Springboks 2022

[Owen]

Thought I'd start a thread that can hopefully run the duration of this rugby season.

What you guys think of the squad?

I reckon it's one of the strongest most versatile squads we've had in many years.

Our depth is looking great considering the players local and overseas that never made it.

World class tight and loose forwards coming out of our ears.

Great mixture of experience and youth.
Evan Roos looks exceptional at only 22 years old.

Very happy Marcel is back in the mix. Outstanding player would walk into any national team.

Would have left Mapimpi out for Tambwe. He does much more.

Willie VERY lucky to still be there considering Tyrone Greene has been outstanding overseas.

To think RG Snyman still to come back.

No reason why we can't achieve an 80% win rate this season with the form alot of the players have.

[Gungets Tuft]

Can't understand Willie, for form reasons, he's not had a good game for quite a while.

Elton shouldn't be there, period. He's not good enough and now he's got this criminal issue hanging over his head. Sends many wrong messages.

[Swannie1960]

+1 on Elton. Should be a matter of principle.

[IcePick88]

Thought I'd start a thread that can hopefully run the duration of this rugby season.

What you guys think of the squad?

I reckon it's one of the strongest most versatile squads we've had in many years.

Our depth is looking great considering the players local and overseas that never made it.

World class tight and loose forwards coming out of our ears.

Great mixture of experience and youth.
Evan Roos looks exceptional at only 22 years old.

Very happy Marcel is back in the mix. Outstanding player would walk into any national team.

Would have left Mapimpi out for Tambwe. He does much more.

Willie VERY lucky to still be there considering Tyrone Greene has been outstanding overseas.

To think RG Snyman still to come back.

No reason why we can't achieve an 80% win rate this season with the form alot of the players have.

Although I like what Mapimpi has done so far, I feel he only shines when there is a semi open tryline. Hey, I could be wrong and missed all his other work on the field, but yeah.

Tambwe cannot play for SA as he is not a SA citizen.

Elton. Meh. Never really stood out as a test player for me. Ok bench player.

[Rainier Vermaak]

Willie and Mapimpi is there because of the message it sends and due to the culture of the team.

[FatPlant]

Although I like what Mapimpi has done so far, I feel he only shines when there is a semi open tryline. Hey, I could be wrong and missed all his other work on the field, but yeah.

Tambwe cannot play for SA as he is not a SA citizen.

Elton. Meh. Never really stood out as a test player for me. Ok bench player.

Remember Beast Mtawarira...? He played initially without citizenship, but it caused issues. So they gave him citizenship a year later. Same can be done for Tambwe, if needed. But I do feel we might be fine with our current stock of wings, IMHO it isn't a specialized position that would necessitate this kind of thing.

"Although Mtawarira was fully eligible to play for South Africa under IRB rules, his Zimbabwean nationality was a sticking point in 2009 and 2010. South Africa has a policy of only allowing its nationals to represent the country, although it has been somewhat flexible; the South African Rugby Union (SARU) officially cleared him to play with the Boks in the November 2009 Tests, after receiving clearance from the country's sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile.<sup>[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendai_Mtawarira</sup>

[IcePick88]

Remember Beast Mtawarira...? He played initially without citizenship, but it caused issues. So they gave him citizenship a year later. Same can be done for Tambwe, if needed. But I do feel we might be fine with our current stock of wings, IMHO it isn't a specialized position that would necessitate this kind of thing.

"Although Mtawarira was fully eligible to play for South Africa under IRB rules, his Zimbabwean nationality was a sticking point in 2009 and 2010. South Africa has a policy of only allowing its nationals to represent the country, although it has been somewhat flexible; the South African Rugby Union (SARU) officially cleared him to play with the Boks in the November 2009 Tests, after receiving clearance from the country's sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile.<sup>[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendai_Mtawarira</sup>

https://www.news24.com/sport/rugby/u...sages-20220615

[JLK]

Their selection is based on more things then the performance we saw.

I would like to Hendricks there also in stead of De-alendig.

[bigboy529]

Remember Beast Mtawarira...? He played initially without citizenship, but it caused issues. So they gave him citizenship a year later. Same can be done for Tambwe, if needed. But I do feel we might be fine with our current stock of wings, IMHO it isn't a specialized position that would necessitate this kind of thing.

"Although Mtawarira was fully eligible to play for South Africa under IRB rules, his Zimbabwean nationality was a sticking point in 2009 and 2010. South Africa has a policy of only allowing its nationals to represent the country, although it has been somewhat flexible; the South African Rugby Union (SARU) officially cleared him to play with the Boks in the November 2009 Tests, after receiving clearance from the country's sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile.<sup>[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendai_Mtawarira</sup>

Beast was a resident by that time and later also became a full sitizen.
The difference with Tambwe seams to be that he isn't a resident at this stage, he is a refugee with resident status, he has a SA passport, but as a refugee, not as a sitizen. Apparently there is a difference.

[Snyks]

Their selection is based on more things then the performance we saw.

I would like to Hendricks there also in stead of De-alendig.

And unfortunately, it just shows you how little you know of the game. De Allende was by far our best back-line player since before the world cup and bar PSDT, the best performer by far. Hendricks has a heart condition which prevents SARFU from touching him. He had to sign a special indemnity just to play for the Bulls.

[HannesS]

A few SA players coming thru the ranks.

Will be interesting to see how the Boks compare against other nations because I get the sense that the standard of world rugby has gone down a notch while ours went up.

[JLK]

And unfortunately, it just shows you how little you know of the game.

Unfortunately you did not see my smile.

[bigboy529]

A few SA players coming thru the ranks.

Will be interesting to see how the Boks compare against other nations because I get the sense that the standard of world rugby has gone down a notch while ours went up.

Well I for one was very skeptical about our chances back when the URC tournament started and even more so after the first oversees round when all our teams pretty much kept getting big hidings, but yet look where we are now, guaranteed to win the URC.

Apart from the different style of rugby, it has always been my opinion that European rugby is sort of a softer, easier game than our rugby, also the reason why our guys has always done very well in Europe and easily stand out when going over to play for European clubs.

It will be interesting to see how we match up to the AB's and Ausies, must say I didn't watch to many Super Rugby Pacific games, but from the few I watched I must say, it looks like the over all quality of their rugby dropped.
They'll probably never admit it of course, but I think their rugby is poorer for no longer playing against the SA teams.

[StangV2_0]

Well I for one was very skeptical about our chances back when the URC tournament started and even more so after the first oversees round when all our teams pretty much kept getting big hidings, but yet look where we are now, guaranteed to win the URC.

Apart from the different style of rugby, it has always been my opinion that European rugby is sort of a softer, easier game than our rugby, also the reason why our guys has always done very well in Europe and easily stand out when going over to play for European clubs.

It will be interesting to see how we match up to the AB's and Ausies, must say I didn't watch to many Super Rugby Pacific games, but from the few I watched I must say, it looks like the over all quality of their rugby dropped.
They'll probably never admit it of course, but I think their rugby is poorer for no longer playing against the SA teams.

I think we will miss playing them too. I dont feel its a coincidence that the strongest teams in world rugby over the last 2 decades have consistently been the countries taking part in Super Rugby. That being NZ, Aus and Boks. These three teams were always the ones to beat. They always pushed us in Super Rugby and we always had to lift our game. Same for them. We all benefitted from this and come the end of year tours the Southern Hemisphere teams traditionally dominated.
The national teams that have won the most Rugby World Cups are countries who took part in Super Rugby. NZ three. Sa three. Aus two. With England then only having one victory.

Once we have been in the URC for another season or 2 their teams will have lifted their game in return.

Some people may not wish to admit it just yet, but I do feel we will miss the experience gained in Super Rugby. Whether it will affect our game in the future remains to be seen.

[Kariba]

I think we will miss playing them too. I dont feel its a coincidence that the strongest teams in world rugby over the last 2 decades have consistently been the countries taking part in Super Rugby. That being NZ, Aus and Boks. These three teams were always the ones to beat. They always pushed us in Super Rugby and we always had to lift our game. Same for them. We all benefitted from this and come the end of year tours the Southern Hemisphere teams traditionally dominated.
The national teams that have won the most Rugby World Cups are countries who took part in Super Rugby. NZ three. Sa three. Aus two. With England then only having one victory.

Once we have been in the URC for another season or 2 their teams will have lifted their game in return.

Some people may not wish to admit it just yet, but I do feel we will miss the experience gained in Super Rugby. Whether it will affect our game in the future remains to be seen.

I'm not so convinced, I sense a touch of jealousy coming from NZ ranks, watching the Breakdown, at the SA teams now playing with the European powerhouses. I always thought that without the SA franchises bringing the physical side of the game to the Pacific nations, their rugby tends to unravel into a very loose unstructured game which is never how a high stakes test match is played. Test match rugby is much more similar to the way the Irish teams play, like the Bulls Leinster game last weekend, tight and physical.

So all in all I think our participation in the URC may not benefit us as much as it benefits the European teams we are now playing week in week out, which will in turn benefit their national teams, but on the flipside I think the absence of SA sides in Super Rugby will weaken All Black and Ozzie rugby.

The European nations will come closer to the AB's and Boks as a result.

[hatjohan]

As long as se dont get "softer" by playing in europe

[plunger]

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Willie and Mapimpi is there because of the message it sends and due to the culture of the team.

Mapimpi is an incredible finisher. His try scoring records shows this. A pity he is so old otherwise I suspect he would beat habanas record.
I think he holds the highest scoring try record of any bok per game . He also is very humble and quiet. I feel he is a real asset to S Africa.

[bigboy529]

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Mapimpi is an incredible finisher. His try scoring records shows this. A pity he is so old otherwise I suspect he would beat habanas record.
I think he holds the highest scoring try record of any bok per game . He also is very humble and quiet. I feel he is a real asset to S Africa.

+1 I said it in last years thread already, if he only had the time, he would have beaten Habana's record easily at his scoring rate, if only he was 5 years younger.
Another season or 3 including the next WC and he will probably take the number 2 spot, over taking Joost.
His try scoring average is 0.8, Habana retired at 0.54, nobody else in the top 10 is above 0.5.

[Owen]

VERY happy to hear that stadiums are allowed to go back to full capacity.

Hopefully all 3 tests against Wales will be sold out.

Been ages since the bokke played in front of a full stadium at home.

Already can't wait until the 2 home tests against the kiwis.

[Karol]

Can't understand Willie, for form reasons, he's not had a good game for quite a while.

Elton shouldn't be there, period. He's not good enough and now he's got this criminal issue hanging over his head. Sends many wrong messages.

you have to dig deeper into his stats and you will understand why Willie