Rynhardt Elstadt at open side is a strange selection. However it will be great to see Marcell Coetzee and Frans Steyn running out for the Boks again.
The 15 first choice players should already be on their way to New Zealand, so it should be safe to say that apart from players like PSDT, Lood and Etzebeth coming back from injury the rest in this team would now count as second choice. It also means De Ellendig is likely to start at 12 against the All Blacks.
15 Warrick Gelant 14 Sbu Nkosi 13 Jesse Kriel 12 André Esterhuizen 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Elton Jantjies 9 Herschel Jantjies 8 Francois Louw 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit 6 Rynhardt Elstadt 5 Lood de Jager 4 Eben Etzebeth (captain) 3 Trevor Nyakane 2 Bongi Mbonambi 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Bench: 16 Schalk Brits 17 Lizo Gqoboka 18 Vincent Koch 19 Marvin Orie 20 Marcell Coetzee 21 Cobus Reinach 22 Frans Steyn 23 Dillyn Leyds.
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Ok, so who are the top 15 then? I missed that part ????
@T-Shark (Comment 1) : Rassie split the squad in two and reportedly sent 15 players to New Zealand in advance. So this is meant to mostly be the B team playing against the Wallabies
I can’t find a definitive list of the A-team, but looking at players in the bigger squad missing from this team I would guess:
Ginger
Marx
Malherbe
Snyman
Mostert
Kwagga ??
??
Thor
Faf
Pollard
Guess it would be Diyanti but he is injured
Ellendig
Am
Kolbe
Willie
Who the hello are our first choice wings then? Rynhardt Elstadt over MC?! What the actual hell?! Inauspicious start in my view…
@pastorshark (Comment 4) : Elstadt has been playing blind side exclusively so why put him on the openside. Both MC and FLouw are better opensiders and 8s. Not much sense to this selection. I expect Rassie’s first choice wings are Diyanti and Kolbe.
@Bokhoring (Comment 3) : I’m thinking FLouw, PSdT, and Thor are first choice loosies.
Didn’t Rassie say he wasn’t selecting An A and B team was was going to split the team evenly, so perhaps the New Zealand contingent is slightly stronger but still think some of these guys are still in the first XV frame. (perhaps that only means Nkosi)
@Dancing Bear (Comment 6) : I was trying to guess who the 15 players were that was send ahead to NZ. A fit PSDT would be my first choice for 7 in any case.
Pretty interesting combination of players selected. I don’t think we can read too much into these Rugby championship selections as I think Rassie is just trying to have a look at as many players as possible. I hope this team can gel as its a bit of a mix match with no combos picked.
Marvin Orie?? WTF!!
@Keagan_Sharks (Comment 10) : Bear in mind Rassie’s other targets…
@SheldonK (Comment 11) : But even so, WTF.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 12) : As an alternative?
Hyron Andrews is better than Marvin Orie. Granted Orie has more bulk but is almost brain dead! He always seems to rub the refs up the wrong way. Even Oupa Mohoje would have been better.
@Keagan_Sharks (Comment 14) : Hyron Adrews just doesn’t have what it takes to make an impact at international level. As you say Orie can do some stupid things but if he improves his discipline he can actually be quite useful as he is fairly mobile. So lets see how he goes, if rubbish ill be the first to call for him to be chucked to the curb.
You mention Mahoje, interesting that no Cheetahs players even looked at.
Boks have Eben, RG, Lood, Mostert and PSDT (that could be used at lock). I don’t see Orie being called upon during the WC unless major injuries occur
Boks by 20.
5 easy points.
@McLovin (Comment 17) : This is test rugby, no such thing as easy. They could surprise us with a win, but nowadays I don’t expect it…
I wouldn’t have left Steyn out of the NZ squad. Te Ellendig has more lives than a cat. Seems every bok coach will be accommodating him and Jantjies in perpetuity…
@coolfusion (Comment 19) : Steyn would be my first choice 12 – not on the bench for the B team
@Bokhoring (Comment 20) : For sure. Not only first choice for 12 but pretty much utility backup for whole backline very strange decision by Rassie. And judging by the media comments he was more than fighting fit and rearing to go….
@McLovin (Comment 17) : That’s a pretty solid Aussie side picked, especially the backline
@Bokhoring (Comment 3) : If Frans Malherbe is really our first choose tight head then times are tough, his struggled to impose himself or just stay fit for years now
Wallabies – 15 Tom Banks, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nic White, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Lukhan Salakai-Loto, 5 Rory Arnold, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 James Slipper.
Subs: 16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 Will Genia, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Kurtley Beale.
@revolverocelot (Comment 23) : I would use “first choice” here just to mean the players who will start against the All Blacks. We will see a lot of mix and match in the RC – but most of this NZ group will be first choice in the end
@SheldonK (Comment 13) : Oupa, doesnt go around gouging peoples eyes out either.
@SheldonK (Comment 11) : Ha I thought you had me in mind……Bear in mind….
😯
@Dancing Bear (Comment 27) : Aaah clever
😎
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 26) : Free contact inspection?
The only selection that is really off to me on this team is Elstadt at openside. It would make much more sense to play FLouw or MC at openside and PSdT at 8 with Elstadt at 7, or even MC at 8 (since that is where he has been playing), the back row is unbalanced to me.
I am incredibly excited about seeing Gqoboka get a shot, that young man is a superb loosehead and reminds me of Beast in his early years in the loose, awesome ball carrier, and scrums so well as well. I wish he were a Shark, but maybe we have the next Gqoboka /Beast in Majola?
@Dancing Bear (Comment 30) : Apparently Elstadt has been playing at open-side for Toulouse. I just wonder if he will be fast enough for the RC
@Bokhoring (Comment 31) : Of course I could be wrong, but all the highlights I have seen of him playing for Toulouse is with a 6 on his back (blindside). And they all seem to be big hits, nothing more.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 32) : There is an article on sarugbymag which claims he played 7 and he talks about his transition to open side. However on the Toulouse site he is shown as 6. Seems to me this transition has just started 😯
@Bokhoring (Comment 33) : So I might be onto something here. 😉
@Dancing Bear (Comment 34) : Seems strange to transition at the international level when you have FLouw and MC both of whom have international openside experience. But hey Rassie was an international openside, so I’m guessing he knows more about the position than I do.
Andre and Sbu did well in the lead to the Boks first try
Herschelle Jantjies supporting play is really outstanding
Just me or are the ozzies playing a lot of our players off the ball especially at ruck time
@jdolivier (Comment 38) : Yip
Kepu will have to have his head removed from his arse thanks to Beast
Frans on the field
Sbu scores
Marcell on as well
Herschelle really growing on me. Scores his second on debut
@Bokhoring (Comment 44) : He had an amazing debut
Reinach scores the bonus point try
Very enjoyable match. Good play by both teams
Very enjoyable game…
This looks like more than a B team. Hershell….wow…
With guys like hershell cobus…can we hope that our scrumhalf stocks are up?
18 point win. Bonus point. ‘B-team’.
Bring on the the All Blacks.
Sbu’s try was top class – just quick hands shifting the ball
The Boks were decent for a side basically thrown together. Some defensive holes which is expected in new combos but managed to scramble well when Aussies broke the line. Attack showed good glimpses but still too much drifting and closing space in the wider channels for our strike runners. Will be interesting to see the combo picked for NZ game as I still believe the Boks do well with 3 ball carriers in loose trio to get us over advantage line, especially when we have our locks carrying too. Aussies struggled to contain us when we had our big loosies carrying the ball interchanged with the backline moving the ball wider.
@SheldonK (Comment 53) : I was abit concerned about Cobus Reinach style of play so I went and watched the game again last night.
Herschel Jantjies seems to only pass from the base of the scrum or ruck and as fast as possible
Reinach started out like that, but then shifted to running with the ball creating and additional backline player, which he may have done confuse the defense
However, I have a concern that if a player consistently does that it becomes very ineffective, hopefully, he consciously did it as a variation.
The coaching team would likely have picked this up if not
Overall we were a patched together team that played against a somewhat patched together Ozzie team
If we had played the exact same teams in Ozzie I figure the result would be reversed IMHO
Still a game that put a smile on my face none the less
Nkosi is the best wing in SA
@revolverocelot (Comment 54) : Think we must remember Herschel was on debut so can imagine he just wanted to get the ball as quick as possible to Elton. Reinach with a bit more experience was happy to pick up and challenge the line before distributing. Id like to see a combo of both options not and either or.
I think the Ozzie combo that ended the game was more lethal and if they started with that we could have been in trouble.
That being said I think he too could have been stronger if Brits had started, same with Coetzee and Steyn.