Springbok RWC squad

[Johnny Storm]

A very good selection all round, with some surprises. I'm hoping that the lack of good kickers doesn't prove fatal. It's a quarter finals team at best, there is a lot of talent in the side, but there has been so much squad rotation in recent years.

My intuition is telling me that there is something wrong here. I don't know what it is, but something doesn't feel right with this squad.
Hope I'm wrong through.

 

[mdaclarke]

I do not understand why the Boks didn't take De Jager, Pollard and Am. I would have dropped Orie, Reinach/Williams and Mapimpi.

Still think Scotland will finish 3rd in group but not as clear cut as before.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

The Bok staff requesting privacy for De Jager is concerning. I hope the big man gets well soon. At the end of the day this RWC is not worth jeopardizing your long term health. And it's not as if he isn't already a RWC ***le holder. Get well soon, Lood!

 

[califauna]

Only two hookers? Can one of the props play hooker?

Or are they banking on a halfback getting injured so they can bring in a third hooker lol

As you allude to in your later post, lot's of mild concussions and vague injuiries coming up, in training of course, over the next couple of months for SA, England and Australia I expect. Pollard, and Jonny Hill for England would be my favorites of the bat.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

As you allude to in your later post, lot's of mild concussions and vague injuiries coming up, in training of course, over the next couple of months for SA, England and Australia I expect. Pollard, and Jonny Hill for England would be my favorites of the bat.

It would be a proper Rassie move to name Pollard the day before a big game because Williams does have concussion concerns as a two for one; taking Williams along for the experience and playing mind games with the oppo's bringing in Pollas at the last. The kind of.. juvenile ideas that most adults think "nah" when it pops into their heads but Rassie just doesn't care how it comes across and does it.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

It would be a proper Rassie move to name Pollard the day before a big game because Williams does have concussion concerns as a two for one; taking Williams along for the experience and playing mind games with the oppo's bringing in Pollas at the last. The kind of.. juvenile ideas that most adults think "nah" when it pops into their heads but Rassie just doesn't care how it comes across and does it.

That is why I wrongly thought the Kleyn pick was a game by Rassie. I do not know the player but it is a shock to me to see a lock nowhere near contention for Ireland going to the RWC for the Boks. I have always associated the Boks with physical, high quality locks - almost lke a stereotype of their side, and now they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for a reject.

It would be similarly sad if say England could not find a 10 who could kick or if France played 8 man rugby. It would just feel a bit wrong.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

That is why I wrongly thought the Kleyn pick was a game by Rassie. I do not know the player but it is a shock to me to see a lock nowhere near contention for Ireland going to the RWC for the Boks. I have always associated the Boks with physical, high quality locks - almost lke a stereotype of their side, and now they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for a reject.

It would be similarly sad if say England could not find a 10 who could kick or if France played 8 man rugby. It would just feel a bit wrong.

I wouldn't hold it against you. I also questioned Kleyn's inclusion but then again I also continue to question Orie's inclusion and that is coming from a Stormers fan.

TBF both those players weren't the worst performers in the games they played. Actually Kleyn for me was one of top players vs the Wallabies and put Skelton to shame that game for what it is worth.

I would argue that SA do have some excellent lock stocks still. It's just that one of our top guys are unavailable and it seems like beyond them other considerations start coming to the fore and the fact that our locks have that reputation and the gate is being kept by Etzebeth, Snyman and De Jager it is little wonder the actual next best seek their fortunes elsewhere whether it is Paul Willemse or Jason Jenkins or whoever. That and sometimes coaches just make apparently odd selections.

 

[geostar]

"It's like taking three specialist hookers to the World Cup, and you'll find the third one won't play much. They'll get 15 minutes here and there, and the same is applicable to the third 10 if three 10s are taken with."

Those are the words of our coach, who brings 4 Scrumhalves, something doesn't add up. We have 4 wings going into the RWC, so no need for one of the Scrunhalves to be placed there. If one of them was included as utility player it might kind of make sense. The same can be said with the back row.

Really weird.

 

[saulan]

Positive-ish news for De Jager. It's a minor heart condition that can occur from exercising before properly recovering from flu or a cold. The recovery requirement is resting for two to four weeks, but unfortunately for De Jager it's just at the worst possible time.

Springboks lock misses World Cup selection with minor heart condition

Springboks lock Lood de Jager missed out on South Africa's 33-man Rugby World Cup for what has been reported as a minor heart condition.

www.planetrugby.com

 

[Umaga's Witness]

"It's like taking three specialist hookers to the World Cup, and you'll find the third one won't play much. They'll get 15 minutes here and there, and the same is applicable to the third 10 if three 10s are taken with."

Those are the words of our coach, who brings 4 Scrumhalves, something doesn't add up. We have 4 wings going into the RWC, so no need for one of the Scrunhalves to be placed there. If one of them was included as utility player it might kind of make sense. The same can be said with the back row.

Really weird.

Maybe they are going to play two nines

 

[ChicagoKid]

Maybe they are going to play two nines

Someone will get injured. Last RWC, Trevor & Kriel went down game 1. So much of this chat is useless because it supposes no injuries.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Someone will get injured. Last RWC, Trevor & Kriel went down game 1. So much of this chat is useless because it supposes no injuries.

I don't follow. If a prop gets injured how does that change whether or not it is good to have four nines?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Italy have just announced 4 scrum halves too (and just two centres), so there must be some method to the madness, but I'll be damned if I can make sense of it.

 

[AlRums]

Bok bombshell: Elton Jantjies issues statement as true cause of absence emerges

The real reason for Elton Jantjies’ departure from the Springbok team has been revealed. In a development that is likely to end his...

www.rugbypass.com

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Warm-ups are done and dusted. 33 Man squad has been announced.

Is it fair to say you put your best 23 in against Scotland and then Ireland. Probably better odds to try and win all your pool games than try to be clever with rotations on those two matches? The fringe players- if I can call some of our blokes fringe players after their heroics in the warm up games- *should* be enough to account for Romania and Tonga surely. If not we and we come unstuck there then that's just a massive upset and we aren't as consistent as we think we are and probably wouldn't have gone as deep as we would've liked.

Which leads to the question I've been trying to answer for myself- who is our best XV or 23 rather? For me I think it's a bit of a coin toss in most positions but I'd say:

1 Kitshoff
2 Marx
It seems that Nienaber has started listening to SA pundits.
3 Malherbe
4 Etzebeth
5 Snyman
Wouldn't be surprised to see the coaches go for Mostert and that's fine. I'm just glad we are seeing Mostert picked as lock back-up and not flanker anymore as he is a work-horse lock but not athletic enough for a loosie IMO. It helps here though having both Kolisi and PSdT back and in fine form. Let the locks lock.
6 Kolisi
7 Du Toit
8 Vermeulen
The old guard look in excellent form. They also don't need to play every single match and not the whole 80 so I expect they'll be fighting fit come a potential RWC final apart from possible injury but managing their time is all the staff can do to try and manage that ever-present risk.

So no real surprises in the forwards other than that Vermeulen has had a thing or two to say about Wiese's having usurped him and accounting for De Jager's absense but TBH De Jager has been so injury prone of late I hardly reckoned on him any way.

9 Hendrikse
10 Libbok

I'm of the opinion Hendrikse has the highest ceiling of the more experienced guys- though I concede its a bit of a stretch calling him experienced alongside De Klerk and Reinach. Williams for me is too inexperienced but as a pure impact sub he would be my back up in all cases even if for starting I'd rank them Hendrikse, Faf then Reinach if that makes sense. Though I would expect Faf to pip it and I wouldn't be too miffed as Hendrikse hasn't shown that spark he had pre-injury yet.

Libbok is our only option with Willemse underwhelming at 10 and Pollard out of the picture. All ina ll he's been great apart from at goal. He was at only ~75% this URC and had gone down even more at test level but the Stormers 2021/22 season he was solid and the 100% on the weekend will hopefully mean his confidence *should* be back. If not we might be in trouble if we can't get tries underneath the posts. France in particular are deadly at goal and if it came down to neither side being able to break the other down I'd be concerned at us losing a close match, even one where we might have the upper hand but for accuracy at goal. That said, do we have another option than trusting Libbok? Probably not.

11 Arendse
12 Esterhuizen
13 Moodie
14 Kolbe
15 Le Roux

Tough on Mapimpi and Kriel who havn't put a foot wrong. De Allende also perhaps. I just feel all else being equal- which I think they just about are apart from caps- I'd trust these to come up with a few moments of magic between them against any opposition. I feel you need that critical mass of threats for any threat to be effective and with Libbok a fix don't we want to play to his strengths?

16 Mbonambi, 17 Nche, 18 Koch, 19 Kleyn, 20 Mostert, 21 Smith,
22 Williams, 23 Willemse

I'm just wondering if Willemse at 15 is not better on the whole with Le Roux or Kriel at 23. Though Le Roux is good as gold for a couple of points on attack I feel Willemse is a superb defender and he has greater range on his kicking.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

 

[saulan]

As predicted. Fourie and Van Staden have become a lot more important in terms of making it onto our bench together. Vermuelen has been playing well so net net I think this is bad news for Wiese.

 

[mdaclarke]

As predicted. Fourie and Van Staden have become a lot more important in terms of making it onto our bench together. Vermuelen has been playing well so net net I think this is bad news for Wiese.

Bad new for Libbok too!

 

[saulan]

Bad new for Libbok too!

I wish we had a bit more time to test out Pollard at centre along with Libbok at flyhalf. I feel like that would solve a lot of our problems.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Bad new for Libbok too!

I wish we had a bit more time to test out Pollard at centre along with Libbok at flyhalf. I feel like that would solve a lot of our problems.

I would be very surprised if Pollard came straight in to starting vs Ireland whether at 10 or 12. I also don't know if I would move Pollard into the 12 position under any circumstances TBH. Not just for goal kicking. For my 2c its 10 or bench.