The average age of the Bok side by WC

will be 30.........how sad is that. The side will have 10 players over the age of 30, two will be 29 and only two will be under the age of 25.
Meyers starting 15 will be (age at WC):
15. Willie (26)14. JP (29)13. Fourie (32)12. Jean (34)11. Habana (32)10. Pollard (21)9. du Preez (33)1. Beast (30)2. Bismark (31)3. Jannie (32 )4. Etzebeth (23)5. Matfield (38)6. Louw (30)7. Alberts (31)8. Vermeulen (29)
Add Pienaar (31), Schalk (32), Strauss (29) and Bakkies (35) to the bench.
What sad, sad reading that makes. Meyer sells us short on so many levels

 It is looking like a good team. I would swap Alberts for Schalk or Strauss. JP I think is going to be a bench player. 
The All Blacks are about the same age, not that it matters that much. It just happens to be the best players, 

 Habana, Du Preez, Beast, Bismarck, Strauss and Louw deserve to go with Jean, Schalk and Matfield needing to up their game for the 30+ year olds. 
The rest need to be ditched ASAP.
Fourie replaced by Stokkies Hanekom (Depending on Super Rugby form) Jannie replaced by Julian Redlinghuys Alberts replaced by Arno BothaPienaar replaced by ReinachBakkies replaced by WillemseSteenkamp replaced by Schalk Van Der Merwe / Thomas Du Toit

 Sharktwat trust you to think that that is a good side that happens to be our best.
JP will not be on the bench. He will reclaim the 14 spot from porous Hendricks.

You will find that the NZ starting side will not be a similar age......just look at the ages of their starting 2,3,4,5,8,9,11,14 and 15

 Matfield and Jean are long past upping th eir game

 Jean was in tremendous form in 2013 and is the Captain, don't see him going. Matfield has had a decent work rate around the park but his so called dominance in lineout's and kick off's have been exaggerated and non-existant, I would have him there for a role model/culture/leadership.  

Jean has been poor in 2014.....too many botched rushes, missed tackles and crash balls.
Matfield has been a physical liability. He should be the forwards coach.

So Bismarck and Jannie are now twins, can't you ever get it right Vetsak.  

 Jannie du Plessis will be virtually 33 years old come th 2015 WC (he would be 33 in November 2015) - but lets accept he will be 32.   
The question here is what is the average age of the players in the WC starting line-up.   Adding up the above ages it is clear that the average age of the players will be over 30 years of age.   It has never happened inthe history of the WC that any team won the trophy with the average age of players in excess of 30 years of age.   In all other cases the ages ranged around 27 years of age.
This dooms any chances of SA winning next years WC and with the team listed by Saffex we can as well accept that the team will get nowhere.   The signs are all bad:-
*   Pietersen on the wing is as slow as possible for any wing - he looked silly in the latest test and was nowhere near international standard.   Hendrricks is even older and his defense is extremely poor.
*    Jacque Fourie is even slower than Pietrsen - absolutely useless in any form of backline attaking play - his famous defense was shown up badly in two cases in the Welsh test last year - when Davies ran around him as if he was not even there.   
*     Jean de Villiers went from good to just about average from last year to this year.  If that trend continues he will be sub-par by next year.  
*     Fourie du Preez is not a shadow of the player he was 4 years ago.   Much hype but he was nowhere in the Aussie and AB home tests last year and was nothing special in the Welsh test this year  before injury.   How will he fare next year in the WC?   Not very optimistic.
*     Alberts have been poor in Super 15 this year and has not played since then.   Always slow and most likly be even slower next year.   He is not really a loosie since he is absolutely useless in ball protection and recovery and useless in ball handling.   His famous ball carries is totally ineffective and his tackle count way below par.
*     Matfield is totally ineffective in Tight  5 play - he has no grunt and his line out work is effective at most times during matches.  However in the latest test series he funbled some crucial line outs.  By moonlighting in the backline - he seems to get a very high tackle count - but the main problem remains - he is turning our Tight 5 into a Tight 4.
*     Jannie du Plessis - his scrumming is seriously questionable.   In the tests he did not fold he lasted about 3 to 4 scrums early on and then folded.   His play outside of scrumming is non-existent to disastrous - given his tendency to give away penaltuies.   
With the above team we may get through to the pool stages - but we are bound to get nowhere afterwards.   We tried the same in 2011 and many of the same players were in that squad and got nowhere near the trophy.  What makes those players any better than they were in 2011?   The answer is plain and simple - they have gone backwards since 2011 and they will go further backwards by 2015.    Lets face facts wilh that lot we are on the road to nowhere insofar as the next WC is concerned.         

 

No, they have it right. Jannie is 31, he will be 32 twelve days from now and still 32 by the World Cup.

 Mozart
You are a so-called  guru of rugby on this site.   Whixch of the 15 players listed above were in the mismagnged and sub-par 2011 WC squad.  I actualluy tried to googe the squad and found he following:-
 Backs: 
Francois Steyn, Gio Aplon, Patrick Lambie, Bryan Habana, Odwa Ndungane, JP Pietersen, Juan de Jongh, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, Butch James, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Francois Hougaard, Ruan Pienaar.     

Forwards: 

Pierre Spies, Willem Alberts, Heinrich Brussow, Schalk Burger, Francois Louw, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Johann Muller, Danie Rossouw, Jannie Du Plessis, CJ van der Linde, Bismarck du Plessis, Chiliboy Ralepelle, John Smit (captain), Tendai Mtawarira, Guthro Steenkamp. 

So which of the above team quoted by Saffex was in the failed 2011 World Cup squad:-

15. Willie (26)14. JP (29)13. Fourie (32)12. Jean (34)11. Habana (32)10. Pollard (21)9. du Preez (33)1. Beast (30)2. Bismark (31)3. Jannie (33)4. Etzebeth (23)5. Matfield (38)6. Louw (30)7. Alberts (31)8. Vermeulen (29)
Add Pienaar (31), Schalk (32), Strauss (29) and Bakkies (35) to the bench.
That is really amazing - of the 15 players to start only 4 players were not in teh 2011 WC squad - a squad who failed miserably in that campaign.    
Just answer a simple question - what makes you think that 4 years later and  all the players being passed their prime performance age - that they will do better in 2015 thanthey did in 2011?

THE WHOLE IDEA IA A SICKENING MESS.

 Mozart
So lets do a bit of WC history here:-
The World Cup in 1987 was won by New Zealand - who was unsuccessful for the enxt 24 years. 
The World Cup in 1991 was won by Australia.  They kept virtuallythe sae team forthe 1995 WC -  What happened to that team in 1995?
The World Cup in 1999 was won by Australia - with a virtually completetely new squad 
The World Cup of 2003 was won by England - with a squad that was built up over the preceeding 5 years.  What happned to that team i 2007?  
The WC in 2007 was won by SA -   with a squad that was built up over the preceeding 5 years.  What happned to that team  2011?    What lesson is to be learned from the above?   No World Cup was ever woin by the same country twice in succession.   The question is why?   The answer is simple - there is not enough squad renewal in the intervening years and the older players keep being selected based on reputation. 
Now we have Mozart grasping at straws again.   We have a team that had 6 players in th 2007 WC and a further 5 in the 2011 WC.   For heavens sake - this is not a competition won by seniority or age - but by a realistic mixture of experience and competence.    The old age team mentioned above is certainly a reputation team - but their performances have gone out of the window since their glory years in 2007.   That team has as much chance in winning the World Cup as Queen Elizabeth has of winning the Miss World title.         
   

The only RWC history you need to know is the last three RWC winning teams were about 28 on average. I'm guessing based on our current number which is about 27.5, with some inevitable changes we will be right on the money at 28 for the RWC.

 There need to be some changes Mozart - but not the kind you advocate.   That would be as bad a disaster as the above average ages are concerned.   Lets look at the what you call ievitably changes.  Those include Fourie du Preez and Jacque Fourie - taking the average age figures to over 30.
Now tell me how far did the 11 players in the above team who was in the 2011 WC got us in that compeition.    What chance is there that those 11 players, all over 30 years of age now,  will be better than they were in 2011. You shy away from dealng with that issue.   
I agree that experience is a real asset - but oly if it is coupled with competent performnces and there are two many question marks about the latter issue to be happy with fielding a team like the above one in the WC.      

BB I think Meyer's record has demonstrated he is open to a better mousetrap. He has selected young players like Pollard and Steppie...but he has also not disqualified older players. He is passionate, methodical and results oriented. Morne and Lomp  were gone after they blew the away tests. The man is actually quite an impressive manager.

So I very much doubt we will see an old, juiceless team take the field at the RWC. HMs task has been more difficult because  so many newbies flopped at test level, but he will find enough good ones to spike the energy level. And by the RWC the older players will have been filtered down to the ones who still are the best choices.

This guy is so meticulous,it wouldn't surprise me if he assigns an energy rating to each player...he seems to measure everything else.
In short, it's standard practice in RSA to denigrate the coach. But I think we have the right man on the job. Nothing is guaranteed but under HM, I believe we have a real chance.

 BB
Mozart's problem is he refuses to see the failures in older players and make wild statements about failures of younger players.   
My problem is that Meyer has stuck with some older players - who produced next to nothing in games and has not replaced them as yet in the squad.    And it is very late in the day for replacements.
However - we will see who he selects to play the Irish when the team is announced tomorrow and then look again at the age distribution.       

Ten out of the last twelve  tests won.....the two other tests lost away from home,  in the dying seconds. If that's failure I wonder what success looks like.

Mozart 
The last two tests won ws because Meyer saw the major problem in the team and removed Morne Steyn   If he did not neither of the two tests would have been won.   
You can shout and scream aboit the wins -but too many ofthose were marginal victories where thereult could have gone either way.  In other words - matches we should have won with ease we struggled to win.   
Why did we struggle so much in most of the matches - because the geriatrics under-performed.   Take for instnce -
*   Jannie du Plessis, who was extremely poor in the Argentina tests and in virtually all the other games managed to last three of four scrums and then collapsed in a heap.   The WC would not allowfor that type of thing;
*   Matfield who funbled or even lost crucial line outs that meant the difference between winning or being defeated towards the end of the game and whse contribution to other tght phases of play is non-existent;and
*    I say this with reluctance for I am a great admirer - but Jean de Villiers was not really up to standard this year and was much worse than he was last year - when he performed on top ;llevel.


.    

Moffie you are speaking shit about the age of the best NZ side versus the side Meyer will select as his best.
How old are Dagg, Savea, Ben Smith, SBW, Cruden, Aron Smith, Owen Franks, Coles, Retallick, Whitelock and Read huh?
Same applies to the Oz side

 "You can shout and scream aboit the wins -but too many ofthose were marginal victories where thereult could have gone either way.  In other words - matches we should have won with ease we struggled to win."


The same can be said about the kiwi and Oz wins against us. Think about it........ In fact our win over Oz was much more of an easy win that their dodgy one over us.

 And for the information of the agony aunts....... the average age of the team against Ireland is 27.

 Ceradunce
That is only because Meyer's first choice players - Jacque Fourie, Fourie du Preez and Willem Alberts is out injured.   Bring those three donkeys in and see what happens then.   In case you missed it - as per normal - the a ge issue is what the team of the Springboks ould look like for the WC next year.   

 You know that for the fact, ou Beesblaas?

 Vlag stop being stupid 

Hey ou Dawie, take a hike and go wash your hair for a change.

 Cave
Ceradunce cannot stop being stupid - he  is a chronic idiot.

Hey ou Maaikie, have you figured out what the difference between 5 and 2 is, yet?


In case you are so thick that you cannot remember what I am talking about...................

http://ruckersforum.com/forum.cfm?threadid=11872

Edit post clevermike

Status: Hall Of Fame
Posts: 13833 RE: Interesting selections - French Top 14
November 04, 2014, 21:58:43  That was a disaster you bloody idiot.  It was the commenttor who made that remark about the bonus point issue - dofdoos.   I would rather listen to the commentator than a low down idiot.  The bonus point issue work differently in France.   There need to be a three try differnece before a bonus point is awa rdedand after the try caused by Morne - there was only a two try difference.   Now go and get educated f#ckwit - Stade Frabncais did not get a bonus point in that case.   The commentator said that himself.

 Is that your best Dutchie.......

 Nah, it's not, but you're not worth one of my better ones.