Springbok team announced . . .

The Springbok starting XV for Saturday's crunch semifinal against the All Blacks is unchanged with one change on the bench:

15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (captain), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein

Come on Bokke!

It is a good team. I am glad Malherbe managed to hang on to his starting place! Matfield obviously the only change in place of Du Toit. I am not a Matfield fan, but I think that is the right call. The game will probably be decided in the last 25 minutes, and Matfield should add value with his leadership then. Also, his lack of physicality will be less prominent then, because both teams will be tiring. 
We are in with a shout, but unfortunately my money is still on the AB's!

I give us a small chance if it rains and almost zero chance if it doesn't.

 What will shock the abs anew is the ferocious tackling and physicality. The wee abs are in for a torrid time. We are NOT France - those ladies were a flippin disgrace to their country and their defence was unbelievably poor. 
Spot the difference on Saturday. I live in hope of Meyer having a reasonable plan!

Blikkies, I share your concerns about Willie le Roux and Schalk Burger.

Willie's option taking irritates me at the best of times and with him out of form as he is, we would have been better off with Lambie or Kriel at the back.

Schalk Burger's insistence on being the first receiver is the main reason I give us very little chance of beating the All Blacks. I'd have some hope if Heyneke Meyer actually learnt from previous games but he seems quite happy for Schalk to play his current role.

Schalk will certainly have tacklers ready and waiting for him, but them "knowing" the ball will go to him, could create space for others! Hopefully Meyer/Du Preez will exploit that!
To be honest, my biggest concern for this game is Pollard! We know what game plan the Boks plan to use, and that game plan relies heavily on an 80%+ kicker! Pollard does not have that sort of accuracy! I like him, and have even called for him to be the future Bok captain, but in WC knockout rugby, you MUST nail your penalty kicks! Lambie as the back-up is no better!

 I frankly do hope that De Jager is past fit - having Matfield starting is like handing the AB's a 15 point advantage to start with.   Even having him on the bench is a benefit for the AB's.   The reason for that is the total lack of contribution made by Matfield in Tight 5 play.    

Ou Maaik, I think we get it now. No need to tell us yet again that you don't like Matfield. We know.

 Ou  maaaike does repeat himself so

Hahahaha! Mike does get a little repetitive when it comes to Matfield...and Fat Alberts...and fat Frans....and...and... But to be fair, he keeps using the same old arguments, because those he is arguing with do the same. 

 to be honest with the personal at the rwc that is the only possible team we could bring out against the ab's
with francois "who ate the pies" louw blasting his chunks of lard at every 3rd ruck i dont think we would be able to isolate the ab ruck and exploit it correctly. a brussouw would have added so much to this lose trio and would have allowed us the luxury of playing alberts as a secondary ball carrier to vermeulen.
i know every has there issues with matfield ext but at least he is on the pitch where as louw is nowhere to be seen....it seems his hide and seek winner medal is all but sown up this year for a 3rd year running....what a champ
i just hope we try to attack with a bit more width and allow pollard to dicate the game....allow the forwards to run off him more in that wider channels and probe the all black defences more. the backline needs more depth and width as well.
cut down on the stupid kicking...our wingers must fall back and support le roux more so that the only option is not kicking it back or going for a up and under which is turns our ball into a 50/50 ball.
lets hope the boks play fearless rugby and go at it from the start...if we end up with 60% of the ball we will go a long way in defending the all blacks to running of bad ball on attack. can we win....oh yes we can it all depends what type of game meyer wants to play...
his pattern will define how this game will go

I see that the papers and the weather forecasts indicate a rainy day on Saturday that could turn the game into a forwards arm-wrestle - unlike the  game between the AB's and the French.   Weather conditions is a great leveler in games and could impact on the final outcome.   

- French were outmuscled because the Abs were so physical, ad their speed of the line and ruck domination was so dominant. I expect the Abs to do the same to the Boks based on this selection. The Boks are good, and well challenge abs for 50 mins. Unofortunatley for my friends at Ruckersforum, Boks well run out of puff. And NZ superior conditioning well take over.