Putting on my selectors hat...

The eagerly awaited Tri Nations series between the worlds leading rugby nations is around the corner and with a match against a northern hemisphere nation standing in the way, players are probably eager to fast forward a few weeks.

Australia beaten by England this past weekend are sure to want to rectify things against Ireland but the Wallabies look the most brittle of the three southern hemisphere giants.

New Zealand are looking good with Dan Carter back in form and convincing wins the past two weekends.

South Africa look good as well and although not highly convincing against Italy this past weekend, when Peter de Villiers selects his first XV it will be a different story. Let's take a look at the possible selection.

Loose Head Prop:
With Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira fighting to become a South African citizen, the door is wide open for Gurthro Steenkamp who has put in two stellar performances for the Boks after a solid season for the Super 14 winning Bulls.

Hooker:
There is no contest with de Villiers clearly not including Gary Botha in his plans and Bismark du Plessis recovering from surgery, John Smit is the obvious choice for hooker and captain.

Tight Head Prop:
Three players are in contention for the No.3 jersey. BJ Botha has been uncharacteristically unconvincing and CJ van der Linde needs to acclimatise to the Southern Hemisphere pace of the game again. So after a notable performance against a solid Italian front row Jannie du Plessis gets the nod.

Second Row:
There was talk about Danie Russouw putting pressure on Bakkies Botha for the No.4 jersey, rightfully so after a superb Super 14 for the Bulls and good performances for the Boks. Botha silenced any critics with a powerhouse performance in his return match. The World Cup winning combination of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha are paired to form the Bok engine room.

Openside Flanker:
Dewald Potgieter, Francois Louw and Schalk Burger are all available for the No.6 jersey but with regular Blindside Flank Juan Smith still unavailable Schalk will don the No.7 jumper. From recent performances of Louw and Potgieter, Louw has been the pick of the two. Francois Louw comes off the back of a great Super 14 with the Stormers and has shown that he can handle his own in the Test arena.

Blindside Flanker:
Schalk Burger has been immense for the Stormers this season and is the ideal candidate on the Blindside in place of Juan Smith. His partnership with Francois Louw will also bode well for the Boks.

No. 8:

Ryan Kankowski, Danie Russouw and Pierre Spies are all in the mix for the No.8 position but no one will argue that Pierre Spies is the obvious choice with Kanko and Russouw in all likelihood providing cover from the bench.

Scrumhalf:

There has been lots of debate around the selection of Ricky Januarie and the playing of Ruan Pienaar at fly half instead of his accustomed No.9. Januarie has been inconsistent but can have matches where he is untouchable. Pienaar played a fair amount of games at scrumhalf for the Sharks during the Super 14 and is currently not the first choice flyhalf for the Boks. With quicker service and a good eye for the situation Ruan Pienaar gets the No.9 Jersey.

Fly half:

Butch James is back in the Springbok mix and we all know what he can do! James looks off the pace and probably needs more match practice before can mount a serious claim. With Pienaar the prime suspect at scrumhalf, Morne Steyn is in great form and showed last Saturday that we has the footwork as well with his jinking try.

Left Wing:

Bryan Habana picks himself in a position with no real contenders. Van den Heever, Francois Hougaard and Gio Aplon have all showed promise this season but the man who has raced a cheetah is still South Africa's best wing.

Inside Centre:

Juan de Jongh has burst onto the scene and is such an exciting player! His combination with Jaque Fourie at the Stormers this season has been great to watch. Butch James was also trialed in the No.12 jumper but there remains one man for the job, Jean de Villiers.

Outside Centre:

Jaque Fourie has had an outstanding season after moving from the Lions to the Cape. No contest.

Right Wing:

Gerhard van den Heever, Francois Hougaard and Gio Aplon have the opportunity to fill the Right Wing vacancy left open by the injured JP Peterson. Only Aplon has been given a real opportunity to showcase his talents and he has grabbed it with both hands. His performances have been good enough to secure him the No.14 shirt. I would, however, like to see van den Heever given a chance.

Fullback:

Frans Steyn, Zane Kirchner and Joe Pietersen are all names that could fill the Fullback position. The jury is still out on Kirchner's abilities and Pietersen has not been given a real chance. Steyn is an outstanding player but has too many moments of madness at this stage of his career. This Tri Nations series will be perfect for Frans Steyn to settle in and get rid of the flashy play that has often got the critics talking.

1. Gurthro Steenkamp

2. John Smit

3. Jannie du Plessis

4. Bakkies Botha

5. Victor Matfield

6. Francois Louw

7. Schalk Burger

8. Pierre Spies

9. Ruan Pienaar

10. Morne Steyn

11. Byran Habana

12. Jean de Villiers

13. Jaque Fourie

14. Gio Aplon

15. Frans Steyn

16. Gary Botha

17. CJ vd Linde

18. Andries Bekker

19. Danie Russouw

20. Dewald Potgieter

21. Ricky Januarie

22. Juan de Jongh

The Boks Up Front

As most rugby purists know, the front five or tight five are the key to any rugby team’s success. You can have the best backline in the world but even Dan Carter will be ineffective if he has an under par tight five.

The possession and supply of good quality ball in a rugby match is reliant enormously on the performance of the two Props, Hooker and Second Rowers (or Locks). Lineout’s and scrums are still immensely important seeing that a winning scrum and lineout will drain energy from and demoralise the opposition.

In the Second Row department the Boks have the best combination in World Rugby. Victor Matfield is undoubtedly the Lineout King and Bakkies Botha is the enforcer par excellence. If this combination is at its peak come RWC 2011 other countries will be, and should be, very worried!

In the horrible event that one or both of these rugby superstars gets injured we have two very capable replacements that would easily start for any other national team. Andries Bekker has been Matfield’s understudy for quite some time now and when Matfield decides to pass on the baton, the 2 metre Lineout Prince will be ready, able and willing to step up and establish himself.

It has been said that Bakkies has been feeling a bit of pressure because of the way Danie Russouw has been performing in his absence. In return Botha put in a superb powerhouse performance in his first game back and is still my first choice enforcer for the Boks. Russouw can count himself extremely unlucky to be playing rugby at the same time as Botha.

For me there is currently only one starting hooker for the Springboks, John Smit. It is almost folklore already that Smit is one of the best International Rugby Captains ever! He is certainly one of the most respected. What Smit might not have in terms of loose play, he more than makes up in his scrumaging and the tight/loose. His Captaincy speaks for itself, ask any player who has played under him.

Bismark du Plessis and Gary Botha would be my 2nd and 3rd choice hookers. The main reason is that they are perfect impact players for Test Match rugby. Imagine being the opposition after playing an hour of rugby and on comes Bismark du Plesssis or Gary Botha – just the thought would make you dejected and yes, there is still a place for the impact player.

Tighthead Prop is an interesting topic at the moment. BJ Botha has not impressed since his return and Jannie du Plessis is still seeking the consistency that would make him first choice. CJ van der Linde is a tighthead World Cup winner and can play both sides, but who is our best tighthead? This is one position that is still up for grabs and any one of these three can establish themselves as the Bok No.3.

Everyone, including myself, was in disbelief when Tandai “Beast” Mtawarira was not allowed to play for South Africa after representing the Boks in 15 Tests. Beast was (and still is) regarded as one of the best looseheads in South Africa because of his great strength and incredible mobility for a prop. He is fast, has good hands and is a formidable srummager – just ask Phil Vickery.

Fast forward to today and you could ask Martin Castrogiovanni the same question about Gurthro Steenkamp! Steenkamp has been incredible in the past two test matches and Castrogiovanni, who many rate as the best tighthead currently in world rugby was sent packing to the sidelines. Here I don’t have a preference, you can put either Beast or Gurthro at loosehead and both would be superb.

Lastly, I’d like to add what a difference it seems that Os du Randt has made as scrum coach. The experience passed on by the legendary loosehead coupled with John Smit returning to hooker has made our scrum one of the finest…Bring on RWC 2011!