Heyneke has tough decisions

As Rob puts it, this is indeed a subject to discuss as we do in fact have tons of depth in the loose trio department but the difficulty comes in “who to select”?! One would no doubt assume that according to the avid South African rugby supporters, Heyneke’s choices will never satisfy everyone as most supporters want to see their “own” men from their provincial teams pull the Green & Gold over their head on match day.

Regardless, we can still boast magnificent talent when it comes to the fringes (Players invited to the first training camp);

8th Men           – Pierre Spies, Duane Vermeulen*, Willem Alberts*, Ryan Kankowski*
Flankers          – Siya Kolisi, Marcell Coetzee, Arno Botha
* Can also easily slot in at flank if need be

The question though, would we want Pierre Spies and Duane Vermeulen on the field at the same time? Sounds great in theory but then if that is the choice made, are we not wasting the talent we have of the “natural born flankers”?

I would personally say that between Pierre and Duane, you field one in the starting 15 with the second to come off the bench as an impact player and then make the same choices at the flanks. For example;

Starting                                                            Off the bench

6          - Siya Kolisi                                         Marcell Coetzee
7          - Francois Louw                                  Heinrich Brussouw
8          - Pierre Spies                                      Duane Vermeulen

Or visa versa, and yes, Brussouw should be there!!

So in this way, you have a specialist 8th man starting with one substituting in the second half with a fetcher starting and one substituting.

Apologies for leaving out Kankowski and Alberts, but on current form, Spies and Vermeulen are the front runners.

Either way, being Bok coach is certainly no easy job and Heyneke has his hands full of tough decisions to make!

GO BOKKE!