I was reading the team of the week selection by Planet rugby the other day and it made me wonder what the depth was in each of the three Tri Nations countries, and also which positions they have sufficient depth.

The list I am providing here is based on the 18 weeks of round robin matches and I took all the players that were selected for positions per week, regardless of how many times they were selected. Some of them were selected for different positions during a specific week, there for I will break it down into: front rows, locks, loose trios, scrumhalves, flyhalves, centers and back three.

South Africa

Front row

Loose head – Mtawarira, Steenkamp, Oosthuizen, Greyling

Hooker – Du Plessis, Smit, Strauss, Fourie

Tight head – Du Plessis, Kruger, Van de Linde, Nel

Locks

Botha, Elstad, Sykes, Van heerden, Mostert

Matfield, Bekker, Van der Merwe, Rossouw

Loose Trio

Alberts, Grobbelaar, Strauss, Daniel, Brussouw, Burger, Johnson, Vermeulen, Spies

Scrum halves

Vermaak, Mcleod, Du Preez, Pretorius

Flyhalves

Grant, Lambie, Ebersohn

Centers

Du Jongh, De Villiers, Olivier

Fourie, Ebersohn, Sadie, Terblanche

Back three

Basson, Benjamin

Pietersen, Ndungane,

Viljoen, Kirchner

Australia

Front row

Daley, Alexander, Robinsen

Palotu-Nau, Moore

Kepu

Locks

Chisholm, Wykes, Campbell, Horwill

Sharpe

Loose Trio

Brown, higgenbotham, Lam

Waugh, Pocock, Alcock, Gill, Robinson

McMalman

Scrum Halves

Genia, Phipps

Flyhalves

O’Connor, Cooper, Stannard

Centers

Coleman, Huxley, McCabe

Horne, Ioane, Carter

Back Three

Mitchell, Morahan, Anesi, Smith

Davies, speight

Beale, Shepherd.

The tight five for Australia is where their major issues will be. A few too many injuries in the front row and there will be huge concerns. In the loose trio, i seem to recall Waugh has retired from international rugby, and Elsom is injured. As long as Australia can keep their forwards injury free they will be able to gain parity against most teams.

New Zealand

Front Row

Mcintosh, Schwalger, Franks, Crockett

Meaamu, Rutledge, Flynn, Hore

Afoa, Somerville, Franks, King, Afeaki, Faumuina

Locks

Ross, Thrush, Thorn

Bekhuis, Pyle, Williams, Jack

Loose Trio

Thomson, Todd, Kaino, Messam, Hoeata

Waldrom

Read

Scrum Halves

Ellis, Mathewson

Fly Halves

Brown, Carter, Cruden

Centers

SBW, Treeby, Nonu, Mcalister

Fruaen, Kahui, Payne

Back three

Taylor, Poki, sivivatu, Ranger, Guildford

Williams, Masaga, Maitland,Paterson

Dagg, Toeiava, Muliaina, Smith

What is clear to me is that New Zealand has by quite a distance the best depth and form in the tight five. McCaw was not selected, but then he only played 6 games this season. It is however clear that on form, New Zealand does not have too much depth at 7 and 8.

Scrumhalf would be a definite concern as far as depth goes, and apart from Cruden and Carter, there seems to be little else there after.

The backline of New Zealand is simply littered with depth, form and talent.