He’s NOT the man for the job. We need a better coach and someone who lives in the real world.

I have no idea who will win on Saturday, but the All Blacks have seldom lost to us in the recent past.

However, we do have the nucleus from which a new coach could develop a world-beating side.

It was not an impressive win against Wales. If HM stays, we will get the same old for another four years.

Caught out, too. I admit that sarcasm often passes me by!

All good questions. However, I believe that the Boks will win this one. We have a balanced team with both experience and form. As far as IQ goes, I am sure that the younger players such as Lood, Eben and Pieter-Steph have enough knowledge of rugby (hardly rocket science) to succeed. Meyer appears to have relied on EQ (emotional intelligence) by sticking with older players past their best days. The head should rule the heart not the other way around.

Great read. No one should question your support for the Boks. However, that doesn’t mean that criticising some of the decisions by Heyneke Meyer in the past is heresy.

HM has often insisted that experience trumps form but now that Jean de Villiers is out and Victor Matfield is still suffering from a hamstring strain, we have a Bok team that has enough experience, form and physicality. I note, however, that our pack is no heavier than some of the other top teams (last time I looked the bigger packs averaged 251lbs a player).

This looks like our best team and one that should beat Wales. It will be an arm wrestle but we have a better balanced team. For me, Lood de Jager’s selection to start was a no-brainer even it Matfield was fit. He is excellent in lineouts and stronger in other aspects of play. Frans Malherbe over Jannie du Plessis also a smart choice. Du Plessis has battled to play 80 minutes.

It is one thing to value experience but another to hang on to players past their best days. Matfield, for all his lineout skills, knows one way to play, the way that the Boks have played with success in years gone by. But the game has changed and we now need a better all-round game. The Bok team to play Wales qualifies in my view.

Wales, ironically, play a conservative game, too. So the battle at forward and especially the breakdown will be vital. It should go without saying.

I enjoyed your story, Biltong. It’s fair and balanced, too. At times, I tire of all the rah-rah-rah stuff about the Boks from fans who can see no wrong in our tactics of the past. For the first time I see a Bok team that can match and even beat the best. Here’s hoping …

We had better be spot on with our kicks. Too far and we will feed the enemy. Du Preez better be on his game. HM’s game plan depends on that.

World Cup stats of all teams show that Lood de Jager rates sixth best in line-out steals and Victor Matfield 13th. They both started in 2 games. In addition, de Jager runs like a youngster and Matfield like a 38-year-old.

Our backs need to run into space and not just charge into the tackle. Agreed, variation is key, but I doubt the Boks will do that. It will be the same old domination game.

Our forwards are no bigger than those of Australia, England and France. All have an average weight of 251 lbs per player.

Eddie Jones did his homework and worked out a plan to beat the Boks.

Realistic not negative. We do have the players but not the game plan. Sticking to the same Plan A without a Plan B is not going in the right direction. Our pool record is not what we hoped for: defeat by Japan and wins over Samoa and a second-string Scotland.

Of course we can beat any team on the day, but our predictable play could cost us dear.

Stats: damn lies, said Mark Twain. SA fans always talk about our bigger forwards. Stats from the UK Telegraph show that Australia, England, South Africa and France have the heaviest packs all at an average weight per player of 251 lbs.

New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland are next with an average weight of 249 lbs.

The business end will be at the breakdown and the arm wrestle for the ball when Bizzy and the boys battle the likes of Pocock and McCaw.

Several sports writers have changed their tune lately. Especially after the Japan disaster. Some still hang on to the hope that Jean and Vic will be vital to our chances. We do need experience, but form is very important.

Dropping Lood de Jager so Matfield could play was stupid. And Jesse Kriel has shown better form that De Villiers.

We should beat Samoa. My worry is that the quarters will be a problem against the better teams, who know how to counter our way of playing.

Quotas are a problem, but we have the players to win matches. It is about the make-up of the starting team and our tactics.

Given an intelligent game plan and allowing the captain on the field to decide on tactics would help.And don’t try to hammer the opposition, outwit them.

Load shedding, tender graft, golden handshakes, crime, incompetent officials, you name it, SA is is a mess. Now it’s rugby. We deserve better.

Yes. Sack Meyer. He has been a flop. Few younger players brought through into Test rugby and given game time in the past few years. Reliance on experience from players beyond their best. Our coaching staff are relatively inexperienced internationally. And the keeping of old pals such at Matfield in the team.

New Zealand don’t include overseas players in their team. The Aussies also have strict rules about selecting overseas players. This encourages players to stay and play at home. And the rule pays off. McCaw, Carter etc could easily have taken the money and played overseas. They will now that their careers are coming to an end.

Experience is indeed a false prophet. Why leave a player in form out of a team because of the spurious reason that an experienced player beyond his best is the answer? On form, Lood de Jager is better than Matfield, Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende are both better than Jean de Villiers and Willie le Roux better than Zane Kirchner.

And where are the young props? We have to rely on Jannie du Plessis. Why no Steven Kitshoff? And why play Coenie Oosthuizen? Why Morne Steyn over Elton Jantjies? And why no Lions players in the Bok squad, which has so many Blue Bulls?

New Zealand teaches schoolboys skills such as “catch-pass” at an early stage while our schoolboys are taught the same old outdated rugby tactics. Watch any game in schools, under-19, under-21 etc and you see it.

We do need a shake-up. Regardless of how the Boks do in the World Cup, we should say thanks but no thanks to Meyer and start afresh. The players and the fans deserve a better coach.

Biltong and the boys have been right in criticism of Meyer. I have been critical, too. He has relied on players beyond their best and not been focused on form. Yet again, we get another apology to the nation. Yet Heyneke will stubbornly stick to his game plan. The Boks showed plenty of brawn but little flair.

We let the ball out to the backs too little and tried to overpower Japan. They played smarter rugby. No surprise because Eddie Jones is an astute coach. We can expect the same again from the Boks. Samoa and Scotland will be confident after the Bok defeat by Japan.

We have too many players carrying injuries or returning from injury. Matfield and Jean de Villiers played OK, but OK will not be good enough. The ref was even-handed and the Coenie Oostuizen penalty and yellow card gave Japan the chance for victory. It was an undisciplined and poor performance by the Boks. Too much quizzing the ref and too often Boks didn’t roll away and got penalised.

We can still make the quarters but I won’t be betting on it.

Excellent article. Great read. Why read the mainstream media in SA when you can read articles like this?

The internet has opened up an opportunity for writers, who do not work full-time as journalists, to say their say. A refreshing change from those who play “yes sir, no sir” with Heyneke Meyer and just rely on his comments and excuses.

Thanks Harry, Biltong and RobC. I remain a fan!

Most of the teams are trying different combinations with the quarters in mind. The Bok team will be very different from the ones that played recently when the going gets tough. I await the Bok A team …

Good in the lineouts, yes. Slow in general play. We can’t afford passengers in the WC. You need to be good in both aspects.

I like Lambie at pivot but HM believes that big is better … brawn is better than brain. So I believe that he will go with Pollard.

Many Afrikaners have coloured blood in them. If they came out of the political closet, we could have more players of colour in the Springbok squad!

Because of poor planning, we are now scratching around for players. It’s true the Blacks are also loaded with experience, but their depth is impressive.

Take the pivot position: they have, barring injury, about five top flyhalves to call on. And the same goes for almost all positions.

HM has been forced to opt for experience because he has not brought through enough emerging young stars. At lock, Etzebeth is a no-brainer, but de Jager and du Toit are relative new boys and the jury is out on how they will perform in the WC.

So it’s going to be Matfield. The question is how is he going to perform against younger and fitter locks from other top teams?

He is fit for his age, but age does take a toll on pace and as one gets older, everyone becomes more susceptible to injury.

You need experience, sure, but others are quicker and also get involved in the breakdown in the fight for the ball. Vic hangs back and serves as a link to other players while de Jager, Du Toit or Etzebeth join the fray.

HM is a victim of his own decisions in the past. Now he retreats into the laager and hopes his experienced hitmen will fight off the Indians. I hope he succeeds!

According to the laws of rugby, it is up to each team, not the referee, to decide who is “suitably trained and experienced” to play each position in the front row. The decision or call was made by South African officials.

The call was stupid. At the time, we were scrumming well and Trevor Nyakane could have slotted in. In my view, we gave the game away.

Yep! However the ABs have been bringing through plenty of players in the past few years.

The can rely on their seasoned players but the relative newcomers have been given more Test game time than some of ours.

I am not so sure we will reach the semis let alone the quarters.

If predictions mean anything, they should hold the prize giving first, give the Webb Ellis trophy to the All Blacks and hold the tournament afterwards!

Nonetheless, the ABs are favourites with England, Ireland, the Wallabies and Springboks in my mix. Maybe even the Frogs! You never know with the French.

For the Boks, all will decide on what coach Heyneke Meyer decides. I don’t rate our chances if his insists on an outdated game plan, relies on power not guile and believes that old, experienced players will bring home the bacon. The Boks have the players to match the best but HM needs have the balls to field the in-form players.

For all his experience, I feel that Victor Matfield will be a liability in the loose. I would go with Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth as starting locks. I would also go with Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel at centre and have Jean de Villiers on the bench.

Of course, I am just dreaming. That isn’t going to happen.

We are all about over-powering the opposition not out-smarting them.

Beware Samoa and the Scots in the pool games. If the Boks have an off-day and lose, they could have me wringing my hands in frustration.

Samoa are no easy beats and Scotland ditto. Samoa have the forwards to give us trouble. It will depend on what Heyneke Meyer comes up with and we will need be on our game.

Agree. We have enough good players, just the wrong coach. Poor tactics, no flair. HM is not a thinker. It’s his way or the highway, which he might finish up being on it.