World Cup-winning Boks v Rest of SA
BATTLE OF THE AGES: There have been a couple of ideas going around on how SA Rugby can formulate matches involving the country’s best talent later this year.
There have been reports over the last few days that a ‘State of Origin’ competition could be an alternative for internationals if the Springboks cannot play.
READ: BEST FORMAT FOR SA ‘STATE OF ORIGIN’ SERIES?
Teams could be formed based on where they were born, schooled, made their provincial debut or played most of their rugby.
Other proposals include a North versus South selection, or Coastal versus Inland teams.
One suggestion from one of our readers is a match between the World Cup-winning Springbok team against a ‘Rest of South Africa’ team.
It could be an intriguing match in terms of testing South Africa’s depth and helping the Bok selectors ahead of next year’s British and Irish Lions series.
It will also be a mouth-watering encounter for fans and pundits who all have their own ideas of who should be in the Springbok team come 2021.
Below we have selected two teams for this hypothetical match.
One hindrance for this match might be overseas club commitments, but we have ignored that for now.
One is the World Cup-winning Bok team that played in the Final against England, which has a few changes to it due to some retirements. Francois Louw and Tendai Mtawarira have been swapped out with players from the wider World Cup squad.
Our ‘Rest of SA’ team is made up players from the wider World Cup squad who did not feature in the Final and other Bok players who were not part of last year’s squad and some in-form uncapped players, who might be involved in next year’s B&I Lions series.
*Please feel free to drop your own selections, formats or selection criteria below.
Teams:
World Cup winning Boks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Rudolph Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Albertus Smith, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn.
Rest of SA: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Aphelele Fassi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Jaco Coetzee, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Joseph Dweba 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.
Replacements: 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 James Venter 21 Sanele Nohamba 22 Damian Willemse, 23 Elton Jantjies.
