Springboks RWC squad announced

Fullbacks – Willie le Roux

Utility – Zane Kirchner

Wings – Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen, Lwazi Mvovo

Centres – Jean de Villiers, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende

Flyhalves – Pat Lambie, Handré Pollard, Morné Steyn

Scrumhalves – Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar, Rudy Paige

Loose forwards – Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Siya Kolisi

Locks – Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Victor Matfield

Utility - Pieter-Steph du Toit

Props – Beast Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Jannie du Plessis, Frans Malherbe, Coenie Oosthuizen

Hookers – Bismarck du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Schalk Brits

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A few surprises.

Obviously Morne (No Frans Steyn but not sure his fellow players would have wanted him).
Really pleased for Frans Malherbe and Kolisi (but why not play him then over Marcell & Heinrich earlier???)
No Flip van der Merwe sort of expected but really undervalued by Meyer for some reason, only coming back to be fair.
Rudy Paige was touted a lot but unfortunately its clear its a (sorry to say but...) token selection and one Meyer might regret if Du Preez can't get match fit.... want an uncapped Paige on your bench come a RWC SF with NZ at the expense of Reinach?

The question still remains on the captaincy. JDV will have the armband but will he play? If not who?

Matfield will probably start but so old and outside of the lineout, a ghost for the rest of the match. Burger, will he start over Vermeulen if fit... no. Over Louw if fit... no. Might get the no. 7 jersey though as Alberts form is yet to be proven and he's always a slow starter back from fitness.

Love to see as the XV.

Mtawarira
Bissie
Malherbe
Etzebeth
De Jager
Louw
Burger
Vermeulen (thats right 5 WP boytjies in the pack Heyneke!)

Pienaar (NH conditions)
Lambie
Habana
De Allende
De Villiers
Pietersen
Le Roux

That team will give you a completely different boks from earlier in the season and one that may surprise a lot of people.

IS that the SQUAD or your choice?

nope. the squad.

Who on earth is Rudy Paige? I haven't seen his name mentioned in any of the online discussions over who should succeed Pienaar/Du Preez long term.

Bunch of big jessies the lot of them!

See you in Newcastle

fa0019 wrote:
Rudy Paige was touted a lot but unfortunately its clear its a (sorry to say but...) token selection and one Meyer might regret if Du Preez can't get match fit.... want an uncapped Paige on your bench come a RWC SF with NZ at the expense of Reinach?

If so, it's a big mistake... because after picking Reinach all season it seems bizarre to change now. He could have been giving Paige game time to prepare him for the RWC. Similarly he could have been picking Kolisi ahead of Brussow to help prepare. Seems poorly managed from the outside.

Notch wrote:Who on earth is Rudy Paige? I haven't seen his name mentioned in any of the online discussions over who should succeed Pienaar/Du Preez long term.

Plays for the bulls, only come into SR this season albeit being 26 already. Pressure to take 30% ACI (African, Coloured Indian) so 9 ACI players in Habana, Kirchner, Mvovo, Pietersen, De Allende (although a little contraversy on that one in recent news), Paige, Kolisi, Mtawarira and Nyakane.

Was always Hendricks and Mahoje but you can't take more than 5 3/4s and Mahoje was no where near the squad especially with Kolisi pipping Brussow and Coetzee (unfair in part but he's not be used fairly by Meyer so I think its a warranted selection).

Paige is uncapped. A bit small, a little weak and with FDP a real uncertainity can Meyer gamble that much? If FDP gets injured, Cobus will come in and start over Paige thats for sure... but that in itself is unfair too.

Ah, SA sports huh!

Notch wrote:

fa0019 wrote:
Rudy Paige was touted a lot but unfortunately its clear its a (sorry to say but...) token selection and one Meyer might regret if Du Preez can't get match fit.... want an uncapped Paige on your bench come a RWC SF with NZ at the expense of Reinach?

If so, it's a big mistake... because after picking Reinach all season it seems bizarre to change now. He could have been giving Paige game time to prepare him for the RWC. Similarly he could have been picking Kolisi ahead of Brussow to help prepare. Seems poorly managed from the outside.

He never rated Kolisi but he's not that much smaller than Coetzee albeit hell of a lot stronger and off the break a real speedster. Meyer annoys a lot of people because of the above... why not play him this season, give him game time rather than simply holding tackle bags?

fa0019 wrote:

Notch wrote:Who on earth is Rudy Paige? I haven't seen his name mentioned in any of the online discussions over who should succeed Pienaar/Du Preez long term.

Plays for the bulls, only come into SR this season albeit being 26 already. Pressure to take 30% ACI (African, Coloured Indian) so 9 ACI players in Habana, Kirchner, Mvovo, Pietersen, De Allende (although a little contraversy on that one in recent news), Paige, Kolisi, Mtawarira and Nyakane.

Was always Hendricks and Mahoje but you can't take more than 5 3/4s and Mahoje was no where near the squad especially with Kolisi pipping Brussow and Coetzee (unfair in part but he's not be used fairly by Meyer so I think its a warranted selection).

Paige is uncapped. A bit small, a little weak and with FDP a real uncertainity can Meyer gamble that much? If FDP gets injured, Cobus will come in and start over Paige thats for sure... but that in itself is unfair too.

Ah, SA sports huh!

so - and I appreciate that this is a delicate topic - how many of the above squad are deserving of their place?

Right, well it seems like a power struggle. Because he can be forced to take or pressurised into taking a certain proportion of players of whatever background but it seems like he's already made his mind up on them or doesn't rate them when he started other players ahead of them earlier in the season. So that's not really fair on them, being seen as 'quota' players when what they want is what all sportsmen want; to be recognised for their skill and talent, not their ethnicity.

GavinDragon wrote:

fa0019 wrote:

Notch wrote:Who on earth is Rudy Paige? I haven't seen his name mentioned in any of the online discussions over who should succeed Pienaar/Du Preez long term.

Plays for the bulls, only come into SR this season albeit being 26 already. Pressure to take 30% ACI (African, Coloured Indian) so 9 ACI players in Habana, Kirchner, Mvovo, Pietersen, De Allende (although a little contraversy on that one in recent news), Paige, Kolisi, Mtawarira and Nyakane.

Was always Hendricks and Mahoje but you can't take more than 5 3/4s and Mahoje was no where near the squad especially with Kolisi pipping Brussow and Coetzee (unfair in part but he's not be used fairly by Meyer so I think its a warranted selection).

Paige is uncapped. A bit small, a little weak and with FDP a real uncertainity can Meyer gamble that much? If FDP gets injured, Cobus will come in and start over Paige thats for sure... but that in itself is unfair too.

Ah, SA sports huh!

so - and I appreciate that this is a delicate topic - how many of the above squad are deserving of their place?

29 I would say, all the rest are decent selections bar below....

Matfield shouldn't be in the squad (Meyer's BFF). Paige obviously isn't a bad player but over a guy who has played well in the jersey all season.... a little unfair on both players.

Notch wrote:Right, well it seems like a power struggle. Because he can be forced to take or pressurised into taking a certain proportion of players of whatever background but it seems like he's already made his mind up on them or doesn't rate them when he started other players ahead of them earlier in the season. So that's not really fair on them, being seen as 'quota' players when what they want is what all sportsmen want; to be recognised for their skill and talent, not their ethnicity.

The only problem is.... the union tells him he can't select the players he wants or needs to make certain squad selections.. yet when those selections come home to roost who takes the blame.... Meyer.

I'm genuinely staggered that they've left out Coetzee, he's been unbelievable every time I've seen him

I not sure if Coetzee is fit though! It was my impression that he may still be carrying an injury

GavinDragon wrote:

fa0019 wrote:

Notch wrote:Who on earth is Rudy Paige? I haven't seen his name mentioned in any of the online discussions over who should succeed Pienaar/Du Preez long term.

Plays for the bulls, only come into SR this season albeit being 26 already. Pressure to take 30% ACI (African, Coloured Indian) so 9 ACI players in Habana, Kirchner, Mvovo, Pietersen, De Allende (although a little contraversy on that one in recent news), Paige, Kolisi, Mtawarira and Nyakane.

Was always Hendricks and Mahoje but you can't take more than 5 3/4s and Mahoje was no where near the squad especially with Kolisi pipping Brussow and Coetzee (unfair in part but he's not be used fairly by Meyer so I think its a warranted selection).

Paige is uncapped. A bit small, a little weak and with FDP a real uncertainity can Meyer gamble that much? If FDP gets injured, Cobus will come in and start over Paige thats for sure... but that in itself is unfair too.

Ah, SA sports huh!

so - and I appreciate that this is a delicate topic - how many of the above squad are deserving of their place?

The only real suspect would be Paige...he's never played for the Boks and has been chosen ahead of Reinach who has played several games for the Boks.

Some people may see Kolisi as a quota player (getting in ahead of Brussouw, who has played well in the RC), but that is debateable, because Kolisi has played for the Boks before, and has quite a fair following, who'd choose him ahead of Brussouw anyway...

When it comes to Meyer and ACI talent, I have no sympathy. Lionel Mapoe was clearly by some daylight the best 13 we had in Super Rugby, and he's only had one call up before this year, and this year got only five minutes. He continuously picked Jan Serfointein, a guy who hasn't ever met a useful ball carry he'd like. You can say all you want about quotas, but the reality is we're going into the world cup with Zero players from our second best S15 team. Says it all about his respect for form.

And yes, I'm a Leeu first, Bok second.

I am not unhappy about Paige's selection, he is a very talented scrumhalf, I do however think it is unfair on both him and Reinach.

How do you send a totally inexperienced player to the world cup?

And what does it say to ReinachL

To be fair, we are short of experienced quality halfbacks.

Wtf Coenie Oosthuizen is doing in the squad is a mystery, the man can't play more than 20 minutes of rugby.

We always knew the Bulls contingent of Matfield, du Preez, Steyn and Kirchner was going to be there.

And in my view not one of them deserves to be there

Bill mate

Vern Cotter is starting to get those scots firing and Samoa are a decent team. It's not looking easy in your group.

I guess we all expect SA to qualify easily from your group.

I think the tougher the group the better for us, you don't want to go into a QF under done

True...!

It must be nice to have the luxury of a pool stage where not all but one of your games are tough to win...!

The Springboks will need a pool round robin like that. Up until the Irish game last year there was no doubt the Boks were serious contenders.

Then everything started falling flat, whether they lost motivation, lost the coach, injuries played a major role, nobody knows what caused them to come down so hard.

As for the preparations, it has been so secretive that the Boks at this stage is an unknown factor.

So whether they are fit, whether the ageing players are fit and up to it, whether there is hunger in this group, nobody knows.

The Boks will have to play themselves into form, they might fall at the QF or might well go all the way.

Who knows what is going on, I sure don't

Bugger...!

I think we were hoping you would apply the clarity that we all rely on you for when it comes to the Boks.

Does seem to be a mixed bag of a squad. There are a lot of names most of us are not familiar with.