Springbok selections (part 2) - Form or class?

It is often said class is permanent , but form is temporary. On reflecting the current Springbok situation and the recent performances of the incumbents and those hot on their heals for places in the Springbok squad, there will be furious debates on who are the class players and who are the form players, and somewhere in between all of this a squad must be selected to defend the RWC.

Taking in consideration that no team has ever defended their title successfully, and the fact that this year the RWC will be hosted by New Zealand, the task seems insurmountable. Especially when considering that many of the incumbents in the Springbok team has shown poor form of late.

Forget for now the game plan, coaching, rest periods and preparation, what I want to focus on is who is in form, who is class and who should be in the squad.

We have dealt with the ageing players and in I will make them part of the selection debate.

These are the players I want to look at.

Full backs
Zean Kirchner, doesn’t distribute, good boot, defence OK, positional play OK.
Gio Aplon, on form, elusive runner, good ball skills, good distributor, defence OK.
Frans Steyn, class player, unknown form, unknown attitude, great boot, good defender.

Wings
JP Pietersen, a must for the world cup, good in all departments and in form.
Bryan Habana, class players, poor form, doesn’t follow defensive pattern
Lwasi Mvovo, good form, strong runner, good defender, could look for more work.
Odwa Ndungane, no flash, honest hard worker, has lost some pace, good defender.
Bjorn Basson, excellent arial ball skills, strong finisher, defence questionable

Centers
Jaque Fourie, class player, strong runner and finisher, good distributor, excellent defender
Jean de Villiers, class player but lacks a little creativity at 12, strong runner and defender.
Juan de Jongh, promising, solid defence, elusive runner, the only quality back up.
Wynand Olivier, poor defender, poor distributor, strong runner, not for me thanks.


Fly halves
Butch James, not for me thanks.
Morne Steyn, accurate kicker, defence sometimes questionable, can be class but needs confidence
Patrick Lambie, a must for me, something new, playmaker, decent kicker, good defender.

Scrum halves
Ruan Pienaar, was great, now poor form, not for me thanks.
Fourie du Preez, class players, needs game time.
Francois Hougaard, promising, a must for his all round abilities.

Loose Trio
Schalk Burger, class, discipline has improved, distribution has improved, physical
Juan Smith, an absolute must, my player of the tournament in 2007
Heinrich Brussow, a must, his pilfering might be sorely needed at times.
Pierre Spies, very good ball carrier, is effective when he has the right combinations by his side
Jean Deysel, in the mould of Schalk Burger
Willem Alberts, when the going gets tough, Alberts gets going.


Locks
Victor Matfield, class, even though not at his peak anymore, a must.
Bakkies Botha, ditto
Danie Rossouw, ditto
Flip van der Merwe, only taking him becasue Andries Bekker is not available.
Gerhard Mostert haven’t seen enough to be sure.


Props
Beast Matwarira, class, mobile, physical, only weakness perhaps at scrumtime.
Jannie du Plessis, best tight head we have, but sometimes struggles in the scrum
CJ v d Linde, I know we need back up and he is the best available, not convinced.
BJ Botha, not for me thanks.
Guthro Steenkamp, good scrummager, defence solid, needs game time.

Hookers
John Smit, great leader, solid in the tight phases, do not play him at prop.
Bismarck du Plessis, class, mobile, physical, good at the break downs, can cost penalties.
Chilliboy Ralapele, every time you see him he does most things well, would love to see him do 80 minutes.

I would assume Pieter de Villiers will go for a 17/13 split.

My selections in bold.

I do realise there are other issues regarding preparation, fitness, injuries etc. But in my opinion these are the best we have.

Biltong my SA loose trio would be Smith, Brussow and Alberts (tough on Burger I know but I like the balance there). Who would you have?

disney, I suppose it depends who we are playing, against Australia and New Zealand we must have Brussow, against England, Wales I would prefer burger.

Burgers always done well against us so if he werent there i wouldnt be upset. I think one of a few who thrive on playing us.

I think by far the biggest mistake was to not fast track lambie at 10 for the away leg. All i can think of is the older pdv and his other aged croonies just cannot see a 20 year old curly head youth in such a spearhead leadership role at 10.

Its a cruel and ignorant position to hold when looking at players like oconnor of oz. Lambie would be of the same ability and perhaps even better given his coverage at 10 and 15.
And hes cover for F Steyne? The travelling wilbury who would probably look better with a guitar in his hands. Give me a break.

The other thing someone like lambie could become is the spark of hope.
Presently none of the boks inspires the others like a cooper or mccaw, a read or genia.
Some have their moments but someone like lambie could fire up the youth in others, direct play like a real rugby player does. Hits it up, tackles, kicks the right kicks. Lambie has all this and was good enough sxv to be given more chances.
If he doesnt start next week pdv will have learnt nothing again from the oz match.
In fact he'll probably go back to security blanket m steyne

biltong, would you have a look at Johann Muller as an outsider for the squad?

Notch most definite, last I heard he was still injured.

Taylorman I fully agree with you on Lambie

He's back in Ireland now with Ulster, but he says he's feeling good and is running again. Still unavailable but is getting there. I think he was unlucky with the timing of his injury and probably won't go now.

I see steyn is now out. Aplon?lambie to the bench?

Don't rate Aplon just doesn't seem to get the gaps but then limited opps with the forwards not working.
I think the choice of loose forwards might depend on if the tight five are creating momentum. IF the tight five aren't winning the battle then Spies is not the man for you.
It seems that Brussow is your only real fetcher - I think Burger is great but more like a 6. Not sure who I would choose at 8.
I reckon Lambie looks good. Too bad they haven't given him more game time yet.
Hard to see you winning anything with Morne but then if the pack start working alright then its all on.

Biltong, just looking at your squad picks, there's no question that SA have the players to win this world cup - it seems to me that it will all come down to the selection of the XXII and how the different units and team perform

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Biltong, just looking at your squad picks, there's no question that SA have the players to win this world cup - it seems to me that it will all come down to the selection of the XXII and how the different units and team perform

I was watching a local rugby program last night, and the concern for everyone was that PDV got his preparation completely wrong.

The question is not so much the players, but in what state of mind they are in. There was a telethon last week to raise money for the Pedro Jackson fund (for injured rugby players), and there was very little enthusiasm in the squad.

don't know if they are purposefully being so controlled, or whether the Springbok camp is not a happy place.

My biggest fear is that the players have lost all faith in their coaches and each other, that would be disastrous.

This article reads like you've written it Biltong

[quote]South Africa coach Peter de Villiers is running out of time and excuses with his team having lost the winning habit and a Rugby World Cup defence less than one month away[.

.../quote]

[quote="Kiwireddevil"]This article reads like you've written it Biltong

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers is running out of time and excuses with his team having lost the winning habit and a Rugby World Cup defence less than one month away[.

.../quote]

It does, doesn't it. Same sentiments, I am just more diplomatic in my approach.