Heir to the #7 Bok throne

Boys, Steph is getting old. Still rocking it, but there was a lot of creaking too against England and Scotty.

Post '27, or in the wake of an injury, who steps in though? I can't say I'm excited about the showings of BJD and Elrigh. Batho is a big chunk of disappointment at the moment. The Tsitukas nowhere near - what the hell was Vincent doing on the field against Scotland? Fish out of water.

The clear and only comparable replacement for Steph to me is Ruan Venter. What an evil twist of fate his injury in the URC was. We could have seen him out there now. He can play both lock and 7 like Steph, and he is physically perhaps even a more imposing unit plus he cuts a talismanic figure. The Lions looked like half a team without him.

Let's hope he comes back from his injury the same player he was, because there are big boots we'll need to fill soon and he's the man to do it.

Any player that can fetch, offload and beat a tackle immediately gives us three positives. There is all that tackling Dud makes, but if he didn’t do it, somebody else would….and hopefully improving on Dud’s 14 tackles made/7tackles missed against England. Dud is a number 5 lock playing flank….his energy and aura are a plus. And recently his lineout work at the back has been solid. He has also pulled off some good pick and go efforts.

Still it would be nice to have a genuine 7 in the role. That wouldn’t be Louw who is bog ordinary. Ruan Venter has Dud’s imposing frame but does beat tackles and fetches brilliantly.

Shit I actually forgot about Hanekom. He's more of a regular 8 though but he's got the attributes for 7 for sure. Also still has to play a blinder at test level though, hope he gets some more chances in the Nations.

Was having great day until I was reminded of how gutted I am for Ruan. The bloody stars had aligned perfectly and then everything just imploded.

Still rate that Roos can do everything that PSDT does and think that might be his natural position. He's mega athletic so can get around, would probably be a real dog if you gave him a name told him to take it out, has better handling skills and is more difficult to tackle than PSDT.

If all players are fit, Hanekom is the 2nd name on my team sheet (after SFM) and I don't really mind if he's #6, #7 or #8.