got dropped. Big Mouth Mallet was plugging Moerat away and spoke about the dark arts and that he plays like Bakkies. I'm not sure if you can say he is the same quality of Bakkies. You couldn't miss Bakkies. You knew when Bakkies hit a ruck. You knew how we scrummed, jumped, tackled. Even when he rited from the boks he became a legend at Toulon. People knew Bakkies was on the field. Moerat is 26 and has done nothing. Don't see Toulon or big French clubs lining up to sign him up.
He is just pure PR, been since his school days. Always an article about him but never any match stats. The Mandela effect at play here.
Rest of the squad is okay. But it will be another year of guessing.
Pakie, I'd add that Roos is just as versatile as Tsitsuka.
No way I wouldn't have Roos being part of the squad. He a super athlete and could take a good few jobs.
Another occasion where Rassie picks a player, he only gets the smallest of chances and is then cast aside. Total waste of time.
Plums, Rassie has an obsession about working in his system. He will stick with a player until he retires. No wonder why we have Willie still there, Faf, Koch etc. We don't need them. In theory if we have a guy with 25+ caps then he should be a seasoned campaigner, why stick with same tried and tested.
I also just realised that Rassie had no 9 on the bench for the World Cup final and purely relied on Faf to play the entire game.
This guys just kept rolling the dice. No wonder Mozart calls him Eluckmus. Very lucky indeed
Let's look at full back, we have Willemse and Fassi the two best 15's and top players in the world.
Moodie, Arendse and Kolbe can also play 15.
Why on earth would you put Willie there
Pakie, I'd add that Roos is just as versatile as Tsitsuka.
Roos hasn't convinced me yet, Plum. Just something missing about him at the moment. He's shown a tendency to disappear in tight games. Time will tell.
Although I trust the coaching staff, they've got a few blind spots...Roos and a few others...bizarre.
6 centers...AE must be covering flanker ...again. :-(
Erasmus claims its nothing personal between him and Roos. He says Roos knows the structures and will be playing at a later stage.
Anycase this is exactly the same thing Erasmiss said last time. It’s just a clever way of avoiding the true reason.
I think Roos might only get to play if more then one of the front runner candidates are injured.
Erasmiss is just making excuses until media and public stop asking questions about Roos.
In the meantime he just doesn’t pick him and than later it’s all over and he never gets picked.
I might be wrong, but it kinda looks like it’s heading that direction… so basically its tickets for Roos,s Bok Career.
Yep, if I were Roos I'd pack my backs and head aboard. Get a nice big salary for the next 10 years and see if the coach after Rassie picks me.
I hear you Pakie. I have the Roos faith because of the level of athlete that he is. Guy has a lot of the right physical attributes and could be a true all rounder. For me, he's a natural replacement for Kwagga.
Roos has not impressed so far as a Bok. Itis almost as if he is playing his own game plan, a bit isolated
So maybe the answer for Roos is to speak to Dobbo, play full time 6 for the Stormers.
Solidify himself as a top 6 in the country and maybe Dr. Lucky will pick him in that position or the Coach after him.
For a typical good 8, especially for the Boks, you should have the build of Duane Vermeulen and the attributes.
I see Roos many times running a "Snot " spoed at the opposition, but getting stopped in his tracks with little to zero penetration…
He just isn’t the strong ball carrier in traffic, especially what you need from the 8 man….
Roos may have short changed himself by playing Rassie ball….trying to be a Duane Vermeulen. He is probably more of a Vermeulen/Skinstad hybrid. His case might be clearer if he had played the open field linking role we can’t get from Dud Toit.
To some extent I see Esterhozen falling into the same trap, trying to be a Dud Allende. He certainly is a potent crash baller, but in Europe the ball never died with him…penetrate and pass seemed to be his MO. I have rarely seen a more skilled center offloader, maybe SBW. It’s what turned me around on the big fella, but now under Rassie he has gone Neanderthal.
Has Brown got any fingerprints on this team, I see none?
You right Moz. If you have a look at DDA and his early playing days by the stormers, he was a different player with offloads, clean breaks etc.
I now he is first choice Neanderthal…. Will the same not happen to Sacha playing Rassie Ball? He will lose all his Natural Flair.
Has Brown got any fingerprints on this team, I see none?
Brown apparently convinced DDA to pass every now and then. Big article recently about that, unlocking a "key trait" by teaching a 12 to pass more after being a Bok for 10 years. Now that he can occasionally send the ball wide he is apparently our own Nonu, according to Frans Steyn. I kid you not. This is the pablum we have to absorb and pretend it's profound.
We saw a few good backline set plays in Italy #2. Against Georgia nothing, back to tedious crashballing, mauling, looking for contact and skip passing away any available space and numbers.
Brown's fingerprints remain an enigma. Maybe he is wearing gloves.
Erasmiss is a control freak and I personally think that Brown,s impact gets minimised.
I think that certain things that brown wants to change just doesn’t get changed because Rassie doesn’t want to change his blue print of how he wants the team to play….
The same thing happened to Swys de Bruin when he was with the Boks.
Where he acknowledged it after he left the Bok set up that a lot of his suggested input was shot down by Erasmus.
He believed that the Boks should attack way more, Erasmus always just shot it down….
Just to be fair to Brownie, I think this needs to be taken in consideration….
I personally also think that is one of the Reasons Nienaber also left, because of Erasmus,s overbearing character and Control….
Only Swys has been willing to actually speak out a bit, but being careful in the process not to oust Dr. Lucky….
When has Roos ever disappeared in games what a load of utter shit
The guy is an athlete with enough grunt and drive to be a 100 cap Bok but for some absurd reason Rassie does not like him. - it’s a fucking rugby travesty
I’m a big fan of Rassie but fuck me he makes some stupid selection calls sometimes
The snubbing of Roos is his biggest failing as a coach but there are others - the du Preez twins is another
Why the fuck does he continue to select 35 year old Willie when he has Willemse and Fassi’s as his prime choices at fullback
Why do we still see Reinach involved when we have a handful of test standard 9’s not to mention the fact that Faf last week showed he is still better than Reinach as he has always been
Then we get the continued investment in old man Koch at tighthead - never a starter always a bench option. At best solid - surely investment in a younger player like Thomas du Toit or even younger in Hanro Jacobs or Frans Klopper is far more forward thinking
Why have we seen the likes of Andre Hugo Venter and Grobelaar discarded as test hookers only to debut the slightly older Marnus vd Merwe ahead of them. AH Venter is a star of the future - he is a great hooker
Dont get me started on the locks - Mostert, Kleyn, Moerat and Nortje ahead of the likes of Jenkins, Ruan Vermaak, Ruben v Heerden and JF v Heerden. The snubbing of impressive Ruben v Heerden is on par with the Roos case.
Vincent Tsituka has great outings for the Boks and now he can’t make the squad even though Jasper Wiese is banned and what the fuck does Rassie see in dumb muscle v Staaden
How the fuck can you prefer v Staaden over Roos for instance, thats like preferring powder puff Mostert over Eben
Rassie needs a kick up his arse with some of his selections
These are valid points. I clean forgot about grobbelaar and Andre Hugo venter….
They really good hookers that play excellent Rugby….also agree on the lock situation.
Take a prop like Carlu Sadie that is doing well overseas but he should actually be playing for us.
Marnus for example is a ex Cheetah player, so you might have a buddy buddy situation here??
That is why everything when it comes to player selections, is not done professionally….
Or how else do you want to explain these blatant disregards in selections? Weird
"Brown apparently convinced DDA to pass every now and then. Big article recentlyabout that, unlocking a "key trait" by teaching a 12 to pass more after being a Bok for 10 years."
I mean, it's bloody ridiculous really.
Brown will have some great stories to tell once he leaves Mordor.
What Frans is saying is exactly what Schalk Brits said about DA - has an unbelievable skill set but is playing to a plan
So all that head down and trucking is not something DA dreamt up it’s what he has been instructed to do to very good effect
As Will Greenwood said - you stop DA you stop the Boks
Thank goodness for DA, I cherish his value to the Bok cause - it’s up there with the unsung hero work of Malherbe
Says a lot about anyone’s grasp of rugby if you don’t get the DA role in the side
Inside centre is if not the most important position in a side certainly one of them and to win back to back WC’s and retain the number 1 spot for as long as we have we had to have an effective 12 - that’s been DA for the past decade
What about the unsung hero work of Mostert?? Right up there with Malherbe.
Mostert has been crafting hard and played a vital role in successfully winning the Double WC,s.
Mostert is a physical liability nothing heroic about not being able to impose yourself physically as a test lock
He is literally useless
Well, there you go Davie.
Remember when I asked what all the musical chairs was for while time was being wasted instead of building cohesion?
Hooker is the perfect example to use here.
He got almost no game time in the 4 games played this season but he was retained. Meaning, he was always gonna be retained. But was he given a start? No. Did he get any opportunity to combine with anybody so we could see what the synergy look like? No.
But he's there for Australia, and won't be picked. He's just gonna warm the bench.
Will he play against NZ? Of course not.
So, along with Sacha, Hooker was one of the standout backs in URC this season for SA teams, yet he only saw a bit of game time against Italy...and is likely not to be picked at all until perhaps one of the Bargie games and then maybe the Japan game.
Again, I ask you...what was all the musical chairs for?