Who is our strongest bok team

I just saw and article from KEO stating that Rassie has created the strongest bok squad in history. He listed the players that are not featuring this weekend and I have to agree with him on this one.

Given that Rassie has stated that players will not play more than 9 games for the boks this year. I wonder whether we will ever see our best 23 not he field any time soon?

15. Aphelele Fassi

14. Canan Moodie

13. Lukhanyo Am

12. André Esterhuizen

11. Makazole Mapimpi

10. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu

9. Grant Williams

8. Evan Roos

7. Pieter-Steph du Toit

6. Siya Kolisi

5. Salmaan Moerat

4. Jean Kleyn

3. Thomas du Toit

2. Johan Grobbelaar

1. Gerhard Steenekamp

For me our strongest side would be:

15 Fassi

14 Kolbe

13 Moodie

12 Willemse

11 Arendse

10 Sacha

9 Williams

1 Ox

2 Marx

3 Wilco

4 Eben

5 RG

6 Kolisi

7 PSDT

8 Roos

16 Wessels 17 Steenkamp 18 Thomas 19 Cobus Wiese 20 Kwagga 21 vd Bergh 22 Pollard 23 Hooker

With an emphasis on youth - a fit Hanekom would be at 6 for me

Actually the rise of players of color is finally becoming a world force. Only 6 of Dave’s starting team would have been eligible in the old days. It’s taken a while for rugby to seize the imagination of the African community, but it now is changing the balance in world rugby.

"Only 6 of Dave’s starting team... "

And I'm sure the ANC thinks it's too much...must be only 7%

I thought Moodie was coloured, apparently not -but perhaps the information sources are wrong.

Moodie is definitely a Colored/ H is brne in Paarl an grew up in a household where Afrikaans was the spoken language and he also went to mainly Afrikaans schools and the Boland Agriculture High school as well,

Moodie is a fairly common surname in Colored communities

Good observation Moz - long gone are the days of token black players thank goodness

Im still waiting for a monster Zulu lock to make his appearance

Three of the best

15 Fassi / Jordan Hendrikse / Gelant

14 Kolbe / Edwil vd Merwe / Green

13 Julius / Moodie / Henco v Wyk

12 Willemse / David Kriel / Hooker

11 Arendse / Tambwe / Horn

10 Sacha / Pollard / Libbok

9 Williams / vd Bergh / Papier

1 Ox / Steenkamp / Wessels

2 Marx / Dweba / AH Venter

3 Wilco / Thomas / Hanro Jacobs

4 Eben / Cobus Wiese / Ruan Vermaak

5 RG / Ruben v Heerden / JF v Heerden

6 Kolisi / Kwagga / Buthelezi

7 PSDT / Elrigh Louw / Vincent Tsituka

8 Roos / Hanekom / Wiese

I would think that player performances being the main criterium to select players and age ne teh decding factor - where two playes perform best in positions at the time of selection and the young er player should be selected, In a panel discussion on Sky News New Zealand - the panel mentioned two players from the SA team. Th e one was Esterhuizen being played as a flank and what cae out that he is physically veys troong and could be a good choice at flank forward, The xcond player the mentioned was De Allende - of which they re obviously very scared when to comes to SA tests against New Zealand this year, But this is an aside - so my tam would be the followingL-

15 F assie

14 Arendse/Moodie

13 Kriel

12 De Allende

11 Kolbe

10 Sacha

-9 Williams/Van den Bergh

8 Roos/Hanekom

7 Du Toit/Tshituka

6 Roos/Hanekom

5 De Jager/Snyman

4 Etzebeth

3

2 Marx

1 Nche

. .

Bit obvious that Wilco is a dead certainty at 3

Amazing how the most dominant 12 of the past URC is suddenly overlooked. A smart coach who knows how to use his strength and his strong offload, get people running off him at pace, frequent havoc. The Sharks never clicked how to do any of that, but sadly I don't think Rassie and co does either as we see with the brain dead role assigned to DDA.

Well the brain dead thing worked for us for the last 8 odd years...longer actually...it doesn't. Make for spectacular viewing though. It would be nice if we can dish up some thrilling play in the back for a change...

And don't worry Pakie...AE will feature again this season. He's too good not to get a run.

Ja it's "worked" Draad, but there could be so much more happening with a bit of daring and imagination.

Pakie

The most dominant center in the URC played major role om a ,a;fuctioning backline by the Sharks and he has repeatedly showed that on test level he had being malfunctioning as well. Reason he is nit a real center that help to create backline opportunities and a poor reader of games resulting in him not scoing tries or creating opportunities for scoring of tries - he is neve where the action really is,

In a season where the most dominant center scored 3 tries - I can mention 5 centers who scored more than 3 tries in the season.

It is easy to write BS creating an imagined aura about a player - experts like Erasmus realie that he is not a center and thought he should be given a chance to play as a loosie where pace-deficiency is not as major a factor than at center , Again showed near to nothing in that position as well.

For pople who evaluate players better than the prejudiced site experts it is not surprising that the said center is an average performer on franchise and club level - but of no value on test level. This center is already 31 years old fo cement his position on tst level and never was for the Springboks a test level performer. Not that Die the fact that Esterhuizen played in 22 tests for the Springboks and never scored a single try - does that not bother any of the site experts?

I have been following the said center progress from Under 20 level to date and he never was a real center on both franchise and test level, He is a classicl crash baller - bit rarely gets over the gain line doing that, So keep onm wondering about the said center - fct is the Sharks would have dine better with Hooker at 12 tan they did with St Esterhuizen.

I like the fact that we talk about quotas less and less these days. Most of my backline would be players of colour, just because they are so good, but I do hate it when you can see a player is 50/50 that the default is always to go with the black player. I do think we have some passengers still in the bok team that shouldn't be there.

I mean, how on earth did Trevor Nykane kept Du Toit out, or Bongi starting ahead of Marx. We know Marx is 3 times better player. This was a clever trick by Rassie, let them hold the line and then bring your best on for last. You can do that with the front row.

Ox in the other hand doesn't fall in that class. He is world class and very happy for him.

You all know how I feel about Kolisi, so don't need to go on about him, but we just don't have a 6, van Staden is so pedestrian. At least Kolisi has pace and decent attacking player, makes his tackles but I hate the fact that he doesn't get physical or stuck in over the ball.

Am is losing form fast, rightly so dropped. I was never convinced about Mpimpi defence but he is a great finisher, but very poor under the high ball. I still believe Duhan missed out to Mpimpi and should be playing of the boks. Just too white and take up a black person ANC given right.

Also feel for Grobbies not being able to crack it. I think he would have been ahead of Bongi now.

So still think their is black race bias in the team

Trevor was good as has Bongi been very good