Now that the Springbok squad has been announced, we can start thinking about the starting XV for the first test against the Poms. Heyneke Meyer has left himself three small selection problems, one of which he can fix with a bit of positional jiggling but two problems he is going to have to deal with.
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For some reason, Meyer only named 13 Bulls meaning that he will be forced to pick at least two non-Bulls players in his Springbok starting XV. I don't know if this is because he can't count or because he was a bit careless but he must be fuming now that he's realized he didn't include a Bulls loosehead prop or a Bulls fetcher.
He also didn't include a Bulls right wing but that's the problem he can resolve with a bit of jiggling, by picking Jano Vermaak at scrumhalf and shifting Francois Hougaard to right wing.
The team then looks like this:
15) Zane Kirchner (Bulls)
14) Francois Hougaard (Bulls)
13) JJ Engelbrecht (Bulls)
12) Wynand Olivier (Bulls)
11) Bjorn Basson (Bulls)
10) Morne Steyn (Bulls)
9) Jano Vermaak (Bulls)
8) Pierre Spies (Bulls)
7) Jacques Potgieter (Bulls)
6) ???
5) Juandre Kruger (Bulls)
4) Flip van der Merwe (Bulls)
3) Werner Kruger (Bulls)
2) Chilliboy Ralapelle (Bulls)
1) ???
So who does Meyer pick in the #1 and #6 jerseys? Neither of his looseheads has ever played for the Bulls or lived in Pretoria so I suppose it will come down to who has visited Pretoria most often and I would guess that will be Coenie Oosthuizen.
Openside flanker is less of a problem because Marcell Coetzee's family originally come from Pretoria and his father is a Bulls supporter so those are at least temporary solutions until Meyer rectifies his mistakes and includes Dean Greyling along with Dewald Potgieter, CJ Stander or Deon Stegmann to his squad.
Very careless of you, Heyneke, but you might just get away with it.
A team to take on Heyneke Meyer's Boks:
1) Steven Kitshoff/ Dean Greyling
2) Tiaan Liebenberg
3) WP Nel
4) Bakkies Botha
5) Anton Bresler
6) Heinrich Brussow/ Siya Kolisi
7) Rynhardt Elstadt
8) Joshua Strauss/ Ashley Johnson
9) Charl McLeod
10) Peter Grant
11) Gio Aplon
12) Juan de Jongh
13) Robert Ebersohn
14) Willie le Roux
15) Jaco Taute/ Joe Pieterson
What would your team be?
Visit Knock-On's Blog
For some reason, Meyer only named 13 Bulls meaning that he will be forced to pick at least two non-Bulls players in his Springbok starting XV. I don't know if this is because he can't count or because he was a bit careless but he must be fuming now that he's realized he didn't include a Bulls loosehead prop or a Bulls fetcher.
He also didn't include a Bulls right wing but that's the problem he can resolve with a bit of jiggling, by picking Jano Vermaak at scrumhalf and shifting Francois Hougaard to right wing.
The team then looks like this:
15) Zane Kirchner (Bulls)
14) Francois Hougaard (Bulls)
13) JJ Engelbrecht (Bulls)
12) Wynand Olivier (Bulls)
11) Bjorn Basson (Bulls)
10) Morne Steyn (Bulls)
9) Jano Vermaak (Bulls)
8) Pierre Spies (Bulls)
7) Jacques Potgieter (Bulls)
6) ???
5) Juandre Kruger (Bulls)
4) Flip van der Merwe (Bulls)
3) Werner Kruger (Bulls)
2) Chilliboy Ralapelle (Bulls)
1) ???
So who does Meyer pick in the #1 and #6 jerseys? Neither of his looseheads has ever played for the Bulls or lived in Pretoria so I suppose it will come down to who has visited Pretoria most often and I would guess that will be Coenie Oosthuizen.
Openside flanker is less of a problem because Marcell Coetzee's family originally come from Pretoria and his father is a Bulls supporter so those are at least temporary solutions until Meyer rectifies his mistakes and includes Dean Greyling along with Dewald Potgieter, CJ Stander or Deon Stegmann to his squad.
Very careless of you, Heyneke, but you might just get away with it.
A team to take on Heyneke Meyer's Boks:
1) Steven Kitshoff/ Dean Greyling
2) Tiaan Liebenberg
3) WP Nel
4) Bakkies Botha
5) Anton Bresler
6) Heinrich Brussow/ Siya Kolisi
7) Rynhardt Elstadt
8) Joshua Strauss/ Ashley Johnson
9) Charl McLeod
10) Peter Grant
11) Gio Aplon
12) Juan de Jongh
13) Robert Ebersohn
14) Willie le Roux
15) Jaco Taute/ Joe Pieterson
What would your team be?