The state of the Sprinbok team today

As a reminder here is our last Bok team against France, when nearly all the overseas players were available. It's also an NH team which might show a little bit of HM's NH strategy for RWC15.

There really aren't any obvious improvements in the threequarters. Certainly Fury looked like the weak link in November, but are Jordaan, JJ or de Jongh markedly better. Probably not in the aggregate.

At flyhalf there could be arguments for Lambie, Boshoff, Goosen and Fransie. I personally continue to like the Fransie option, but he has been a mixed bag so far. Goosen showed some flickers on Saturday....especially in open field play. The rest are no advance on Morne.

In the pack Jannie for Coenie could be the call, but this is another weak position. And the back row could see challe nges to Louw or Alberts....although nobody has made a clear case.

The bench is where most changes are likely: Gurthro, Kolisi (were it not for quota considerations) and Vermaak should be gone.

Players who could force their way into the mix are Schalk, Victor Brussouw, Hendricks and perhaps de Allende. Not many. Much is said about Victor....but he is the best lineout forward in the world, the best kick off receiver a brilliant offloader and a fine open field tackler. You lose some grunt in the tight/loose but if you have a huge set of loosies....Victor adds balance. For this year he still looks potent, next year is another day.

Ok so the flyhalf passes the ball to you and you see tacklers in front of you.....what do you do if you have half a brain, get yourself isolated? This is a dumb excuse....sure Morne would have been wise not kicking in retrospect. But you and Sapp forget he passed twice before from similar positions and Habana scored two tries. This time the ball went to a robot who didn't use his brain.

But if you want proof as to why we willl never beat the ABs consistently playing wide open rugby....check out who won the 7s.

 My Springbok squad for the first 2 tests is:

15. Willie le Roux

14. JP Pietersen

13. Jaque Fourie

12. Jean de Villiers

11. B Habana

10. J. Goosen

9. F. du Preez

8. D. Vermeulen

7. Schalk Burger

6. H. Brussow

5. Bakkies Botha

4. E. Etzebeth

3. Marcel vd Merwe

2. Bismarck

1. Beast Mtawarira

Bench:

Coenie (loosehead), Strauss, Jannie du Plessis , Flip vd Merwe, Francois Louw, Frans Steyn, De Jongh, P Lambie 

I said the first 2 tests because that will tell us if Goosen is good enough or whether we must fall back to Morne Steyn.

 2014 Springbok Fixtures:

Castle Lager Incoming Series
7 June: Springboks v World XV (Venue TBC, Cape Town)
14 June: Springboks v Wales (Growthpoint Kings Park, Durban)
21 June: Springboks v Wales (Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit)
28 June: Springboks v Scotland (Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth)

Castle Lager Rugby Championship
16 August: Springboks v Argentina (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)
23 August: Argentina v Springboks (Venue TBC)
6 September: Australia v Springboks (Patersons Stadium, Perth)
13 September: New Zealand v Springboks (Westpac Stadium, Wellington)
27 September: Springboks v Australia (DHL Newlands, Cape Town)
4 October: Springboks v New Zealand (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)

Castle Lager Outgoing Tour
8 November: Ireland v Springboks (AVIVA Stadium, Dublin)
15 November: England v Springboks (Twickenham, London)
22 November: Italy v Springboks (Venue TBC)
29 November: Wales v Springboks (Millennium Stadium, Cardiff)

Clevermike, all banter aside mate, you lack of honesty is really getting old. It wastes time and confuses simple things.

I say to you that while you are blaming Morne for the half time try because he passed....he had done so twice before with Bok tries to Habana. You then say Morne never passed to Vermeulen or in the move where Louw got the ball. So look at this highlight reel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iYwu5ujOF4

Go to minute 3.30 and you will see both tries. In both cases Morne makes the pass that gets the runners away. The NZ commentators refer to Du Preez digging the ball out which he does and then passes to Morne....they also confuse Alberts and Louw.

But the case is crystal clear. Morne passes 3 times from around the 22 metre line ( just inside in the JJ case) Twice the ball is carried by our loosies...Habana scores. Once it is carried by JJ....NZ scores.

But what the blue blazes is wrong with you man....I don't recall you being so dishonest on other Boards.

Wrong Moz, there was no Kruger in the side, Flip and Eben played.......plus they had JJ at 13, instead of useless Fourie!

But that's not the point, the point is more that if that side played it would get thumped by Oz today.

Yes we do have a core of good Boks like Willie, Habana, JP, Jean, Frans, Lambie, Hougaard, Beast, Jannie, Bismark, Strauss, Etzebeth, Alberts, Brussouw and Vermeulen.......the rest should be made up of our talented youngsters, not a bunch of washed up hasbeens like Fourie, Morne, du Preez, Pienaar, Streenkamp, Bakkies, Matfield and Louw..........you would never see the AB's do this......and for good reason.......therein lies the difference between the SA and the Kiwi model