I'd like to interject some thoughts of my own.
Marcel Coetzee has been playing exceptionally well and I'm glad we have someone like him coming in; however I think against Australia we would prefer a guy like Willem Alberts which may go contrary to what you'd think is required against a team coached by a man that likes to move the opposition pack around. At least this is how I observed the Reds playing during 2011.
Granted, when we played Australia last year they were not a settled team, but I believe Alberts' physical presence makes a difference against a team renowned for their cunning tactics and ability in the back division rather than physical prowess. Having said that, I have seen numerous occasions where we got off second best in the physical department against the Wallabies, so I'm taking nothing away from their (your) ability to produce in this department.
I have the match from Brisbane 2013 and there's a moment when the Wallabies are on attack and Francois Louw and Bismarck du Plessis simultaneously secure the ball at the breakdown. Willem Alberts is clearly heard on the microphone saying "Great fucking work boys!" which ultimately results in the ref warning Jean de Villiers that his team is being too vocal both to him and amongst themselves.
This is the kind of thing that opposition teams don't like I imagine and I base this on my experience as a lightweight schoolboy winger always taking the flack from the big boys opposition teams would deliberately send my way. It's all good tackling them (which is coincidentally the only real skill I had on the pitch) but it gets tiring after a while and the chirping douses your spirit as you continue receiving bludgeoning bricks sent your way.
My second bit of thought relates to Bismarck du Plessis being benched for Strauss in this game. Enough has been said about the merits of both not only on previous occasions but also in this thread. Yet, for this specific game I think it is a good move simply because I personally think Bismarck is a bit tired.
Thirdly, while I understand many people make the statement that your tight head is the first name on your team sheet and how experience, particularly to front row players is vital, I for one don't care much for Jannie playing at this stage. However; I don't think he is done with or anything like that naturally coming from doomsayers. I simply think we really need to bite the bullet and stick with an alternative tight head for a few consecutive games.
At the moment we have Frans Malherbe, Lourens Adriaanse and the guy from the Bulls all with less than 5 caps each and mostly off the bench as well. Giving a young guy 5-10 games this season will set us up nicely in the event we require someone other than Jannie next year and it also allows the incumbent some seriously needed rest. It may seem risky but perhaps an inexperienced prop is no worse than a severely overplayed one.
Fourth: What is going through Handre Pollard's mind at the moment? I have always respected Lambie's abilities, though it must be really depressing for the young chap to drop out of the 23 altogether - especially considering he is also a centre option which is a department we lack in at present.
It has been quite a while since such a significant amount of changes was made to a Bok 23. Probably not since Heyneke's first season in charge did this happen when he was still testing combinations and players' abilities.
So apart from the flailing scrum and general forward effort around the breakdown we're also creating unnecessary doubt in the minds of other (young) players coming through.
I guess Heyneke knows what he is doing and I hope him being a sports psychologist helps mitigate what could well turn out to be a catastrophic season if this ends up being a bad loss.
It's not unlikely considering we're not the only ones with our backs against the wall. The All Blacks did us a great disservice with their ruthless demolition of a team clearly having a once-off off night.
The last part in particular is the difference between the two teams at the moment. The Springboks having been so consistent last season have had a series of indifferent games this year:
- Poor scrum against the World XV first outing.
- Rectified to a decent degree first game against Wales.
- Terrible game with our 2nd test against Wales - a game anyone would agree we deserved to lose.
- Much better game against a severely depleted and tired Scottish side which may very well have given us a false sense of security.
- Shitty game in shitty weather, albeit weather that traditionally suits us more than Aus or even NZ I'd venture and probably more in line with what could be expected 2015, against Arg. Seen as a mishap.
- Even worse performance with the forwards taking a real pounding again in Argentina. Now the doubts are firmly in the minds of all concerned.
Australia on the other hand have had:
- Great game against France, very good victory that only affirmed their upward trend from the EOYT of 2013.
- Clinically dealt with a predictably fired up French outfit second time around, playing a game not traditionally associated with Wallaby rugby and still beating a very game French side.
- Put away any doubts as to their superiority over the French in the 3rd game.
- Drew against the World's #1 side playing for history, albeit in bad weather - which illustrates this is no weakness of the Wallabies, if anything it appears to have become something they have embraced.
- Experienced a once-off demolition at the hands of a team with 1 loss in 39 games. Now surely fired up to rectify this mishap.
