If there's a position that couldn't quite provide clarity in terms of a stand-out Springbok candidate perspective, it was at inside centre.
Stormers 12 Damian de Allende and his Sharks counterpart Andre Esterhuizen were the incumbents last year.
Their consistency this season left a lot to be desired, even though De Allende showed signs of life towards the end of the Super Rugby campaign.
Springbok coach Johan "Rassie" Erasmus had time to survey locally and those who weren't in the local eye like Bok Montpellier duo Francois Steyn and Jan Serfontein.
The former has played 56 Tests, with the last being against France two years ago.
He's played in two World Cups but as previous Rugby World Cups have proved, sentimental selections hardly ever work out.
Erasmus, who confirmed Serfontein will miss the World Cup because of a foot injury, said he was satisfied by what he's seen from the incumbents this season.
Can Pollard-Steyn combo work?
Steyn's contract with Montpellier will lapse next year and the 32-year-old's services may be fiercely jostled for.
"There's the versatility of a Frans Steyn, who can play at 10, 12 or 15 and that's something we can use. We're going to have a look at him but that's not to say he's going to make the squad. We do have two settled inside centres in Andre and Damian, who played last year. We've also got Handre Pollard who can fill in at 12. We feel we can cover our bases with them," Erasmus said.
"Jan Serfontein was one of the guys we looked at and he played the last five or six matches but he had a planta fascia issue. He had surgery there and he'll be out for three to four months. He was someone we looked at as an option for us."
Former Springbok centre Gcobani Bobo said Steyn and someone like Handre Pollard could make for a fluid 10/12 combination.
"We can't look past a Frans Steyn or Pollard sort of combination as they give you an opportunity to have the guile and experience of a person who has played in the position. Also a lot of teams don't have much line-speed directed at the 10 and 12, but also you find teams try to shut down the 10 and 12 from passing. If you have a player who can play at 10 and 12, that gives more time to relieve pressure and construct attacks," Bobo said.
Erasmus confirmed Pollard will be his starting 10 but didn't rule out moving him to 12 when the need arises.
"Pollard will be the starting 10, but if you look at the New Zealand game in Wellington last year when Elton Jantjies went to 10. I wouldn't say we'd start games like that unless we've got injuries but it might differ later," Erasmus said.
"It's always a good option to have two 10s when the opposition is tired and there's a left and right foot combination. It's an option but more of an emergency issue."
The Boks have some injury issues they need to deal with as captain Siya Kolisi (knee) will have to get game time in the Currie Cup that starts on Friday while key forwards Pieter-Steph du Toit (shoulder) and Eben Etzebeth (hand) are close to shrugging off injuries that curtailed their Super Rugby campaigns. There's still a number of key players like Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira who also have niggles they need to get over before Test matches. Their first Test of the year is a Rugby Championship outing against Australia at Ellis Park on July 20. The following week they'll head off to Wellington for a date with the All Blacks. They'll then face Argentina away and home on August 10 and 17 respectively.
A PLAN TO CURB INCONSISTENCY
Erasmus though said they've formulated a plan to get over their latent inconsistency that plagued them last season. The Boks recorded back-to-back wins thrice but had losses in between.
"It's not just the inside centres who were inconsistent. The inconsistency was a general problem at Springbok level and Super Rugby level. When we had our alignment camps, we had a big and in-depth chat to put in some measures in terms of how we'd like to try to improve that facet," Erasmus said.
"As a Springbok team we've agreed on how we're going to tackle our programme and I think that should play a big role in our consistency."
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