Whiteley vs Duanne

I know that I am going to cop a lot of flack here.

What are we looking to achieve when we take on Ireland?
We're looking for a permanent skipper
We're looking for a long term core of players
We're looking to establish a style of play under AC

In Duanne Vermeulen we have a beast of a player. We have a match winner.

In Warren Whiteley, we have an inspirational leader and a player that can burst a game open at the blink of an eye.

One is robust ans in your face, the other is smart and uses his slightly lesser frame to his advantage.

I personally, would love to see Whiteley at 8
Duanne at blindside
and Jaco Kriel at openside

We'd have a wonderful combination of speed, grunt and gamebreakers all in our loose trio.

I know Duanne is a wonderful 8, but i dont think WHiteley would be suited to flank, but Ive seen Duanne on the flank and he is equally as destructive.


Thoughts?

You can't be serious.

That Back row could be interesting. It is a small back row compared to the usual bok back row. It totally depends on the game plan followed by Coetzee.Also it could work better on hard fast pitches- rather than the mudbath of European winter.

If we play a smaller more mobile back row- then that means were are going for a more attacking game with less emphasis on the rolling maul and set piece. 

This back row  has no specialist fetchers- but all 3 are effective at the ruck so it could be fine.

 @moz, its worth a shot

@sharkbok - JK and WW are quicker to the breakdown than any other loosies in super rugby. They would dovetail nicely on harder pitches

With that in mind, yes, on a soggy pitch i'd rather have another ball carrier.

 I like a loosie combination of two faster loosies and one slow one.   I do not like what was produced in the past - at times three slow-paced loosies.   The problem was further aggravated by an inability of loosies to read the game and following of the ball.  The result was that the loosies we had had a lower tackle count than the Tight 5 players and was only usable in fringe defence.   From what I have seen of Vermeulen playing for his club he was very very quiet with no real productivity in evidence.  That leaves a question mark about his performances after his neck injury last year - he was also the same in the subsequent WC campaign.  He is being given another chance - so he better pick up his game or may be out sooner than most  people think.   

I like it Chippo. I could see that combination working! So what if Bok loosies of the past have been bigger. Take a look at NZ and Aus teams that have beaten us recently, very often with smaller loosies. Size counts, but it is not everything. 

 As Sharbok says it depends oin the game plan. To me the game plan has to be more attacking so Chippo I thing your loose forward combo is the one to go with.Beast, Strauss, Malherbe, Eben and Du Toit make up the balance. Very nice blend of power and pace.
No side can match the Lions in SA. This is because they play a balanced brand of rugby. We cant play dumb rugby any longer with this sucessful model staring us in the face.

 Absolutely worth a shot Chippo but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Expect one of Kolisi or Notshe to be in the starting XV.

 Rooinek - not sure about that one.  Coetzee would have to find a balance between winning and losing and that balance may affect his team selection.  He can fill his bench with quota selections and hope for the best.   We will have to wait and see what his actual team selection looks like - but am not holding my breath about it.    If the Springboks did what Meyer's team did against the Irish last year and lose the series, the public support will go out of the window and the loser will be SARU and the coach in particular - while the ANC will not care since they do support soccer and not rugby.  Their support is worthless taking the poor record of soccer in world soccer terms.       

I'll say this, I am a little more optimistic about the Boks hopes than I have been for a while. They are not going to be world beaters, so please don't misunderstand me. But I like the philosophy of the coach and the selections he has made in the squad seem to back up that philosophy. I just get the feeling that there is a positive mindset shift in South African rugby, mostly thanks to Ackerman at the Lions, but who cares where it comes from, as long as it comes. 
Quotas still p!ss me off, but that is another discussion.   

 There is a difference between the selections of Meyer and Coetzee.   Meyer did not care about the future of the squad - he was more interested in the past and the reputation of the players he selected and disregarded performance as a selection criteria.  Coetzee has a different outlook completely.   He is not interested in reputation - but more interested in the future of the game in SA so his selection is based on performance, but limited by the political issues he has to contend with.   In my book this difference is a positive and the squad produced - with rare exceptions is a vast improvement on the reputation squad of Meyer.   However, there is another aspect to it as well.  Meyer's squad was based on the core of players who were way past their best and also way past introducing a more comprehensive game plan - their mindset and skills were all based on the type of game they became used to over the past decade and they could not adjust or learn anything new.  The squad Coetzee selected has had some different influences instilled in them since the departure of Meyer and Ludeke in particular and especially as a result of the completely different game plan of the Lions - that situation was to my mind the main reason why Meyer refused to select Lions players for the Springbok squad.  Another example is that I believe Coetzee would not have selected for instance Louw - if Marcell Coetzee was n fact available.   There is one over-riding positive in the present squad, and that is the difference between the players selected  by Meyer - and the latest squad.   We are likely to see a different and more positive game plan being introduced.  In the process Coetzee may be forced into introducing new players - but the start is a fresh breath in SA rugby terms.      

 We can no longer select a host of quotas and hide them away somewhere. 
It's expected that they see game time and lots of it.
The quota is here to stay ... and the talented white boys will be leaving in their droves.
Good luck to them ... I wish them every success abroad.
 

 I have my reservations about Whiteley as a test 8 given his lack of size but one just can't ignore him form. The guy is a phenomenal player.
I reckon Coetzee will go with 6. Kriel 7. Kolisi 8. Vermeulen with Whiteley on the bench.
I like that combo...would not be my choice as Kolisi is not a 7 but he has been very good this year. He was awesome against the Cheetahs on Sat 

 Dave that was Kolisi's only good game this year - before that he was not worthy of being in the Stormers team.  He is s very limited loosie and is no good in ball protection and recovery.  He is also a low rate defender with a very limited n umber of tackles.  A few ball carries when there is no defenders in front of him are just not good enough for test selection.  If he is selected it will be a typical BEE selection. 

Kolisi is too small for an international number 7. He cant fetch- so that rules out the number 6 position. Granted he may be a useful impact player- but overall his work rate is too low for a loose forward.
He never links with his backs- and given his small weight i do not see place for him in the Bok team against the best opposition. 

 I said it before, IMO that's the best possible combination for the boks' backrow:

6. J. Kriel    7. Vermeulen    8. W. Whiteley

Vermeulen is world class at nº8 but IMO his natural position is the blindside,..... he's one of the bests and strongests carrying the ball in traffic, very good at breakdowns,..... but Whiteley is better linking with the backline, he's faster and very good option at lineouts

with the current 32 squad, Louw or Kolisi from the bench,... both can cover open and blindside,...... considering the quotas it will be kolisi's