The Bok side I want to see in 2026

15 Fassi

14 Kolbe

13 Moodie

12 Willemse

11 Arendse

10 Sacha

9 Williams

1 Ox

2 Marx

3 Wilco

4 Eben (c)

5 RG

6 Hanekom

7 PSDT

8 Roos

16 Wessels 17 Steenkamp 18 Thomas 19 Cobus Wiese 20 Kwagga 21 vd Bergh 22 Libbok 23 Hooker

Backed up by:

15 Jordan Hendrikse

14 Seb de Klerk

13 Jurenzo Julius

12 David Kriel

11 Edwil vd Merwe

10 Pollard (c)

9 Papier

1 Boan Venter

2 AH Venter

3 Hanro Jacobs

4 Ruan Vermaak

5 Ruben v Heerden

6 P de Villiers

7 Elrigh Louw

8 Wiese

16 Grobelaar 17 Mchunu 18 Porthen 19 JF v Heerden 20 Vincent Tsituka 21 Pead 22 Henco v Wyk 23 Quan Horn

Dave in the main you have a good sugested team - a differ with you on the issue of 3 players - I would rather see Hooker at 13 and a repalcement for Etzebeth - who have not palyed all tt wll in 2025. He is just not up to standard anymorem Maybe Wiese as a replacemnt at 4. A s to the bench

I would rather see Matthee as bacup flyhalf and Moodie. U would put De Cilliers n the bench ahead of Kwagga, ,

what a load of rubbish!

No to Hooker at 13, Moodie is the man

Eben is not done yet - we need to see what he has to offer next season - if it’s below his usual standard then yes he needs to go

No to de Villiers ahead of Kwagga on the bench. Kwagga is an amazing bench player - de Villiers would not provide the same impact

Pretty Good selection with all players worthy of a shot.

With regard to the pack, I believe in the end Wiese will prove better bet than Roos. The Boks function much better when Wiese plays. The go farward ball he provides is very important. Roos is less effective even when ot playing at test level.

Another call is Williams starting at 9.. Williams is a player capable of providing moments of sheer brilliance. That said most of the time he is just not that busy just going through the motions. Compare him to MVDB a more role up your sleeves get stuck in little scummie. Personally I think Williams may be better given 40 minutes off the bench when gaps start to open up a bit. Rassie appears to see it this way but by all means start him more and see what develops.

A big question is can Paul De Villiers be as effective at test level against top sides.. Again only time will tell.

There's enough left in kwagga for a few years still...PDV's time will come.

PdV’s time will come….gosh, you mean he’ll finally do a jackal?

Paul de Villiers Moz not PSDT who at 2m is hardly going to effect a jackal - rugby basics - not to mention it’s not the usual job of a blindside flanker to effect turnovers - helloooooooooo

Tell that to Itoje

Itoje is half the player PSDT is and shorter and more athletic and has hardly effected many turnovers - try again or better still wake up to the fact that your rugby knowledge is pretty piss poor thinking that 2m tall blindsides are expected to make turnovers - it makes you look pretty dumb

Saffex, I like your team a lot. I would make two minor changes.

I prefer Hooker to Moodie but will admit that right now, it's a toss up between the two.

AE would definitely be on my bench. Fassi is clearly our best fullback but he's been a bit fragile.

If he gets crocked then you have to choose between Cheslin/Arendse at fullback and DW stays at #12; or . . . AE at #12 and DW switching to fullback.

I prefer the latter option in that scenario.

Edit: Make that 3 changes. I wouldn't have an eye-gouger as my captain. We tried that once before with Corne Krige and it didn't turn out very well.

My skipper for that team would need a lot of thought, but my shortlist would be PSdT, DW, Sacha.

Second Edit: Ox Nche would also make my Bok captain shortlist. Not sure how much captaincy experience he has but if you want to replace a black Springbok legend with another black Springbok legend, Ox is your man.

Third Edit (sorry): Unlike you, I have no problem with Cobus Reinach. As much as I like Grant Williams, I don't complain too loudly if Reinach starts. He's tidy, explosive, sensible and inspirational . . . and I once played a game against his father. All pretty compelling reasons . . . for me anyway.

I know you won't agree with that but Rassie does so you may need to suck it up and deal with it.

I wouldn’t have an eye gouged as my captain.,,give up man, you lost. Early mouth on a lush, always a recipe for disaster,

"I wouldn’t have an eye gouged as my captain"

I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

Anyone else for another drink?

Cheers! Am having a beer at the Blue Peter, waiting for my Pizza...my wife's birthday so we came for a walk on the beach, a light bite and a swim later.

Rassie needs to invest in a viable back up to Fassi at fullback so that he does not have to mess Willemse around and have him moved back to 15 in the absence of Fassi

For me the obvious option as fullback backup is Jordan Hendrikse

Given Reinach will be 36 in two months time, it would be utterly stupid continuing with him and depriving the likes of Williams, vd Bergh, Papier or Pead valuable test experience leading up to the next WC

Eben is not an eye gouger, if he was we would have seen a history of him being a dirty player