It happened in 2011 that we entered the WC with a team made up of players selected on the basis of reputation and we ended up going out. Is there a similar crisis building up in Springbok rugby again?
Id yiou analyze the situation - you are likel to find some contradictions and some prob lem areas in the team.
Full Back
There is no crisis here - Willie le Roux has another four to five years of top rugby in him. Back up could come from Jesse Kriel - a 20 year old making marks in the CC
Wings
Here our normal wings are Bryan Habana, Vornal Hendricks and JP Pietersen. At 31 years of age Habana is still the best wing in world rugby and bar injuries - he is likely yo last through the WC next year.
Hendricks is already 29 years of age and Pietersen has lost a lot of speed recently. The problem remains just below the surface. Injuries to those three players may cause havoc in team selection.
The question is what is coming through. A lot is being said about Senatla - and he is a good one - especially on attack - but hiss defense is not as secure as it should be. In the CC thus far this year and also in Super 15 - much is being said about Van Wyk of the WP. For the rest it may be possible to move a player like Engelbrecht to the wing - where he played when he was in WP.
However, not to big a crisis in this case.
Centers
De Villiers at 31 was still very good last year. This year he had a lot of injures and not much chance to keep up the good work. He did very little in the Argentinian tests and his performances can at best eb described as average. Will have to look carefully at how he is going this year in tests.
The other centers we have used over last year in the EOYT was Fourie. The latter was absolutely useless inm attacking play and has the speed of a carthorse. His defense was good - but that is about all he brings to the party. In June we used Piertersen and although he made some strong ball carries - his defense was seriously defective. He also has a serious speed deficiency - something which will not be sorted out playing in the soft rugby environment in Japan.
The two youngsters available are Serfontein and De Allende. Serfontein was exceptional when De Villiers was not available in June and De Allende already showed some attacking strengths - but need to get used to playing in a new position insofar as defense is concerned. He missed two tackles in his first game at 13 and his second game showed nmprovement in the releevant regard. Both will do well and their performances will improve through further experience in their repective positions.
Half-Backs
The 30 year old Morne Steyn has always been a pedestrian player with one asset only - his ability to kick at goal. A robotic player with poor decision making abilities. His departure from the team will not result in a crisis and the younger generation of gly halfs are already ebtter than he is. His club normnally regard him as a vench player - so that shows that he is not naking the grade anymore.
The scrummies are a real problem - Meyer has stuck with the 31 year old Fourie du Preez and the 30 year olf Ruan Pienaar in that position. Although still a good player - there are signs that his age is cvaqtching up with him - he deficitely is slower than he used to be and he never makes the attacking plays aroubnd the fringes anymore. Probklem is that Fouries is out until January 2015 with a long term injury. He is likely to play 6 or 7 matches in the period January to June next year and may by June not be matchfit at all.
At 30 years of age - Pienaar is slowing down and there are serious criticism about his ability to deliver a quick and reliable service to the flyhals. He tends to kick too much and his kicking game is noted for inaccuracy and aimlessness.
The younger generation of scrummies are Reinach, Hougaard and Groom and I think they will be the onmes that will be in teh Springbok squad for the WC next year.
The Loosie Situation
With Vermeulen, Louw and Coetzee here there is no crisis. The problem case here is the 30 year old Alberts - whose work rate has gone down the drain. His defense is also problematic and he plays on reputation only.
There are adequate players coming through and a wide variety of vey promising younger players are availabe.
The Tight 5
We are in serious crisis here especially of teh age of players are borne in mind. The situation is basically as follows:-
Locks
Here we have the 34 year-olc Bakkies Botha and the 37 year-old Matfield still in teh squad. Bkkies plays for about 15 minutes in any game and then ebcomes invisible. Matfield is still good in line-outs - but is physically not up to standard. There is no way we can go into next year with those two still in contention.
The younger generation of locks must take over asap. They are ebtter than the two geriatrics in any event.
Props
A real crisis in evidence here. Jannie at 32 and Steenkamp at 33 has let us down in recent gasmes and they both have spotty records for the franchise and clubs respectively. The impression is that both last about 20 minutes in matches and then go incisisvle, Outside of scrumming - they are poor and problematic.
Meyer will have to take a good hard look at the younger props comng through and make some hard choises for the future.
Not a bad situation on the wwhoe - but some of the over-30's need to get the boot.
