The Springboks World Cup team takes shape with Fourie allowed to play

So Harry, we have a squad of four-thousand-and-twenty-seven, with only two surprises: no Francois Pienaar, no Joel Stransky.

I wouldn't take Morne Steyn. And Matfield will probably go but I wouldn't play him. It's Etzebeth gets injured we're buggered. He's one of the most important players in the side. The others being Bissie, Flo, Vermeulen and du Preez. Habana and Willie need to fire too. Would try get Frans Steyn there

Yes, a yucky position Harry though it's more the fans I feel for. They sure get the raw end of all this extraordinary set of circumstances all seemingly designed to specifically derail the Boks. Makes me feel so lucky with what we have here. Not sure I would bother supporting a side that has to fight against so many factors just to get on the field. Times have sure been better. Hang in there Harry... :-)

I have two words for national coaches who insist on "bigs": "Aaron" and "Smith".

Harry, being "very young" is no excuse; he has to compete with, and against, his cohorts, some of whom are also very young (as has been the case in the past). I hope, if he insists on Goosen, that he burns his fingers very soon (sooner [WIV] rather than later [RWC]. Yes, I suspect you are right regarding de Klerk, but I'm sure HM would also have seen him tackle and bring down Duane Vermeulen (man-alone) at Newlands. (And yes, real pity about Frans)

I don't think we need to collate anyway, Harry; I suspect you've got it waxed with your 40-man RC squad. Couple of possible curve balls though: 1) Goosen has received scathing progress reports from his French coach. Seems he is not working as hard as he should be. No doubt HM would be aware of this, and these report could well (for HM) correlate with Goosen's prior underperformance in camp and his mental fragility. Out of this flows the faint possibility that HM might include Morne Steyn, particularly on the strength of his perceived recent match-winning performances for his club. [It would be a shock, but I would not be surprised] 2) I don't think F. Steyn wil be included. Too much has happened. 3) If HM is in an adventurous mood (which he seldom is) he will find a way to include a) Jaco Kriel, possibly at the cost of Mohoje (I know it's not like for like, but Kriel drives like a 7, and SB can go 7 anyhow). b) F. de Klerk for Pienaar, to test him at this level. 4) Coenie Oosthuizen is not a tight-head, and he never will be (more importantly, I think HM must now have realised this). Nyakane is equally effective at TH as he is at TH, so that is an option. But Vincent Koch is also good enough, and HM must know this too...I hope. The World IV and RC games will be the perfect (and only) opportunity to evaluate and refine RWC combinatons. For example, Pollard and De Allende need some game time together; Jesse Kriel needs to be exposed to test-level rugby; the "new" front row(s) will need to be blooded etc. I think it would be a mistake to go the cotton-wool route (even for the "certain" match 15+).

It's getting very tricky to gauge the quality of the Springboks these days Harry. On one hand I have no confidence in selecting a player from either the NH and/ or Japanese comps, but in SA they get to choose from either the five SXV sides or one of many top players from overseas. That makes the professional player pool somewhat larger than either oz or NZ, and although it provides Meyer with obvious logistical headaches, it's also a bonus in other respects. For me the thought of Fourie and FDP returning is non sensical in that they aren't considered for the usual Bok sides but it's ok to get them out of the box every four years for the a World Cup. That's cos I'm a stickler for the standard of rugby one requires to play their best at test level, and for me that is the SXV. But that seems to be changing. The NH is providing sides like Ireland and Engand who are now competing with and beating the SH 3 more regularly, NZ less so though we've had more moments recently than we care to have. So SA remain an enigma and this year they would have had the Lions through had the oz sides rested their players as SA and NZ did so things are not too bad. It's just harder to keep a handle on who's around these days. I suppose Bekker will be 'missed' but it's a strange concept when he's not been playing for the boks anyway. Apples and pears? Must get frustrating for Bok fans, to sit through the SXV then watch a Bok side half full of players not playing it.

yes. this sort of rubbish makes international league a joke. when clubs have more clout than countries , the international game well suffer. fiji is held hostage by french clubs and their national team often has late changes.

JDV is still out injured isn`t he??

Same here matt. Disgraceful if its really what happened. Why do we hear those stories of clubs not releasing players in rugby and not so much in football where the money involved istenfold? Imo bekker is much more of an asset for the boks than fourie (the steelers got that right I reckon !)

I'm not a lawyer, much less one who understands WR's contracting policies, but if those players made their deals saying, "I'm no longer eligible for test rugby, so won't be disappearing mid-season, so pay me more because I am 100% committed to the club", but have now been prevailed upon to make themselves available for test matches, I think it reasonable for their club to have a veto over allowing the players to renege on part of their deal. Surely, if he wanted to play the RWC more than he wants to continue playing in Japan, Becker could do so, but no discredit to him to want a better financial future for his family. Ed Pye: Surely the RWC is in the schedule for mandatory release by clubs. If not, it is simply crazy.

If it's within the agreed window - I'm not sure if the WC falls within that window, but there's also the trend of players feeling the pressure of clubs not to play internationals.

That's what I thought. Don't the clubs have to release players for international matches?