Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has gone for consistency in his selection for this weekend’s clash against the All Blacks in New Zealand, making only two changes from the team that went down to the Aussies last week.
Flip van der Merwe comes into the starting line-up to replace the suspended Eben Etzebeth while Marcell Coetzee takes a break and makes way for Francois Louw.
It is amongst the backs that we see the consistent selections, the consistently kak selection of Morne Steyn ahead of Johan Goosen and the persistent selection of Zane Kirchner at fullback ahead of a Pat Lambie that will soon equal the record for the most caps coming off the bench!
On the bench, we see a distinct lack of Frans Malherbe while Dean Greyling will earn yet another cap, while there is a return to the match 22 for Andries Bekker and Juan de Jongh while Lwazi Mvovo falls out altogether.
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Andriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtwarira.
Substitutes: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Dean Greyling, 18-Andries Bekker, 19 Marcell Coetzee, 20 Johan Goosen, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Pat Lambie.
Tweet
Braindead to drop our best defender against the All Blacks. Dumb dumb dumb.
@PTAShark (Comment 1) :
It seems form counts for nothing with our new coach.
I get more excited watching Sharks games then Bok games lately 😐 .
@Rvw (Comment 3) :
I get more excited watching lawn bowls than Bok games lately.
If youeverwanted to test the BMT of these young players this is the game to test that….Nz by 15…and you can’t even blame the travel…the player selection is kak…
Can we PLEASE relax the ban on swearing on this site just for this article??? 👿
I actually got depressed reading this team sheet…
@shaniboi (Comment 5) : I say by 20
@13 (Comment 4) : LOL!
If this goes to script… With Dan Carter, All blacks will be leading by about 3 – 6 points going into the last 20. They’ll score once or twice, probably Dagg and Conrad Smith and end up with a 10 to 20 point margin. With Cruden there i’ll give them a win by 6 to 12 points… If Boks want to win this they need to do the following. DO NOT KICK THE BALL TO DAGG OR JANE. I repeat, DO NOT KICK THE BALL TO DAGG OR JANE!
@ChrisS (Comment 6) : i nearly rolled my car! I am so effing livid! 👿
The only good thing this game will do, is give me something to do while waiting for the Sharks game. Oh ja, and give me an excuse to crack open a beer(or two or three, depending the score) early.
@The Quirk (Comment 9) :
As much as I hate myself for saying this, I hope we do get a bit of a hiding on Saturday.
I am prepared to sacrifice this year’s Rugby Championship if it means that Meyer finally realises that we cannot continue with certain selections and with this outdated gameplan.
I am in two minds about Marcell on the bench. He needs a break – been playing non-stop rugby, but he is one of the best tacklers for the Boks.
Seeing Morne at 10 again &*%^[email protected]#$%^**&!#$%
I’m very happy about the team that has been selected for this game……
I don’t want Lambie or Goosen to play in this team IF Heyneke expects them to continue with the same gameplan. Let Morné look kak trying to execute the gameplan rather. Heyneke is more ridged than a ball bearing.
If Heyneke picked either Lambie or Goosen and expected them to execute the same gameplan they WOULD fail and then Heyneke would just say ‘I told you so’
Keep Lambie away from this idiot!
On the plus side, he won’t be able to look us all in the eye after the game and say, “see, I played those guys and we lost.” When the Boks get a hiding he’ll have nowhere to hide – not that it affects him anyway! The man’s idiocy is proven in him saying that Coetzee has one of the highest work-rates and then dropping him!! Play Flouw if you want to, but drop Alberts and give MC a chance at 7!! Not looking fwd to 4 years of this nonsense!!!
I’m bored already. If HM keeps this up, you might find the Boks running out to boos when they get back to South Africa.
@The Quirk (Comment 9) : Even Dan Carter finds it too boring to have to play the Boks. He’s out injured.
Am I the only one that saw that Andries Strauss is playing hooker for the boks this weekeend?!? Wat happened to Adriaan? Congrats to Andries though, didn’t know he can play hooker and centre!
@Pokkel (Comment 14) : The game plan has already made Hougie and Pienaar look average at scrumhalf… Because it seems the game plan places emphasis on slowing down our own ruck ball and putting our number 9 under pressure…
@fouriedr (Comment 17) : Well spotted…
@Pokkel (Comment 14) : I tend to agree 100% there, let them fall from grace, and let Lambie and Goosen take control on our local shores..
Bok game plan… Kom nou julle! Die bal moet stadig uit kom! Nee Marcell! Dit is te vinnig! Ons wil he dat hulle Ruan onder druk sit sodat hy kan a kak skop na daadie Israeli Dagga oukie skop… Dan sal ons hom probeer tackle!
But coach, what about scoring tries?
Tries, wat is hierdie tries? Ek verstaan nie Patrick, gaan sit in die hoek…
@Bokhoring (Comment 13) : You know, the way I figure it, HM’s gameplan is like an audio cassette player – outdated and hardly anyone anymore remembers the bad old days of audio cassette players.
But now, instead of being able to use a modern day storage device (sd card, flash drive etc. which would only work with a modern day audio device (read modern day game plan)) he needs an audio cassette tape to get anything out of his audio cassette player…
…enter Morné Steyn, the only medium able to work with the outdated game plan. 😆
@FireTheLooser (Comment 22) : My analogy was that we have a beautiful Ferrari and the mechanic (Heyneke Meyer) has replaced the engine with one from a Tata.
@Butchie34 (Comment 23) : a broken Tata engine at that
@FireTheLooser (Comment 24) : 😆 True. The tata engine inside of our Ferrari has broken and now we’re being towed by an ox wagon hitched to a pair of donkeys!! 😆 😆
@Butchie34 (Comment 23) : Nevermind a Tata, that a Morris Minor engine
Guys, guys!!
it could have been MUCH worse… Imagine Piere Spies wasnt injured?? Then we could have moaned about Kirchner, Steyn AND Spies…
Steyn single handed cost us ALOT of points. the 2 times we got momentum he tried to drop??? WTF???
@KingRiaan (Comment 26) : A Morris Minor engine might actually look good compared to what we have 😆
It’s more like we have the broken prototype of the engine that went into the Model T!! 😆
And so it continues.
Only real impact loosie we have is Alberts. Might have made sense to bring him on against tired legs. Instead we pursue the smash and bash selections. Chances of a humiliation are very high.
Mvovo’s confidence, along with Pat’s, must be shot. I think it’s best for all if they are released to the CC.
@The Quirk (Comment 21) :
Brilliant!!
@Big Fish (Comment 29) :
Agreed..
Let them come back after this weekend’s loss and get some time with the Sharks.. Surely that can be accomodated since we are playing two home games after the bye?!
@The Quirk (Comment 21) :
😆 i miss PdV! at least with him every time the Bok coach opened his mouth he was more likely to be funny or piss off whoever’s country the Boks were touring! 😆
now i just get more depressed when our current coach opens his mouth, his hypocrisy and double-speak have me in a tizz 👿
“Let me put it into perspective … it’s all about defence. I know people want you to get the ball at the back and run through teams, but that will usually work in the movies, it doesn’t work at this level any more,” he said, claiming that statistics showed that both Argentina and Australia had kicked more in their games against the Boks than his side.
“You need to create opportunities against New Zealand. But I will be honest; you aren’t going to outplay them with their own game in New Zealand. You have to be clever and be tactically astute and you have to be disciplined.”
@Megatron (Comment 32) : HM please explain how the Wallabies managed to work their way into our 22 through running at our lines. In fact they (mainly Barnes) surrendered possession through silly kicks, and once they stopped that – they clobbered us at the advantage line – breaching the line 80% of the time.
Now you want to try the same tactics against the AB’s who are far superior to the Wallabies this year??
@Megatron (Comment 32) : That talk of having to be tactically astute and disciplined is just his way of saying Morne is going to try kick the leather off the ball again.
@Megatron (Comment 32) : Would love those statistics to show what kind of kicks the opposition made – pointless hoists in the air (a la Boks) or probing into the corners / downfield kicks to clear out of a defensive position. As has been said so much, there’s a difference between an astute kicking game and a “kicking for kicking’s sake” mentality. I’ve lost all respect for HM as a coach.
ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new reality series called
“The up and under show” hosted by Morne Steyn and Zane Kirchner
Gooooooood morning Sharksworld!
@CDRhino (Comment 35) : In the first half the Aussies did at some point try a kicking duel with Kirchner who to his credit won that one with flying colors. But as soon as they realized that, they changed tactics.
@Bokhoring (Comment 38) : Unfortunately for the rest of the game Kirchner stuck to 5 paces and up and under.
@Bokhoring (Comment 38) : that’s exactly it – they changed tactics when the plan wasn’t working. Our (I hate to use this ironic phrase) “game plan” is adhered to come hell or high water, no matter how poorly executed or how negative the results.
The sad part is though, that no matter what we think of the tactics or how badly they were executed, the Boks actually lost the game because Mvovo couldn’t catch a kick-off (or so HM would have us believe).
This is almost as bad as Jake White selecting crazy Jaco vdW for 17 odd games.
@The Quirk (Comment 21) :
ai carumba
At least the kiwis will get their first bonus point win now. Arg can move above us soon for us to get the wooden spoon
Is it really so difficult to make a backline of Pienaar-Lambie-Habana-F. Steyn-de Jongh-Hougaard-Goosen?
You know, these selections and game plan of HM just goes to show…..there’s more to life than Springbok rugby.
(yay, this migraine inducing add at the bottom of the screen tells me that I have one unclaimed prize 🙄 )
@FireTheLooser (Comment 46) : sorry bro… bills bills bills…
@robdylan (Comment 47) : At least it’s wayyyyyyyy down at the bottom of the screen, so I merely have to scroll up a wee bit.
What is the cost of advertising on here?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 48) : for our special friends? We do majorly attractive rates!
Email me…
No new news yet? I’m a wee bit bored today 😈
@robdylan (Comment 49) : Sent
Sorry to go off topic but Rob, if you need help, I won’t mind donating some money now and again. If it means SW is kept alive, I am more than willing to help out.
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 52) : boet, offering me money is never going off topic 🙂
I appreciate it, but we’re not at the stage yet where a lack of funds would threaten the future of the site. Will definitely let you know if that ever changes
Ok seriously now, hands up who thought there would be wholesale changes this? Come on people this was always going to be the team. If Eben wasnt banned he would start and Flip would bench. Coetzee on the bench is actually good player management as he is over played and would take serious strain against the All Balcks. So yes this will be the team for the remaining games barring injury and suspension. Hyeneke will throw Goosen/Lambie into the game in the last 10min if he needs a miracle. Thats just the way it will be. Hope DeJong brings a cushion!
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 52) : Will you please keep me alive? Right now I am in need of serious retail therapy to get over this thing they call Bok Rugby…? 😆
Of course Ice… I am here for you! I will get you through this.
All blacks complacent ,the best we could hope for!
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 56) : With occasional donations…. 😀
@Ice (Comment 58) : easy tiger…
@robdylan (Comment 59) :
didn’t you mean Cougar?? 😈
@robdylan (Comment 59) : He clearly misunderstood me…
😆 😉
@Pokkel (Comment 60) : 😆
GrrrrrrOOOWWwwwww
I scored on a Sharks website, how cool is that?! Hahaha. I just hope others don’t get jealous now…
What a joke! I hope the All Blacks beat us by 50!