The smart plays for Coetzee

The captain issue needs to be resolved for 2 years. There is nobody established enough in their position that is young enough to be a 4 year choice. Two years are enough for new candidates to emerge, and for the new captain to establish his leadership.
For now, Louw or Vermeulen are good choices...or the Beast if we need a player of colour. None of these guys strike me as totally natural leaders, but they will have the respect of the team. They are not a John Smit or an Andre Pienaar...but they will suffice.
On the players Coetzee has two major sources of pressure. The obvious quota pressures. And the equally absurd pressure to play an inexperienced team of young form players from Super rugby. HM and Jake resisted the latter pressure and were never forgiven....a rift opened between the professional Bok coaches, and the couch potato fan experts. It tainted both their regimes.
I would not resist these pressures. PdV chose a flavour of the day team with a greater representation of players of colour. It bombed, but as a result fans were happy to go back to more established tactics and players. It took the pressure off.
The South African coaching job is an unbelievable pressure cooker....a challenge to prevail over stupidity and bigotry . You don't win resisting these mindless forces....you let them have their day. 
Who knows we may find some of these players, against all experience, succeed. He could embrace those players give the mob the credit...make them feel good. And if they mostly fail, well everybody fails together and he can pick a real team for the Rugby Cup, or next year if the Irish results are ambiguous.
You don't resist mindless stupidity, you just outthink it.

Louw is nowhere near good enough to start for the Boks so he is not an option. Jaco Kriel makes him look like a beginner.
The only real short term options are Vermeulen, Beast, Bismark and Strauss........Coetzee has to work out which of these 4 are assured a starting spot right now and choose his captain accordingly.
For me only Bismark would start in my side given Vermeulens poor form for 6 months now
Kitshoff is better than Beast
Coetzee needs to identify a leader amongst the youngsters coming through.....that will come with time.
Marcel Coetzee has impressed me as a leader for the Sharks.....had he been fit, he would have been my starting 8

 7/10 He was a terror at the breakdown and rock hard in defence, particularly in the first half, when South Africa looked the likelier winners. The Boks’ answer to McCaw.

Louw

Toe to toe with McCaw at the breakdown where he was the dominant force in the first half. Not quite the same impact in the second but could not be faulted. 8

Francois Louw 8

Kept his side ahead during the first half with magnificent breakdown work and did his fair share of work in defence

Francois Louw - 8 - Was everywhere in the first half as South Africa ensured that New

Louw – 7/10

His best game this tournament. Crucial wins at the breakdown kept us in the game. Performance he could be proud off.

Lood De Jager – 5/10

Missed two tackles but also made 16 but it’s the lineout where he was dominated.

 Just a few player reports on Louw vs the world's best team in the biggest game we have played for 8 years.  To suggest Jaco Kriel makes him look like a beginner, when Kriel has yet to play test rugby, makes you look like a beginner. But of course you have been saying the same stuff for years.

I recall about 3 games last year where Louw was above average, other than that he offered very little.....a very average player playing out of position......not an opensides backside, far too big and cumbersome for the role.....just like Schalk was never a 6, neither is Louw.
Jaco Kriel has been huge in virtually every game he has played for the past how many years....something Louw could only dream of doing both for WP and Bath.
The fact that Kriel has not played a single test is testament to how utterly useless Meyer was as a coach.....closely followed by his non selection of Kitshoff.
Selecting average Louw over the unparalleled Kriel about sums you up Moz and why you were such a Meyer fan.....both as clueless as they come.
No-one in their right mind would select the massively impressive Kriel over the average Louw unless they were you....speaks volumes

I show you Louw was One of the top rated Bok forwards in our biggest game in 8 years and you come up with the same moronic drivel. Louw was an excellent open sider vs the All Blacks, that says it all. Your size qualifications are no more valid at open side. We will have to see if Kriel can function effectively at test level...it's an open question vs an answered question in Louw's case.

What the hell did Louw actually do against NZ.....I am not interested in some write up.
One certainty is that he never stood out......the guy is an average player.....his selection is yet another example of Meyers failings......yet another player that was not the best in his position.....not even the 3rd best

 Oh gosh, I don't know...how about lead the WC in tackles

Oh wow he made loads of tackles......my guess is that Lood made as many.
Its just a pity he never added value with ball in hand, or with winning turnovers....something Jaco Kriel does week after week
Kriel's stats with ball in hand are phenomenal, just like his defenders beaten
This guy adds so much value......Louw mostly goes unnoticed.....not what you want from your openside....something you might expect from a blindside doing the donkey work
Louw is as average as they come......too big and cumbersome for a 6.....should have played 7 or maybe 8.....never 6

He won key turnovers in the AB game, what do you think "crucial wins at the breakdown" means. A wee fellow like Kriel would simply be blown away by the bigger men In that kind of mega contest

So are you saying there is no place for Hooper in the Oz side?
Louw's turnover stats in the WC were less than de Allende's

 Not typically. There are very few of these small guys who have succeeded at top level....Neil Back, George Smith, Hooper. Others like Brussouw succeeded at times, but more often than not the counter ruck blew them away.
Those three guys are all tough as teak, they hung in there like limpets taking heavy punishment....they were single minded over the ball.
Is that Kriel, I doubt it. Kriel made no turnovers at all against the Jaguares, the Saders, the Cheetahs, the Stormers, the Kings, the Sharks...none. That's 6 games and most of the others he made 1....only twice did he make multiple turnovers.
 I doubt Smith ever failed to turn the ball in half the games he played. To me Kriel is more of an all rounder than a single minded turnover artist. Whether he would be better than Louw against a big pack is debatable....but he deserves a chance.