Quite interesting that you ‘saw’ Manu Tuilagi huff and puff and come to nothing in the games against Italy and Scotland.

He wasn’t even playing in those games, but maybe your rugby knowledge didn’t take you that far.

@Blitzbok(Blitzbok)-68:

You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not surprised he didn’t do much against Italy or Scotland considering he wasn’t playing. His first game was against France in Paris. Did you actually watch any of the 6 nations?

Tuilagi is raw and selfish at times but he’s certainly not bland. Habana has been kak for a couple years now. He doesn’t scare teams anymore.

And your comment on the 2007 tests not great either. they had more frontline players on show that we did on both of the 2006 EOYT tests! its very countable. de jongh with frans inside him is very secure and much better than anything england can put together. their half backs are kak and their wings pretty average. JPP was one of the form wings of the world cup and is still one of the best wings in the world as well as habana. both are very good defenders and habana is the most well rounded and hardest working win in test rugby. pretty much case closed there. the only way england will win is if the boks are sluggish in their first hit out. we have no continuity and Meyer has to undo alot of kak that Peter left behind but I have faith that this wont happen and we will win. i donrt think it will be easy thouh coz the enlish will try to grind us down.

the comment on form earlier isnt right either. you pick your best players. no team has ever been successful or stable picking only on form.

True. ‘Talk is cheap, money buys the whisky’ as my old coach used to say. What will actually happen between the white lines is the main thing.

the endless team lists posted here that send most of us to sleep are really unconected ‘ Greatest Hit’ packages. Everybody knows who the best is apparenty. Great teams are more like great albums, and this is what Meyer needs to achieve against the Poms.

I am waiting with baited breath.

All good questions, that will be answered soon I hope. But taking his statements regarding the England tour we can presume it will be a fairly familiar team, maybe even too familiar. Taking that and the injuries into account I still think the forwards we have on offer are more than capable of controlling the English.

The backline however, fock knows. Maybe we should of tried to get Wayne Smith.

Who will make up the Bok backrow?

Who is the Bok captain?

How indeed are we going to play? What is meyers vision on the actua pitch outside these moerse lekker magical ‘structures’ we keep hearing about. What team that Meyer or Erasmus has ever coached has shown they can hurt you in the backs?

I am not talking about the boys with the big numbers just finishing off something dominating forwards have made inevitable, but genuine attacking, threatening back play. Can Meyer do this?

I don’t think their forwards will match ours. But Tuilagi is gonna punch holes in the defence all day long.

SA is vulnerable.
Why?

Change of coaching regime.
Even if the change is for the better, which we all know it is, Meyer will have a week with his squad. England have just played through a 6 Nations and have started to look like a team that has been coached for the first time in years.

SA need to establish a new squad. Despite the talk we see churned out on this site about how fantastic we are etc etc, Boks still need to build a new team to play test rugby. We have won nothing yet. England now have an established leader on the pitch and a coach nominated on his coaching ability and not who he once was. The spirit and heart in the England team, despite their limitations is palpable.

Injuries.
We have serious holes in the ammount of serious test players we can field.

Let’s see. This England team is coming with the aim of winning, not to develop anything. Let’s be clear about that. If we get it wrong it is going to be ugly.