I thought Rassie would leave more players behind but looks like he is going for the kill and want to make sure we beat the Bargies in bargie land.
Don't see AE, did he play his last game or is he injured?
Ebenezer is on the plane, thought he would get a break too. Sien sy moer Moerat is there, what a waste, but who else.
Would like to see Stenekamp, Grobbies and Du Toit pack down against the bargies. What a front row or even better with Marx.
Esterhuizen is not injured I don’t think seems he has been discarded which is harsh on him.
Poor selections are old men Koch, Mapimpi and Reinach
As for Nico Janse v Rensburg I don’t get that selection at all - Rassie and his lock blind spot
The snubbing of deserving Ruben v Heerden is piss poor
Someone on Facebook said Esterhuizen is injured - makes sense as he did not play for the Sharks on the weekend
I hope that the squad s compettive losing 2 of its top players - Du Toit and De Allende - as well as Shaca.
I think Sacha has a niggle. If Esterhuizen is injured it must have been while training - he did not play any rugby since his banning. The missing llnk in the squad is Willemse - so I hope he recovers soon.
By the way I do not think Erasmus rates Esterhuizen as a test level player and we will see whether he is included in the November squad.
I am disappointed by the lock selection. As a lock on test level Moerat was really just about on par and not really a top class performer. Both he and Etzebeth are no 4 jumpers and I would have prefered Van Heerden, Cobus Wiese and Schickerling as locks. Maybe we would get clarityon the lock issue if the Spingbks win in Argentina.
I do not think Pollard has the instincts to play 15 man rugby and they may start with Libbok and bring on Pollard as a replacement if Libbok messes up.
The fact that Fassi is in the squad aindicates that Willie will rarely play in future while Erasmus - a very decent fellow - will help him in reaching the target to get him to 100 tests/ . .
.
Basically he’s resting Dud Toit, Bongi and Dud Allende.
Well I think Du Toit i well on his way t the he World Player of the year agan - so he is the best player for SA at present - with De Allende the best center in world Rugby at present. h is also resting Malherbe and Kolbe - as well as Sacha - our best flyhalf in many years.
But he kept lineout captain Nortje
Nothing new, predominantly old man Team…Yaaawn Boring…no vision and a bit of risk.
Erasmus has got a blind spot when it comes to selections in general….@ the WC 27, the general age of the team will be 35 :)
BS spreading again - according to you Erasmus is an idiot that is doing nothing to bring in new players into the team. One thing he did not do yet is to follow Meyer's example and pursuade retired players to come back to play - with susequent diastrus consequences. . \
In that squad there are 10 younger players most of them players with very little test experienmce. How many more do you want?
I am disappoinmted with some selections - like that of Van Rensburg and dumb muscle Wiese and Van Staden, as well as Mapimpi. But they will be ruled out sooner rather than later.
It is only an idiotic coach - and we had three in a row in De Villiers, Meyer and Coetzee - that discard top performing players for replacement by inexperiencd youngsters or keep non-performing playes in their squads , Squads are gradually built up not a years time.
I do not remember any of you, Pakie and Mozart moaned about the idiot coaches I mentioned - so why are the site prima donna screaming about Erasmus week in and week out?
,
There might be newer younger players present, but only a few of them start . Predominantly the Starting Team is carried by the older Core and this won’t change any time soon.
Just like we have a new attack coach that is teaching new attack moves, so they say at least . But what we see on the field is predominantly tries being scored by our maul, Stampkar. The same desperate grind of WC 23.
Nothing has changed. I really wonder what Brown is actually doing there. Besides we don’t have a mid field that can actually implement what he teaches. So stop making like Boks is this completely new and balanced team, which they clearly are not.
Yeah it’s a disappointing squad he should have taken a far younger side and some of the more deserving players
We need to be moving on from the likes of Mapimpi, Reinach and Koch
What’s the point of Nico Janse v Rensburg and v Staaden
So what’s it going to be against the Argies given the squad?
15. Fassi
14. Moodie
13. Kriel
12. Am
11. Arendse
10. Pollard
9. Williams
1. Ox
2. Marx
3. Thomas du Toit
4. Eben
5. Nortje
6. Kolisi
7. BJ Dixon
8. Wiese
16. Grobelaar 17. Steenkamp 18. Koch 19. Moerat 20. Kwagga 21. Elrigh Louw 22. Hendrikse 23. Libbok
The squad looks like one that wants to win the RC with this game then bring on the youngsters at home
If this is the case then Rassie needs to be bold and select this side for the game in SA
15. Jordan Hendrikse
14. Moodie
13. Jurenzo Julius
12. Ethan Hooker
11. Green
10. Sacha
9. Papier
1. Steenkamp
2. Dweba
3. Wilco
4. Jenkins
5. Ruben v Heerden
6. Hanekom
7. Vincent Tsituka
8. Emmanuel Tsituka
16. AH Venter 17. Wessels 18. Thomas 19. Ruan Vermaak 20. Buthelezi 21. Nohamba 22. Masuku 23. David Kriel
Mpower
You want to see no changes and miss the plot totally. If you lisgen carefully to Erasmus's comments you will fnd the way he implement change in player replacements. Take the case of Wllie le Roux as an example. Erasmus said two things about willie. He said Le Roux is in the squad to mentor younger players and he would like to see Willie getting to a 100 test caps in the process.
That process is followed in the case of the senior playes who knew they are on the way out. All the senior players have been around for years and in their playing career they learnt a huge amoun of how to play better on test level - they leaned what works best and does not work. In the case of for instance Pollard he has to mentor Sacha and Libbok. Sacha is a different case - he have two elements that makes it less needed for mentoring and he is already starting in tests for the Springboks - he has ball sense and pace as well. Libbok does not really have the qualities Sacha has in abundance - so the test in Argentina is for further skills development of Libbok in which Pollard plays a major role.
That is happening in most positions where the more experienced players plays a leading role i helping wth the development of younger players. Whether to start with the younger players in tests or use them to play from the bench to start with is different from player to player. In the case of Shaca he starts in most matches he played in - in the case of other playes it is not so evident..
The process is to phase out player based on the reaction and development level of replacement player development. In the case of De Allende the natural replacement will be Willemse - but he has bern injured so the development program is still to be implemented. As to centers there are both Moodie and and Willesme around and othe playes will be brought in as well, Esterhuzen has limited experience to mentor replacements around and he is likely to be phased out soon. In any event he is aleady 30 years of age and in 2027 he will be 33 years old,
In the case of locks there as been no progress to date. Mostert is not needed as a mentor/ So he will not be back in the squad next year, At the age of 33 and beng physiclly not a ideal lock - his departure is overdue. However the problem is that Erasmus has not started with the lock development and he is wrong with the lo0sie program where players like Etzebeth and Du Toit is likely to last through to 2007 and De Allende and Marx is probably on that short list of players as well. As long as the keep performing they do on their present level - they would not be replaced.
Rassie has a strategy to keep older players there for longer. Yes keep some younger experienced guys there to guide youngsters, but the team should be predominantly made up out of the young guns….Not the old core.
Willies 100 caps is not of importance when it comes to building the new squad that should take over. Same counts for Koch and even Malherbe. The time has come to start most of the new generation of players!
I don't agree...the gradual phasing in of the next generation without compromising the cohesion of the team is the only way to stay at the top...the team must remain more than the some of the parts...there is no need for radical change.
No one is talking about radical, but newer combinations can be tried out more in important positions, like for instance at TH prop, midfield combinations and Locks….is the short term glory More important than having a functioning predominantly younger winning Squad by WC 27?? Bit short sighted if you ask me…..
Mpower
You deliberately ignored what I wrote above. Some players arethere to help the development of the successors, Willie is an example of it. Malherbe is there to help his successors, They do play in tests sometmes - they may even start - but they are replaced early - like happened toPollard on Saturday. For the rest the only real renewal f teams are always done on a rationaal basis stretched over years - sudden changes toget of players lead to destruction of any team.
Same old Blah Blah! Oh my goodness you guys are fanatical….there is no growth in sticking mainly with all the same old farts from mostly a decade ago ….Fact is that not enough new guys are starting….how should Malherbe show any new props the ropes if he is mostly starting?? That makes no sense at all….. and even when he is replaced, it’s with a oldie in Koch?! Regression not Progress.
The mentoring assistance is not on the playing field - it is part of the trainng program On the playing foeld Shaca spent more time as flyjalf than Pollard did, That is just an example. In the final amlysis no coach will discard players who are still top performers - because he wants a younger team. It just does not happen at all in codes of team sport.
Another thing a maul scrum is when payers score tries while attached to a successful forward going maaaul. If the forward movement ends and the ball carrier separate totstally from the maul it is not a maul try anymore. Inthe present year - the Springboks scored 3 maul tries.
2,899 posts
Springbok squad for Argentina tour:
Props: Thomas du Toit (Bath), Vincent Koch, Ox Nche (both Sharks), Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls).
Hookers: Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears).
Locks: Eben Etzebeth (Sharks), Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg (Montpellier), Salmaan Moerat (DHL Stormers), Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls).
Loose forwards: Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers), Siya Kolisi (Sharks), Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks).
Utility forward: Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls).
Scrumhalves: Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks), Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), Grant Williams (Sharks).
Flyhalves: Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers), Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers).
Centres: Lukhanyo Am (Sharks), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles).
Outside backs: Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), Aphelele Fassi, Makazole Mapimpi (both Sharks).
Utility back: Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls).