So the puppet reckons Kriel has often deputised for Am, that de Allende has moved to 13 on occasions and that Moodie and Willemse are options there to

Bet they don’t have the balls to give Moodie and Willemse a run at 13 in the warmup games

They've had plenty of time to blood another 13.

At this point, RasNaaber's "testing" has amounted to testing random players in random games...and gleaning very little from it.

That game against Wales showed how these guys give chaps a go...they simply chuck a lucky-dip team together and apparently learn something from that.

At no point has it felt to me like they are planning for the future? 

Look at where we are with the Pollard situation. Are you telling me that they never envisaged a situation where he could become injured?

They completely discarded the one stand-in we had in Jantjies and now we're headed into a WC with Libbok as our pivot. I'm not saying he aint good enough but damn, the guy is super fresh to international level.

Who in the F is gonna be our kicker off of the tee, in a competition where things are very often decided by low margins dominated by penality goals ? Libbok? Or are we gonna go with a mix of Cheslin, Faf, and Libbok if is radar is firing?

I don't get much of what is going on with this side.

Agree plumb. Just read Nienaber latest comments that it will be between Wille, Kolbe and Faf to play 10 and take the kicks because they had one or two games there for the clubs. The difference is that it is club games and you can afford to test players during clubs. Often these teams are ravaged with injuries and their 3rd choice players are also injured. 

I would definitely want to see Moodie settle in at 13 if that is his real position, but he has not played a single game for the bulls at 13. He is only 20 and a lot of great centres like Nonu and Fourie either started at full back or the wing in their younger years. It is a big ask to thrust him in there now. 

But we should also look at our clubs, we simply don't have decent 13s. 

The one player I think we are missing is Rohan Jansen Van Renseberg. 29, wrecking ball and play both 12 and 13. He should have been our 3rd choice behind am and Kriel. 

Who has been the 13 for the bulls, Mapoe, Hendrikse, Simalane but no Moodie being used there. They you have to look at the Sharks, Am is there and Van Rensberg but they have used a foreign import to fill that key role. 

The stormers have Nel, very solid player but not test standard. Hartzenberg has been touted as a future star but only 19 and got a serous knee injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season. Dan Du Plesis can play 13 but his biggest impact has been at 12 for the stormers and name the best player in the URC. 

The Lions have Henco Van Wyk, but he got injured and didn't feature much. Did get a crack in a rubbish SA A game. But no one else at the lions that stands out. 

Rassie and Nienaber were lying when they said they work with the provinces, only not to have be transparent about who our 1 to 4 rated player are in each position. 

Rassie is to obsessed with his ego and twitter battles. Our junior boks are a shambles and Nick Mallet called him for it. He got really offended and upset. Rob Louw criticised him about the coaching team and lack of attack

Jantjies must have done something really bad because to be completely overlooked, when you were the 2nd choice and when you have a long history with the current 1st choice 9...well, that isn't normal.

And it's not like Jantjes was the mr Catastrophy that everybody made him out to be. He was mostly solid for the Boks and is still our best kicker...and brings bags of experience too. Still our most successful 10 against Kiwi opposition

I think Libbok will likely be regarded as a better player than Jantjies once all is said and done, but for now his kicking is pretty concerning. For his size, and the fact that we can't rely on him for any grunt, both out of hand and at goal he should be way ahead of what his recent performances gave us. 

Haha now we just gotta hope that he doesn't become even more flummoxed by it all the further we get into the WC.

Agreed Plum is a fucking insult. If the rumours are true that 4 scrumhalves were selected so that one could take the fall to reintroduce Am or Pollard then fair enough but that’s a strange gamble and generally makes no sense

There is absolutely no reason in the world they could not have selected their best 33, pencilling in Am, Pollard and Lood. Then taken those 3 out and replaced them with 3 other players. If they wanted players to take the fall to reintroduce any of these guys then one of those 3 would have to take the fall.

That aside, what is the fucking point of selecting four scrumhalves and four openside flankers and then trying to insult us by telling us Faf, Willie or Kolbe suddenly pass as test flyhalves in a WC. Fuck off.

As you say Libbok is good but lacks experience and his goal kicking is questionable, so why the fuck do you not include Jantjies in the squad, a specialist 10 with test experience and a good goal kicker. Especially considering he was brought into the training squad as cover, which clearly tells me they were over his off the field antics.

Why the fuck have we not invested in another young flyhalf, why have we wasted so much time on Willemse at 10? He is not a 10 and now given the flyhalf situation he is down as the backup 10, no longer described as the utility back.

And what is the bloody point of four openside flankers for let’s not kid ourselves Fourie is never used at hooker

Given 4 scrumhalves and 4 open sides, clearly 2 of these players are going to virtually see no game time, so are in the squad as passengers taking up the spot of a Jantjies, Roos or JL du Preez

Agreed on the 13 position, why on earth have we not blooded a young 3rd option instead of telling us de Allende, Willemse or Moodie can play there

Don’t even get me started on the Orie selection

I bet you Orie starts as Eben’s partner and RG is wasted on the bench. Why - because Orie calls the line-outs. Are you telling me RG is incapable of calling lineouts?

This whole thing looks like a shit show and I’m just hoping Rassie has a plan. I want to tell him to fuck off but I’m banking on him having some bizarre plan as that is how he rolls

I am hanging onto the faith in him by a thread - time will tell

Serfontein would be the call I'd have made. When we talk about martialing a defence, neither Am not Kriel offer this. Serfontein actually has leadership credentials and can manage the edge effectively. 

"I bet you Orie starts as Eben’s partner and RG is wasted on the bench. Why - because Orie calls the line-outs. Are you telling me RG is incapable of calling lineouts?"

Lol, anybody(though I doubt such a person exists) that thinks RG should not start ahead of Orie needs to go and watch the Australian game again. 

RG came on and basically took over the lineout completely. The guy is easily our most athletic lock and also the most skillful. Solid hands, is probably taking lineouts way more comfortably than any other locks our squad, and sets up mauls well too. 

But this is the thing...

The Boks never seem to be able to just have our best side on the park. There's always some fuckery. Whether it's BEE, favoritism, or stupidity...there's always something.

I mean, we've gone since the last world cup predominantly not starting the best 2 in the game.

I think being successful is difficult enough without actively trying to sabotage oneself.

The Dead Lemur makes sense. What happened to Serfontein, he can play both 12 and 13 and could either partner with Kriel or play at 13. 

Rassie didn't bother at all to call him into the team. 

Serfontein for some unknown reason was never recalled to the Boks, he has been one of the best 12’s in NH rugby for some time now

He is not a 13, not quick enough. His spot is 12, but can cover 13.

As for him organising the defence better than Am does - what utters horseshit from Doos

Am is next level at 13 - such a good rugby brain, with subtle touches. Always in the right place at the right time and a great knack of getting past the first defender

I used to be a big Kriel fan but Am’s all round skill and rugby brain makes Jessie look like a robot

The loss of Am is huge - we don’t have anyone close to him at 13, same applies to Pollard

At least with Lood out we have the class in RG to replace him, notwithstanding the stupid coaching team does not relegate him to the bench

Let’s just be clear….every significant decision in this team is made by Harrassmiss. So all these deficiencies, most notably the lack of a credible flyhalf back up, is entirely on Harrassmiss. His 4 year party since winning the WC is really costing us and to think NZ have a serious warrior like Razor twiddling his thumbs this WC, when he would give a digit to be in the the fray.

For sure Rassie has had a hand in these stupid selections

One of the scrummies and one of the wings are probably already injured and sure to be replaced...giving some players more time to recover.

So what do you say to these players selected - you are in on paper but you have to drop out when I say so?

Surely having Pollard selected instead of one of the 4 scrumhalves and letting him recover is a better call? No squad ever uses 4 scrumhalves in 5 or 6 matches

Same applies to Am and the 4 open sides selected - no need for 4 rather have Am in there recovering

I’d rather see a recovering Am and Pollard in the squad than say Reinach and Fourie who at best will get a bit of time against Romania

Completely agree Dave….Pollard and Am could have withdrawn if they really reached the point of no return.

As for him organising the defence better than Am does - what utters horseshit from Doos .

Am is next level at 13 - such a good rugby brain, with subtle touches. Always in the right place at the right time and a great knack of getting past the first defender.

Saddex, always having to be wrong. Am is not an organizer. He never was. He is a good defender as an individual, marginally better than Kriel statistically speaking, but there is no indication that he anywhere close to the kind of figure Fourie was on defence. Serfontein is quick enough for 13. Speed of thought and ability to read play a few phases ahead makes all the difference. Am has better offloading than Serfontein, but I'd actually trust Serfontein more as a cerebral distributor. We lack leaders in this team, and he would actually be a good partner for Esterhuizen. Am's positional work on defence has regressed under Erasputin. That's part of the problem with our shabby defence of the past four years. Am would be more effective on attack if we had a real coach. 

Spot on Moz - nothing stops Am and Pollard being replaced during the WC.

We could have kept quiet about their injury status and played them when they were ready instead of having a passenger 9 and 6 in the squad

What the fuck is Rassie’s logic with these calls

By all accounts Pollard would be ready to play against Wales in 2 weeks time

I have long laboured and bemoaned the lack of a backup at 13 for AM
Now here we are going into the World Cup with what appears to be Jessica Kriel as the starting 13....

Their should have been some experimentation with Moodie at 13 for the Bulls, or the Boks.
It's a bit difficult for the Boks without B-team tours though. 

We know Moodie is good enough on the attack to play at 13. His defence looks solid, but 13 organises the Rasnaber defence. 

My Bok Backline would be:

9 Grant Williams
10 Libock.
12 Esterhuizen
13 Moodie
14 Kolbe
15 Willie
11 Ardense

That would be a serious attacking unit. It just depends on if Moodie can play at 13 on defence.

Nah...we can't afford to have more than one mini-me on the park.

It's Arendse or Kolbe.

The extreme amount of 9s is ridiculous...considering that Kolbe can cover 9 too.

Such a pity that we forced Dayimani to play at 8. Guy is faster than all our wingers and can run over people too.

It’s such a pity we have lost Nkosi for now and Tambwe should have been in the mix a year ago but…

Ismael is another one that should have been in the mix since about 5 years back. Big, fast and smart.

Nkosi, in 2019, sharpened his game up a bit. I liked that version of Nkosi. I doubt we'll see it again. We really seriously need to shore up our defence. The likes of Moodie, Willemse, Damian et al at 13 will fail. We need some solidity on the wings. Arendse is just not test quality. Against good defences he will be useless. These track runners are hopeless. 

Agreed Plum he should have had a crack but 30 odd now and I think he gave up rugby - it rings a bell

I like Zas as well always breaks tackles

I’d love to see Moodie and Willemse get a crack at 13. Willemse is a tough nut, good defender and has those dancing feet. Bit more space at 13.

Moodie is such a silky runner, he glides and is deceptively strong. Needs to bulk up a little for 13. It’s encouraging that he played 13 all through school

Adrense's scoring rate is probably the highest in the world at the moment. His try rate is higher than Habana's.

He is also strong on defence and a very good tackler. Like Kolbe, he punches above his weight.

Shark the source of that ignorant Arendse comment is all you need to know

Well if Nienhaber is in the least way competent, he will try out those options at 13….Arendse is definitely not the Problem.

Arendse is poor positionally, weak in contact, poor in the air. Show me one try that required skill, power and wasn't an easy walk in. Our defence ranks bottom of the top 12 test nations. This didn't happen for nothing! Our backline can't defend. 

YAWN

The Boks benefited from double ranking points, a year of no rugby and two years where no teams were truly dominant in world rugby. The Boks having the best attack is ludicrous. This schizophrenic assessment of the Boks is not surprising. After the first Puma test it was all doom and gloom, and then the predicted amnesia after the second test. It happens all the time. After the RC, the Boks ranked bottom of the log for tackling, barely achieving 80%. They average, over the last two years, 78%. Defence has gone backwards. We lack stopping power on the gainline, and we lack defensive nous and physicality out wide. The edge is not protected very well, the seams are not secure, the connection between the outside rush and the interior line is scattershot. How anyone can watch film and arrive at a contrary conclusion is laughable. However, the casuals, as we have seen over the past few weeks, don't have the ability to read the game. Lots of bluster and no substance. So, their conclusion? We have the best attack in world rugby, we have a top tier defence, we are super physical, and have the most well rounded and best team man for man in the world. We shall see in the WC. This being true, the Boks must do no less than win the group comfortably, and defeat New Zealand or France and make it all the way to the final. The Boks cannot do any less than make the final, and do so demonstrating these top tier facets of their game. How this explains away the Bok scrum Ranking so lowly, the lineout dead last in the RC as well, remains a mystery. A mystery if you believe in Bok supremacy. Square peg; round hole. 

Arendse beating Smith for that try had no skill involved at all - bwahhaaa

Arendse also befuddled 3 Oz defenders to score from a position where he really have.

I'm still not a fan of the mini-wings though.

I'd take Dyanti, Nkosi, Ismael, Moodie and others over our mini-wingers all day.

I know that everybody loves Cheslin and Arendse but for me they're simply not big enough.

I say this knowing that Kolbe has scored some vital tries for us and helped us beat top tier opposition. So I know exactly what an unpopular opinion it is.

I used to have the same opinion but I’ve changed that.

I changed that after hearing Kolbe’s story. He effectively said he knew he had to bulk up in order to make it and boy did he do that

When you see that photo of the side post WC victory in the change room with their shirts off, the likes of Kolbe, Faf and Reinach are bulked and muscled to the max.

It’s for this reason these guys punch way above their weights and I have to credit them for that. It’s also why I have no time for Mostert as he has never taken the trouble to add mass. Mostert with 10kg of bulk given his heart and energy would have been the complete player.

Sure the likes of Kolbe will get bounced at times given the sheer size of the average rugby player but the magic they bring far outweighs the odd negative

Arendse and Edwill vd Merwe of the Lions are two small players that have followed the Kolbe template and bulked up to live with the big guys

I would not have two small guys on the wing, it’s ok to have one balanced out by a bigger guy on the other wing

I would not play these little guys anywhere but wing, sometimes we see them selected at 15, I would not do that

Here is a backline I would like tried out against Wales 

Faf- the ultimate warrior and superb on defence. In your face player. Good skills. 

Libok - Nobody else right now. Good player. 

Esterhuizen - let's see what he can do against Wales. Want to see how much creativity he has and more of his distribution skills. 

Willemse - has everything  to succeed at 13. Very dangerous runner. Pace. Great distribution skills. 

Gives you a physically strong center combo with nice attacking flair. 

The Back three has been collectively too small. 

So let's try Mpimpi. Moodie and Willie. 

I heard guys here trashing Mpimpi so was pleasantly surprised to see him playing well against the Argies. 

Pack. 

I would like to see this pack start against Wales

Kitshoff, Marx, Koch.  If Kick is strong enough his extra mobility is valuable. 

Eben, Snyman. 

Deon Fourie - still very fast and can play 80 minutes. Something of a fetcher. He and Marx will win us a few on the ground! A warrior who gets stuck in. 

Vermuelen and Du Toit. Vermuelen or Eben as Captain. 

Tough no compromise lose trio. Soften up the Welshies. 

Yes Pollard and Lood should be in the squad IF they can be fit in time. For all we know Rassie will send a scummie and a wing home if needs be. 

The Oaks here seem to think Rassie is clueless. Listening to a speech he gave at Newland some years ago, I know this guy is no fool and plans every last detail. He is a strategic thinker way beyond the armchair critics here. 

Of course it's possible to lose to NZ and high flying Scotland in the pools and be out of the comp. However if I were a betting man I would bet we make it out of the pool stage. 

A lot also depends on refs and injuries. 

I think ou Deus is already working on what he is going to say if the Boks don't win the RWC. He can't wait to blast Rassie, Allende and Du Toit. Hahahahahaha. 

Am won't be ready but DDA will start as many games as possible, unfortunately.

And in that case, I'd take AE at 13 over anybody else...especially Kriel.

Yeah I’d like to see a DA and AE combo with Willemse brought in off the bench

I wouldn't mind a AE DdA 12 /13 against Romania maybe if Am wont be back. Jesse can't play every game. If we're comfortably through to the 1/4s rest DdA and Kriel for the Tonga game and let's see what Moodie can do with some space and a monster inside him with AE. 

Willemse at 13 could be the answer as well

Especially considering he is such a good player and it would be a pity to waste him on the bench

We need Willie starting at 15 and Libbok at 10 meaning that Willemse would be left on the bench if Am was fit

With Am out it would be worth giving Willemse a go at 13 to see what he can do

I also really like the idea of DA and AE together - it would effectively be double the physical clout in the midfield

That combo could be a real winner, they could interchange between 12 and 13

They would take some stopping and would really ask questions of opposition defences. It’s one thing trying to contain one of them, imagine trying to contain both of them.

Libbok’s flat passing would also accommodate their physical threat

This option is far better than going with the robotic Kriel at 13

If you are going to try Esterhozen and Dud, the creative player, Esterhozen, should be at 12.

Ideally it would be AE and Am...but DDA is Rassies hero so he'll always play and he'll be at 12.

Have to agree plum, not a fan of midget wingers and there are not that many that stood out over the years. I can only think of Williams and Jason Robinson being the real world beaters, but they had space out wide. Defences are so tight these days. 

Kolbe did get bounce a couple of times against New Zealand and conceded a try on his side, but also made up for it. So it is neutral for me. 

Mpimpi gets my blood boiling. He has the size, but always ends up out of position. Just become so use to being robotic and shooting up. Compare to Moody that reads the play and actually hits his man. So for my Mpimps should never have been given a ticket. 

Arendse on the other hand really impressed me. Great tackle technique to bring Caleb Clark down. Really fast and bulky winger. He knows how to time his tackles and very brave. Super quick at going for the legs and his agility helps him to get into the right spot. Those coloured kids from the Boland know how to tackle. 

It reminds of a funny story, we're playing under 18 and we had a WP sprinter in our team playing on the wing. He was also much bigger than us as hit puberty and already shaving at 12 years old. 

Our coached arrange a mid week game against a farm school full wiry coloured kids. We were much bigger than them, but they were very smart. They knew how to disrupt you and didn't try to hit you head on, they couldn't. 

We would get so much space and just pass the ball to our giant fast winger and had so much space and time. But this one brave coloured kids, always went for the legs, half his size and weight and every single time brought him to ground. 

I just remember in the last play the giant winger had the ball and it was the same coloured kids, one on and one, but this time the winger just stopped dead in his tracks and actually took the ball and threw it at defending players head because he didn't want to get tackled by him again. 

I don't know what this guy did, but he never made any dominant tackles or knocked him back, just probably hit him really hard on his legs that it must have hurt him. 

So when I look at Arendse, I see a very similar tackle technique and he is also from the Paarl, Boland boys. 

If he can make his tackles, make the attacker second guess, he has done his job. 

Both Arendse and Kolbe are also good under the high ball. 

But what really pissed my off watching small wingers like Pieterse getting completely bounced by one of the huge Fijian wingers back under Coetzee against a barbarians team. 

No I’d stick with DA at 12 who can be as creative as any player but is not allowed to, he is playing to a plan which the majority of you seem unable to comprehend. Schalk Brits’s interview tells us as much

Esterhuizen at 12 plays it exactly the same as DA does when he plays for the Boks - why do you think that is? It’s the plan. Geez guys wake up to the obvious

So given DA is so settled at 12 for the Boks then why upset that equation by moving him to 13? Makes far more sense playing Esterhuizen at 13.

But in reality you would want them mixing it up positionally throughout the game.

I’d have Willemse on the bench, to replace DA or AE - whoever is less effective on the day and I’d play Willemse at 13

Damian cannot be "creative". I really hate that word. It's utterly meaningless in a rugby context. Damian cannot think. He doesn't have developed skills. Look at 2021 when he blew several Am true because he has no skills or vision. The Forrest Gump of centres, but without the personality. 

YAWN YAWN YAWN