Aug 10
25
Clueless Bok Selectors At It Again
On the face of it, this is a good bok team. But dig a little bit deeper and you’ll see that all is not as it’s cracked up to be. You just have to look at the backline to see that the boks brains trust are in fact in over their heads.
The backline is a near full strength one, boasting the boks record holding centre pairing, the boks highest try scorer, and two of the most unnerring boots in world rugby in Steyn and Steyn. Add to this the raw talent of Hougaard, the big game capability of Pietersen and you have the near perfect backline. So where is the problem one might ask?
The problem is on the bench. Frans Steyn has played one test all year, and is sure to be rusty. His coach at Racing Metro believes he is not ready for test rugby and has said so in the press. The bench shows no back up fullback, so one has to assume this would have to come from the team on the field if needed. The question is who?
Habana could probably play there, but is not a renowned kicker. Given his form of late, the coaches have missed a trick in not selecting Aplon on the wing, and also to cover fullback. This armchair critic can see the logic, but our three coaches can’t? That’s concerning to say the least! One suspects we would see a wing at fullback, centre on the wing, scrumhalf at centre… etc. you get the picture!
The composition of this bench is perplexing. These coaches, as they showed last week, simply do not have the tactical nous to win a game with their subs, and it shows in their selections. They have a specialist scrumhalf and centre on the bench, together with a player in James who covers centre and flyhalf. Surely Aplon should have been there to cover wing and fullback? They have erred here and it doesn’s inspire any confidence at all in their tactical thinking. Should they at all sub Frans Steyn during the game, my suspicions will be confirmed.
Springbok Team:
Francois Steyn; JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Morne Steyn, Francois Hougaard; Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger; Victor Matfield, Flip van der Merwe; Jannie du Plessis, John Smit (capt), Gurthro Steenkamp
Reserves:Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Danie Rossouw, Ryan Kankowski, Ricky Januarie, Butch James, Juan de Jongh.
