The Springboks kick off their Rugby Championship campaign in Soweto on Sunday morning against Argentina, hours after the Bledisloe Cup opener in Sydney.
Preparing for Argentina must be a difficult for Heyneke Meyer due to the limited visibility of the Argentinian players as opposed to the Wallaby and All Black players.
In those terms, it is as a tough as a first-up tournament Test match can get.
The advantage he has however is that the game is being played in Johannesburg, and Meyer will look to milk that.
The South African team looks as solid as ever, but I do question the selection of Eben Etzebeth.
The guy is a powerhouse no doubt, but with limited game time this season due to injury he might have been better coming off the bench.
The issue there is that Werner Kruger and Flip van der Merwe are rather average and the apparent lack of locks must be a concern for Bok supporters everywhere.
There is always some prime beef coming through the South African system and this is as good a time as any to expose some of the young locks to the bright lights of Test rugby.
Bruticus
Roar Pro
Spot on. The guy had a cracking game and I just love watching him play. He and Sam Whitelock are the premier locks in world rugby today and their duel in this year's RC (not to mention the years to come) will be absolutely fascinating.
Shamwari
Guest
"...but I do question the selection of Eben Etzebeth." We'll he certainly put that notion to bed by playing a great game, didn't he? Etzabeth is the next Bakkie Botha - he has the mongrel in him, plays the game well and hard, is developing the X factor and to cap it all doesn't give as many penalties as Botha. The thinking man's BB.
Johnno
Guest
Ezbeth is so aggressive and physical, love it. One of the argies tried to gee him up with some face slaps, half joking, half serious, was more on the joke side, and Ezbeth grabbed his throat and did a throat kill on him, the argue backrower didn't expect it, and backed away, he didn't wanted want anything to do with Ezbeth, Ezbeth has that raw aggro you either have it or you don't , you gotta be born with it. MMM'S wasn't his fiery self last night.
KiwiDave
Roar Guru
After watching last nights game I am super impressed by the Springboks. They were brilliant. I think the new rules have really effected Argentina as their true strength has always been the power of their scrum. On last nights performance I think the All Blacks will really have their hands full when they meet over there. Their second half was pure rugby at its best and they were relentless. Finally the boks have clicked under HM and the injection of new blood into the squad was brilliant. Ezbeth and Strauss were fantastic last night
Harry Jones
Guest
No problem! We SA guys are touchy! Thanks for mentioning the SA-ARG match. This is a good Bok squad: a mix of speed and power, young and seasoned, tricky and brutal, with a lot of guys who've won trophies.
Bruticus
Roar Pro
My apologies about the article fellas and whilst I didn't really want to point fingers it seems I must. This article was centred around the SA and Argentina teams selected which has been completely edited out for what reason I do not know. I did not see a single other article naming the teams for that clash and thinking that a serious omission I did a quick article. The other point is that the SA team list had Juandre Kruger in it and I proceeded to use the family name in the article body. Due to the deletion of the team lists, the editor clearly had to include the given names but made a mistake by going with Werner Kruger. Without the team lists the article is rather poor and my apologies for that and it would be nice to hear from The Roar editors as to why they omitted the team lists.
Tane Mahuta
Guest
Rettalick is going to be up there. Hes excellent at ruck and maul and a monster in defence. Id have all 3 in my World IV.
There are but a few springboks that are either already world class and those still young but have shown enough to become world class and Etzebeth is at the top of that list.
atlas
Guest
agree, and Etzebeth doesn't turn 22 till October; un-injured he and Sam Whitelock (25) should have careers like Matfield and co, many good years ahead of them
Harry Jones
Guest
The credibility of this piece would be enhanced if "Werner" Kruger (a prop not selected) was not characterized as a lock. And one if the easiest selections is Eben Etzebeth, who would probably be starting on any Test team, including the All Blacks.
Alan
Roar Guru
C'mon pumas. Really tough test but exposure against the best teams will set Argentina well for 2015, given that the All Blacks are in the same group