rugby365's Bok team

There are some dramatic changes to our Springbok team this week, with some players having literally played themselves out of contention.

We had two team producing ordinary performances and two playing brilliant rugby.

Some players have been knocking on the door for some time and they have been rewarded with selection.

We will again name the player in each position we feel has the best form and a player ‘bubbling under’.

This team will be updated every week and will take into account general form, not just weekly form – although in some cases weekly form does play a role.

Injured players will be considered if they have a chance of recovering in time for the Lions tour and have showed good form.

Here is this week’s rugby365 Bok XV!

15 – Stefan Terblanche (Sharks):
He is still the best fullback in South Africa, even with his team having had a shocker!
Bubbling under: Zane Kirchner (Bulls)

14 – Akona Ndungane (Bulls):
He replaces his brother, Odwa, in our team after producing a fine display on attack and defence against the Waratahs.
Bubbling under: Odwa Ndungane (Sharks)

13 – Jaque Fourie (Lions):
His true value was really evident once he left the field and the Lions’ backline started leaking tries like a sieve.
Bubbling under: Adi Jacobs (Sharks)

12 – Wynand Olivier (Bulls):
He takes over from Jean de Villiers after yet another sublime midfield performance. To use a classic cliche, we know what we have in Jean, but we feel Wynand deserves a chance.
Bubbling under: Jean de Villiers (Stormers)

11 – Bryan Habana (Bulls):
He showed that the break, through injury, has done him the world of good. Not back to his best yet, but getting there. And we have fine back-ups in JP Pietersen, who will recover in time from his injury, and Jongi Nokwe, who was almost boiling over at the weekend.
Bubbling under: Jongi Nokwe (Cheetahs)

10 – Morné Steyn (Bulls):
He may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but he is without doubt the form flyhalf in South Africa.
Bubbling under: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (Cheetahs)

9 – Fourie du Preez (Bulls):
He showed again at the weekend why he is so often touted as the world’s premier scrumhalf. He has put two ordinary weeks behind him and is back where he belongs.
Bubbling under: Rory Kockott (Sharks)

8 – Pierre Spies (Bulls):
Back to his rampaging form last week and justified the faith we showed in him. Ryan Kankowski had a bad day at the office, but we won’t discard him on the basis of just one performance.
Bubbling under: Ryan Kankowski (Sharks)

7 – Juan Smith (Cheetahs):
One player who didn’t just come knocking on our selection door, he simply took the entire door frame out and showed why was such a star at the World Cup in 2007.
Bubbling under: Duane Vermeulen (Stormers):

6 – Heinrich Brüssow (Cheetahs):
We may have overlooked him in our first selection, but like his Cheetahs teammate, Brüssow made an emphatic statement at the weekend.
Bubbling under: Schalk Burger (Stormers)

5 – Victor Matfield (Bulls):
Simply the best? Johann Muller may have had a quiet day, y his standards, but it is another case where we won’t judge him on just one performance.
Bubbling under: Johann Muller (Sharks)

4 – Bakkies Botha (Bulls):
He may have earned himself a three-week ban for some over-zealous play, but you can’t deny his obvious qualities. Teams hate playing against him and for good reason too.
Bubbling under: David de Villiers (Cheetahs)

3 – Jannie du Plessis (Sharks):
He may have had a bad day at the office, but there’s nobody really making a loud enough noise. There are some whispers from Werner Kruger though.
Bubbling under: Werner Kruger (Bulls)

2 – John Smit (Sharks):
We still rate him as the best hooker in the business and we are keeping him as a tighthead back-up. Bismarck du Plessis keeps his bench spot, even though he didn’t play this past weekend. Chiliboy Ralepelle and Adriaan Strauss can make life uncomfortable for Du Plessis if they continue to improve.
Bubbling under: Bismarck du Plessis (Sharks)

1 – Gürthro Steenkamp (Bulls):
He has struggled to get going this year, but he is fast reaching the form that can make him the country’s premier loosehead prop.
Bubbling under: Heinke van der Merwe (Lions)

Previous selections – April 7: 15 Stefan Terblanche (Sharks), 14 Odwa Ndungane (Sharks), 13 Jaque Fourie (Lions), 12 Jean de Villiers (Stormers), 11 Henno Mentz (Lions), 10 Morné Steyn (Bulls), 9 Rory Kockott (Sharks), 8 Pierre Spies (Bulls), 7 Keegan Daniel (Sharks), 6 Schalk Burger (Stormers), 5 Victor Matfield (Bulls), 4 Bakkies Botha (Bulls), 3 Jannie du Plessis (Sharks), 2 John Smit (Sharks), 1 Heinke van der Merwe (Lions).

By Jan de Koning