Two positions with no players in Bok contention.

There are concerns about left wing, 13 centre and scrumhalf. But the two positions that are of biggest concern, have to be fullback and tighthead.

At tighthead Jannie sems to be really struggling....as he hasn't for years. Is there some chronic problem here? And behind him there are a bunch old old war horses and some unproven youngsters. The trouble is tighthead is an "experience" position.....so simply having talent is not enough.

At fullback, we again have seen nothing convincing.  Joe Petersen is very erratic. Kirchner has no guile and can't tackle....where do we go for a test fullback? I was betting on Fransie....but if that's the case, we need him to shed some weight and get some game time back there.  The other option Lambie, just disappeared with Goosen's injury....and in any case I think Lambie would have started at 10.

Any views?

Jannie is fine, the Sharks pack at the moment is just not physical enough and our Bok props have been solid enough despite. Scrums are a lottery these days and the refs tend to only get half the calls right.

Beast is in the same boat as Jannie, he has been no better or worse. The Sharks scrum is lost without Bismark at 2 and Alberts at 7. Burden is a handy ball playing hooker, but he falls short at scrum time. Bresler is a good player but he does not have the grunt of a Etzebeth, Bakkies or Flip. In Franco v/d Merwe, the Sharks have a real liability, I really do not see how this guy has got as far as he adds.....I see no value in general play and physically he does not measure up.

So the Sharks have no grunt at 2 and lock, but it gets worse. Hell their loose trio has Coetzee as the most physical - what does that tell you? As I have said, you cannot play Daniel and Kankan in the same side without a Alberts at 7........its suicide.

Can you see why the poor Bok props are struggling to achieve parity.

I hope like hell Meyer does not select Kirchner at 15 again. Of the current fullbacks playing, none are test standard. Taute is by far the best propsect here, now that Lambie is a must for 10 given Goosen is out.

We have options at 13, but these guys need opportunities - Serfontein, de Allende, JJ and Jordaan are all good players, although I suspect Jordaan lacks the physical edge required of a test centre.

Mozart

I think there are still some problems in soe positions - esepcially at center.   I think the position is as follows:-

12.   The choice here is between De Allende, Jean de Villiers - with Serfontein being the dark horse in this case.

13.    Is a bit more problematic..  If De Villiers is not at 12  - he could end up at 13.   The other choice is only Jordaan - because Engelbrecht has serious deficiencies and Serfontein plays at 12 - not 13.

The players that showed nothing to even be considered for selection includes Francois Steyn and he is only in the mind of Saffex a consideration - the rest of the world knows he is not a consideration.   I think the center combination is going to be problematic, but I think it is highly likely that only three players will ultimately be considered - namely De Allende, De Villiers and Jordaan - with Serfontein being a a dark horse if he can get reuglar starting games for the Bulls and show what he can really produce..

I agree with you about the full back and scrummie issue.   Thus far the only scrummie that showed up well was Pretorius and if he continues in present vein he should be the selection.   Hougaard showed nothing and the others have been cold mostly.   Maybe the rest of Super 15 should show us the way to go.

Full back is totally uncertain - since the potential players all showed up badly thus far   Kirchner to my mind is out - so we will have to look at the full backs of the other four franchises.  The way forward will also have to act a a guide.  

As has been noted we could have the seven best backline players in the world and we would only get flashes of individual brilliance. Hopefully Taute will rediscover his mojo in the more attack minded Stormers.

I hope Allistair sticks with Allende and Jean and brings in van der Heever. We neede some size and pace to knock these brumbies back.