This past weekend's 14-14 draw with England in Port -Elizabeth is not the ideal result most die-hard Bok supporters were hoping for. Still we didn't lose the game even though to some it must surely feels like we did.
Heyneke Meyer said he's aiming to make the Springboks the world's best or at the top of the pecking order in world rugby,but surely with the new IRB Rankings coming out on Monday as 13h00 BST,this result will surely take some points off our already 5.96 points behind New Zealand who looks pretty comfortable at the top. Question surely must be answered as to why
Heyneke Meyer would pick players like Kirchner, Morné Steyn, Potgieter, JJ Engelbrecht, Jano Vermaak, etc, to begin with ahead of Gio Aplon, Joe Pietersen, Peter Grant, Juan de Jongh, Siya Kolisi, Heinrich Brussouw, Charl McLeod,who are all FAR better players then the rest of them.Engelbrecht and Vermaak sits on the Bulls' bench for crying out loud! And
Heyneke Meyer says they're better than Juan de Jongh for example? Or picking blue-eyed misfiring monster Morné Steyn ahead of Pat Lambie in the first test!
Still the Boks did well in the first 2 tests mind you! But can you imagine how good the Boks would be when HM finally picks the best available players to become Springboks? I can only hope HM has learned his lessons and fires some of his backroom staff like Louis Koen before the Rugby Championship.
Should we be worried by last Saturday's result? We went into this test series against England with a largely second string side and luckily nobody can accused HM for "resting" certain players this time round. Not picking certain players yes,but that comes with the job. The Boks did ok in the first two tests. If you think about the guys who were out of this series for various reasons,i.e. injuries and such, you'll remember that we are missing some very big names:
Schalk Burger, Duane Vermeulen, Heinrich Brüssow, Juan Smith, Johan Goosen, Juan de Jongh, Jacque Fourie,Andries Bekker,Lwazi Mvovo etc. And then for this PE test we were missing Coenie Oosthuizen,Willem Alberts, Pat Lambie and Francois Steyn.So practically an entire team! Without Frans Steyn and Willem Alberts as our go forward with the ball and physical defence the Boks were a totally different team.
Still a draw sucks! Will Boks be fine under
Heyneke Meyer? Only when he starts picking the best players to be Springboks then yeah or as soon as these missing players are back to full strength. What should the Springbok team look like in your humble opinion? Team 1: 1. Gurthrö Steenkamp (Toulouse) 2. Bismarck du Plessis (Sharks) 3. Werner Kruger (Bulls)
4. Eben Etsebeth (Stormers) 5. Andries Bekker (Stormers) 6. Schalk Burger(c) (Stormers) 7. Willem Alberts (Sharks) 8. Ashley Johnson (Cheetahs)
9. Francois Hougaard (Bulls) 10. Johan Goosen (Cheetahs)
11. Bryan Habanna (Stormers) 12. Francois Steyn (Sharks) 13. Jean De Villiers (Stormers) 14. JP Pietersen (Sharks) 15. Patrick Lambie (Sharks) Bench: 16. Coenie Oosthuizen (Cheetahs) 17. Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira (Sharks) 18. Juandré Kruger (Bulls) 19. Dewald Potgieter (Bulls) 20. Duane Vermeulen (Stormers) 21. Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 22. Juan De Jongh (Stormers) or Team 2: 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp
2 Bismarck du Plessis
3 Werner Kruger
4 Eben Etseberth
5 Andries Bekker
6 Arno Botha
7 Jaques Potgieter
8 François Louw / Pierre Spies
9 François Hougaard
10 Peter Grant
11 Bryan Habanna / Lwazi Mvovo
12 François Steyn / Jean De Villiers
13 Juan De Jognh / Johan Sadie
14 Bjorn Basson / JJ Engelbrecht
15 Pat Lambie / Jaco Tauta
Bench:
16 Deon Fourie / Chiliboy Ralepelle
17 Dean Greyling
18 Juandré Kruger
19 Willem Alberts
20 Michael Bondesio / Dewaldt Duvenhage
21 Johan Goosen /Louis Fouché 22 François Venter
or
Team 3
1. Gurthrö Steenkamp
2. Bismarck du Plessis
3. Werner Kruger
4. Eben Etsebeth
5. Andries Bekker
6. Heinrich Brussouw
7. Joshua Strauss
8. Duane Vermeulen
9. Ruan Pienaar
10. Johan Goosen
11. Bryan Habanna
12. Jean de Villiers
13. Juan de Jongh
14. JP Pietersen
15. Francois Steyn
Bench:
16. Coenie Oosthuizen
17.Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira 18. Andries Strauss 19. Juandre Kruger
20. Willem Alberts
21. Lwazi Mvovo
22. Patrick Lambie.
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