The props are good…always like it if I see Wilco,s name : ) Ruben van heerden should have been there from the start in Orie,s place….the Squad could and should have been adapted to accommodate Pollard and AM…..big mistake from management to cock that one up….Dweba is not the answer, maybe if he has grown as a player, then maybe….Johan Grobbelar is a better line out thrower, his loose work in contesting breakdowns and Turnover is also better….he is a more specialist and better rounded hooker than Dweba.
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For a start there is no way my Bok squad would ever have 4 scrumhalves and 4 openside flankers in it.
This serves to compromise the squad as a whole leading to some of the four 9’s or 6’s getting no meaningful game time or when they do playing out of position like Williams and Kwagga will have to and Fourie off the bench. What’s the point when you could have had specialists in their place?
My WC squad would have included Pollard and Am as both are ready to play right now and Romania would have been the perfect opportunity to give them some game time with a view to involving them against Ireland - if they failed to come through, you replace them from outside the squad it’s that bloody simple.
So if my WC squad looked something along the lines of
Willie / Willemse
Mapimpi / Kolbe / Arendse
Am / Moodie / de Allende / Esterhuizen
Pollard / Libbok
Faf / Williams / Hendrikse
Kitshoff / Ox / Malherbe / Thomas / Wilco Louw
Marx / Mbonambi / Dweba
Etzebeth / Jenkins / RG / Ruben v Heerden
Kolisi / Kwagga / PSDT / JL du Preez / Roos / Wiese / Dan du Preez
Then my team vs Romania would look something like:
15. Willie 14. Arendse 13. Am 12. Esterhuizen 11. Mapimpi 11. Moodie 10. Pollard 9. Williams 1. Ox 2. Mbonambi 3. Thomas 4. Jenkins 5. v Heerden 6. Kwagga 7. JL du Preez 8. Dan du Preez
16. Dweba 17. Kitshoff 18. Wilco 19. RG 20. Wiese 21. Hendrikse 22. Libbok 23. Kolbe
It’s balanced and has no pretenders like Orie in it