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To me the finnished product for a pack to play Nz would be:

Coenie, Bissie, Jannie (Until a better tighthead arrives)

Etzebeth, Flip

Louw, Vermulen and Alberts.

For next Saturdays test then just make the front row Beast, Adriaan and Jannie. Coenie is till not match fit but hopefully can pound the abs for 30 minutes

The big posers are therefore will Bekker stay in against abs - horses fo courses Flip maybe more suitable.

Will Frans play center with Jean

Will Lambie get a spot particulary if a place kicker is needed. For the rest nothing will change.

I would also like to note that it is clear that as fine a prospect as Marcell is he does not have the clout of a Louw or Vermuelen as yet.

 Hey Beeno.

There's a nasty rumour in NZ tonight that Hansen may give all the reserves a run on Saturday now that the RC has already been squeezed into our trophy stadium.

I hope he doesn't, as it will demean the game terribly and the Boks would be on a hiding to nothing. Win and you'd have beaten a 2nd string side and lose............well I'm sure you don't even want to think about that scenario!

mule a it is quite possibly on the cards although one wonders what the sponsors might say if the abs chicken out.

Of course the abs will want to continue the myth of their being the best a little longer. Mule a I am afraid the cat is out of the bag though - Dunedin.

No abs dont chicken out - bring it on! 

moodaa

Rest assured - even if they play their top team - the All Blacks are in for a hiding on Saturday - it they play a second string team - the hiding will only be bigger.   From 10+ loss it will go to a 20+ one. 

Ai that would not be a good thing. I understand the argument from the coaching staff's point of view, but really it will just devalue the game. Let's hope the blacks put in their best, otherwise if they don't the boks should make a statement and put the second team to the sword, It will be the only thing that will make everyone happy. That way the blacks can say but it was our second string side and the boks can say, ahh well we showed intent.

Let us hope that the All Black brainstrust don't devalue the game for us.

moolaa Has this been confirmed yet? I'd be disapointed if so. Im expecting this to be the game of the year, Hansen could be fairly nervous, 'well at least i will have plenty of excuses in defeat' could be in his mind i suspect.

10+ win
20+ win if our goal kicking is more effective.
40+ win if Hansen selects the reserves.

Mine would be:

15. Lambie 14. Habana 13. Taute 12. Frans 11. JJ 10. Goosen 9. Hougaard 1. Beast 2. Strauss 3. Jannie 4. Etzebeth 5. Bekker 6. Louw(c) 7. Coetzee 8. Vermeulen

 i see your whishlist Saf, but it will remain a whishlist, as realistically goosen now needs some experience around him to guide him in. So Jean wil be there until the end of the year as will be Pienaar, who apart from his kicking had an excellent game in the jersey this weekend.  Yes the team might lean something towards that in the future, but you are a bit hasty. Patience. Jean still has some work to do with the youngsters and Pienaar needs to steady the boat.

Some interesting selections snapster. 

its being said that Goosen was pulled out of the kicking because of a sore ankle. If Goosen is not in the kicking equation then Lambie should start.

I cant see Meyer dropping Pienaar. Pienaar took the pressure off Goosen. Hougaard is better than JJ on the wing and Jean will never be dropped now and rightly so!!! JJ is tall and a big target and to me is no quicker than Hougaard - who remains a very dangerous wing.

Meyer has spoken of horses for courses and so I winder if he will revert to Flip who played really well agains Nz. Bekker is fine in a looser flowing encounter.

I would not tamper with the loose trio. If they are lacking in speed take off  Alberts and bring onCoetzee. So far the loose trio has been very good.

Frans at 12, would have more than enough experience for Goosen at 10. This crap about experience does not wash......get the best side on the field end of

Saffex

With due respect nobody is certain whether Steyn would make the grade in a fasflowing backline game.  Matter of fact his recent play - as well as in France - iindicate otherwise,   Fact is rhat the selection of Goosen necessitated an adjustment in the play of all the outside backs - that was actually shown on Saturday.   In a way I am glad that he did not play on Saturday was a good thing - a benchmark was set and Steyn when he gets back on Saturday can be measured against that - and we will soon enough see whether he makes the grade.  

If he contnues with his style thus far and chrashball without proper off-loading he will be out in future.   Not that I want to see him out of the team - all I mean is that he will be tested like never before and he better not fail - it would not be wise career-wise.  In any event - if in the first half Steyn does not perform well enough - he will be subbed, De Villiers brought back to 12 and Taute put at 13.  That will also indicate that his Springbok playing career is on the skids.   Hope he realises that and adjusts his play as well.

As to Hougaard as scrummie - I think you better forget about that one.   It is absolutely clear that he did not adjust to the scrummie role - even after playing in that position for the past 18 months.   Meyer is not going ro take further chances with him - he would not like to see a further malfunctioning of the backline by playing a player which is not a natural scrummie - especially in view of Hougaard's questionable passing and kicking game.

The other player that on CC level played himself completely out of contention for higher selection is Engelbrecht - he was in recent games extremely poor in both attacking and defensive play.   It would indeed be better for your blood pressure to take him off your list of potential Springboks as he is not even remotely under consideration ar present.   Mind you he plays CC in a very poor team - but showed nothing exceptional in any event.   I think this guy was done in by signing a contract with the Bulls - he should have stayed in Cape Town.

I believe than other than Steyn coming in at 12 and De Villiers moving to 13, resulting in placing Taute on the bench - there will be no changes to the team that played last Saturday.   There was no injury report that would necessitate further changes to the team.

The only sensible answer to next Saturday's team, is the starters should stay the same. All this fiddling is not warranted after an excellent performance by the starters. Only a nutter like Dave would want to drop Jean and shift Hougaard to 9 after that game.

every report ive read on the All Blacks and going by hansens comments, i would be very surprised to see the All Blacks field a weakened team, IMO the way hansen pulled of carter, aaron smith, McCaw, o franks and conrad before the 60 min mark, is the best indication were going to be fielding our best team possible.

here are the teams i think both hansen and meyer will pick,,,

All Blacks
1 t woodcock, 2 a hore, 3 o franks, 4 l romano, 5 s whitelock, 6 l messam, 7 McCaw (c), 8 k read, 9 a smith, 10 d carter, 11 j savea, 12 m nonu, 13 c smith, 14 c jane, 15 i dagg
16 k mealamu, 17 c faumuina, 18 b retallick, 19 v vito, 20 p weepu, 21 a cruden, 22 b smith

Boks
1 beast, 2 a strauss, 3 j du plessis, 4 e ezebeth, 5 a bekker, 6 f louw, 7 w alberts, 8 d vermeulen, 9 r pienaar, 10 j goosen, 11 f hougaard, 12 JDV, 13 j de jong, 14 f hougaard, 15 p lambie
16 t liebenberg, 17 p cilliers, 18 f van der mewe, 19 m coetzee, 20 e janties, 21 j taute, 22 l mvovo

for the All Blacks i wouldnt be surprised to see mealamu start over hore, though IMO hore should start based on form from last 3 games.

for the Boks, i also wouldnt be surprised to see j veermak get called up onto the bench instead of mvovo.
i do think de jong will start, taute didnt iompress me much against the wallabies and meyer knows a victory against the All Blacks will go along way to remedy what has otherwise been a very below satisfactory season so far, so he might want the stormers combination in the midfield to help strngthen the synergy.
 

Saffex

How fickle you are!!!!!!   A week ago you wrote how poor a player Louw is and hat he should be replaced by Brussow.    Your recommended team now recommends that Louw should be Springbok captain.   I know people are entitled to change their mind - but is that not stretching it a bit??????

Sasu

I think your team is very near the mark - but for De Jongh.   He really is a joke - but I assume he would be ideal since even Conrad Smith would be able to tackle him with ease.   I think he is really sub-par and should not even be on the bench.

Another thing - where is your man Greyling  on the bench.   I know he played for the All Blacks in Dunedin - so why not in the All Black team.   We would love to see the All Blacks with a handicap - I hope they start again with Weepu .

 Hey Lucid. What planet did you just beam down from?

20+ win for the Boks if your goal kicking is more effective?

In the 84 tests between the Boks & ABs your biggest winning margin was 17 in 1928 and since re-entry in 1992 the best has been 14! So just how are your amazing Boks going to pull out a 20+ margin pray tell?

30/07/11   ABs won 40-7

14/07/07  ABs won 33-6

And the doozie of them all:

19/07/03 ABs won 52-16 (AND at your so-called fortress Loftus!)

Now those are margins mate!