Three strange Rassie calls

That have surfaced this season:

Thomas being elevated to the starting side ahead of Wilco

Nortje starting ahead of RG, particularly considering RG has had an extended injury free run

Reinach being elevated to starting 9 ahead of Faf for a start given he was always our starter and now ahead of the more impressive Williams and vd Bergh

What is clear to most rugby followers is that the 3 starters above are not better players than the ones used off the bench

RG is twice the player Nortje in every respect, Wilco is a better scrummer than Thomas, who offers more in general play. Faf has always been better than Reinach

So Rassie is clearly not making these calls based on merit especially when it comes to Thomas and Nortje

He either thinks they are more impactful off the bench which is flawed or he is doing it to spread the strength over the starting and bench players

Who knows - either way they are incorrect calls

Wilco and RG should be starting as Matfield correctly pointed out regarding RG - it’s better to have him involved for 50min than 30

Any of Faf, Williams or vd Bergh should be starting ahead of 35 year old Reinach

I will add to the above the selection of Willie in the AB test after adisastrous season on URC level and een on test level. I do not kow what caused that one - but that move plus the malfunctioning of the half-backs cost the Springboks cost us losing the Auckland test,

"as Matfield correctly pointed out regarding RG - it’s better to have him involved for 50min than 30"

That definitely makes sense. Better starters can have a bigger and longer impact on the game.

We've been a second halve performing team for all but the 1st match vs Aussie...a fresh Wilco annihilated all in front of him and added a massive shift in momentum every time he came on.