There isn't a good

position in the backline for Da Allende it will be like shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic, same for anorexic Mostert and that headless chook Kriel. Still don't get how the Bok pack play a physical game with  Mostert in the mix,

I have no issue with DA at all but selecting the physically inept Mostert over the incredible RG is beyond me

Why have Mostert on the field for 50min and RG on for only 30???

I can only think it was about getting RG up to speed after a long lay off

RG has had enough game time now so it’s time to ditch powder puff and have a real lock in RG partner Etzebeth

The best lock pair in the game by a country mile is being utterly wasted

Mostert would not smell my bench - give me Kleyn all day

I just don’t fucking get this Mostert thing - a bad smell that just won’t go away

Mostert is a constant high performer….but it’s subtle. No Bok forward is in the right place more often. And the physicality argument is nonsense. After Mostert left our maul had several shots at the Irish line, without a whiff of success.

Ah bullshit Moz that’s just a piss poor excuse for Mostert doing fuck all

He is a complete physical liability - every time he takes contact he gets smashed and his attempts to clean out are pathetic

He has plenty of energy and heart but zero physical productivity. Not the model for a Bok lock not by any stretch unless you happen to be Matfield but even he had more muscle than Mostert does

Mostert is seriously utterly useless

So Dave what did Kleyn do on Saturday, I can’t think of one thing and he was on for 32 minutes. Mostert is worth 10 Kleyns.

Hold on…I just checked…he made 2 tackles.

Kleyn when he takes the ball, makes metres, adds grunt in the scrums and mauls

It’s about the physicality he brings

It’s virtually impossible given Mostert’s size to have the sample physical impact

What did Mostert actually do against Ireland on the physical front - not his technically correct tackles he makes - that’s not the job of a lock - I’m talking about his physical contribution?

I don’t want to see my Bok number 5 making 10 centre like tackles a game or taking the odd line out ball - any test lock can do that. I want to see my locks doing exactly what Eben and RG do - they are huge physically which is their primary role and add plenty of secondary value as well

Mostert is only able to provide secondary value and please don’t insult me trying to tell me Mostert brings the same physicality as the likes of Kitshoff, Ox, Marx, Malherbe, Nyakane, du Toit, Eben, RG, Lood, Kleyn, PSDT, Wiese or Vermeulen

Both de Allende and Esterhuizen as centres are more physical than Mostert and that’s a fact

Mostert took two balls against the throw, made all but one of his tackles, was often the first player to protect the ball carrier.

The Boks weighed 920 kgs up front vs Ireland’s 890 approx. put Kleyn  on and that becomes 930 vs 920. And I guarantee you Mostert is putting in more effort.

This difference in physicality is insignificant. Now could you have a whole pack of lightweights? Obviously not. But we can certainly accommodate one lighter lock with huge loosies and props….as we did with the great Victor Matfield.

That said I would start with Snyman because he is a mega talent, but I would never play a bog ordinary lock like Kleyn ahead of Mostert

Mostert can’t protect the ball

Kleyn is far better than Mostert and has proved that in the tests he has played for the Boks

A physical player who is great at stopping mauls and adding grunt to the equation

The Bok pack is better with two physical locks

We should have dominated the Irish pack but we only achieved parity - it’s obvious that our pack is physically compromised by Mostert’s presence. It’s a fact - the guy is 112kg, has narrow shoulders and no muscle mass. He has never evidenced any strength play ever. I will never forget him being unable to clear out the 18 year old Georgian fullback

Dave you see what you want to see. 

No Moz it’s down to science - there is just no way a 2m tall player weighing 112kg is going to be physically imposing

Dave you are forever bashing Mostert but your hero in charge of the team obviously sees his skill and effort game after game and that is that matters.

Case closed.

A 150lb leopard will kill a 260lb man with ease or a 880 lb zebra ...there are other things in physical science that matter.

Weight only matters when equal playing ability is about same, Frik Du Preez was 106 kg, Sergio Parrise 113 kg and ZinZan Brooke 102 kg...very few can outclass these players, locks and loosies are not set in stone. Kwagga imho is an example...best loosie we have.Some players punch well below their weight.

Comparing a leopard to a zebra is a joke

Frik would not have smelt the lock position in the modern game so the comparison is futile

Mostert has never shown any evidence of strength EVER so the theory that he could be punching above his weight is also futile

AJ there is no case closed - Rassie is far from perfect and his faith in Mostert is his biggest shortcoming in my opinion

There are literally 15 better options than him

No David, it was not literal but a figure of speech or symbolic, I think you have good rugby sense ...like a good hedge that needs to be be clipped once in a while. Don't however become too obsessed by weight and size, most of the time it could be right but not always.

None of us will ever get it spot on, but we all are trying. Results are often misconstrued incorrectly in judgement in world cups, because this competition has many variables, not ability only as seen since 1987.

It's rather like a prominent horse race that has results, normally with second or third favourites and sometimes outsiders winning, but no that cannot really happen because horses and humans are different and the structures as well, but top 3 favourite teams, yeah.

With Dupont incapacitated it looks like SA is the one because they lost to with inexcusable error which they should correct, but NZ'ers are hurt and have pride, that is dangerous and France is severely wounded by impaired Dupont and absence of first choice no 10.

Having said this without loyalty or feeling, I think France will win. The best French team of all, in France and it's about time after so many close calls, namely 2011. They have the same pride of SA NZ and IRE, but an edge in Paris.

Dupont looks set to play in QF with a mask, which is good we want to beat the best the French have to throw at us

As for Mostert and strength, I have seen more than enough of him to conclude he is a physical liability in a position that should be occupied by a player with grunt and physicality

My preference is for Eben and Snyman to start and Kleyn to be theick replacement. This means either Eben or Snyman plays 80 minutes. 

Mostert has a big engine muchike Du Toit. Both play 80 minutes with no problem. So Rassie might be thinking if I start with Mostert I can let Eben and Snyman play flat out for 40 minutes. 

Poor Mozzzz has got himself in a huge bind. He has to trash Allende regardless of how Allende has played. It's just pure unadulterated bias. 

Given the absence of Marx and then also playing Mostert 2 of your tight five do not give you a physical edge.

A tight 5 of Ox, Marx, Malherbe Eben and Snyman is unmatched in World Rugby. Tragically we will never see them in action together at this Workd Cup. 

Just as in the case of Kerevi….the most productive player for Ireland was the man Dud Allende was supposed to mark. I wonder why?

Well Aki ran through Libbok and did nothing thereafter

Kerevi has been completely absent all WC

Kerevi hasn’t been great so far this WC, but then he hasn’t had the turnstile Dud marking him.