Springbok Team Announced for 2nd test

Springbok team to face the All Blacks in Cape Town:
15 Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 53 caps, 76 pts (8t, 9c, 4p, 2dg)
14 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Mitsubishi Dynaboars) – 33 caps, 125 pts (25t)
13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 91 caps, 115 pts (23t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 100 caps, 55 pts (11t)
11 Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 10 caps, 10 pts (2t)
10 Handre Pollard (Vodacom Bulls) – 87 caps, 832 pts (8t, 130 c, 175 p, 5dg)
9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 54 caps, 100 pts (20t)

8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 46 caps, 20 pts (4t)
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain, Toyota Verblitz) – 99 caps, 70 pts (14t)
6 Siya Kolisi (DHL Stormers) – 104 caps, 70 pts (14t) / Paul de Villiers (DHL Stormers) – 4 cap, 5 pts (1t)
5 Ruan Nortje (Kubota Spears) - 21 caps, 5 pts (1t)
4 Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 143 caps, 45 pts (9t)
3 Wilco Louw (DHL Stormers) – 32 caps, 10 pts (2t)
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 90 caps, 135 pts (27t)
1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 49 caps, 0 pts

Replacements:
16 Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers) – 13 caps, 10 pts (2t)
17 Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 20 caps, 10 pts (2t)
18 Thomas du Toit (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 34 caps, 10 pts (2t)
19 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 74 caps, 25 pts (5t)
20 Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 32 caps, 30 pts (6t)
21 Cameron Hanekom (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 5 pts (1t)
22 Morne van den Berg (10bet Lions) – 7 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 21 caps, 177 pts (9t, 45c, 14p)

I see Williams paid the price, not sure that this team will help us match. Very old team and the bench looks even weaker than before.

However, Pollard will steer the ship, but why is Sasha there, probably as a utility player. Maybe he will become the next Willemse for the next few seasons and end up at full back.

This is the most static bok backline ever. I'm expecting a lot of cross field bombs from Pollard, Hooker and Arendse chasing all game and same old same old.

Hopefully we will have more direction from the base.

Don't think Kolisi will add any value, but see Cam Hannekom on the bench. Probably to substitute Kolisi.

And Deon Fourie at Hooker? Might be automatic switch for Kolisi and Marx expected to play the whole game

Sasha is massively out form. He cost the Stormers 6 matches this season and against weaker opponents. The stormers did better with a robotic player like Jurie Mathee and was winning more games with him at 10.

Piss poor backline that - same past it centre combination yet again and bringing back useless Reinach to start is a backwards step.

Deon Fourie as the replacement hooker is a joke

So Deon Fourie is back. Is he cover for Marx or for Kolisi? I'm happy to see Cameron made it to the bench. I would've gone with Ruben van Heerden as lock cover instead of Lood de Jager.

It's a pity that AE couldn't start with Moodie. Instead, we have Laurel and Hardy again. Better tighthead cover in Thomas. Hopefully Polly can guide us to a win this time.

Ja, Rassie is stuck between two teams. The team he should have invested in, but kept the guys that won him the 2019 world cup. Apparently that was on his player roadmap. Then he had success with adding the old head to squad, but now they are almost the entire team.

He is too scared to roll the dice and back the youngsters.

If Sasha is the next best thing since slice bread, why don't put him in a team with the like minded players around him.

If Hooker is a 12, Moodie a 13 then why not select the 3 together. Have van den berg hold down the 9 until pead is ready in the next couple of years or at least Papier. Why not play them together more often.

Have we ever seen that backline?

Then in the pack, let's continue with Cam Hannekom, Se Villiers and Venter. Throw in a few old heads but not 99% of your team

Is this just waffle from Rassie as to why he picked Kolisi? The guys is 35, constantly injured and can't keep pace with the game. He may be good for 20 min. His excuse is the following why Paul might drop out. I don't agree.

Rassie: “Siya has got some strengths, one of them being the attacking breakdown, he’s really good at sorting that out for us, which was the area we struggled with [in last Saturday’s defeat at Ellis Park].

“There were lots of times that we played badly, not because they did anything illegal, but we couldn’t get the ball away out of the breakdown when we were in really good attacking positions. Siya’s really good at that.

“And then, as you rightly say, he’s really good at getting us from defence – him and Pieter-Steph together, we call it ‘the gates’ – they’re well organised in the defensive sets in the gates. That was definitely something which we lacked.

“But Paul will just get better. He’s only played four matches. So, yes, I think Siya will definitely help us in those two areas.”

Unlike last year when Geraasmus didn’t expect to win and went for all out attack…..he has now chosen his most conservative team …..he really, really wants to win this one. The players are going to get an iron game plan, no flexibility

Williams and Kolbe both have niggles and were not available for selection

Moodie and BJ Dixon were also not available for selection

Is it a knee jerk reaction or an admission he got the wrong balance to the team ?

We spend a lot of time bemoaning how the team plays, kicking, and the hulk "smash,"as DB says. I have come to realise that it will not change soon.

That's just how the Boks play, and wishing for them to have the backline prowess of the ABs is just wishful thinking. Well, at least while Rassie is still at the helm, it won't happen.

The only problem is that if we can't beat up the opposition like we usually do, we don't have much to fall back on.

Our backline starts functioning only after our pack has smashed up theirs, and we can exploit the mistakes through counterattack.

I think all Brown did, is to enhance the counterattack even more.

A year ago, we lost at Eden Park playing how he wants to play on Saturday.

We lost on the weekend playing how he wants to play on Saturday.

Guys, I think we are gonna lose on Saturday.