Thinus Delport has described South Africa's loss to Japan as 'embarrassing', but says dropping Lood de Jager is a travesty, and called for Heyneke Meyer to pick based on form rather than reputation.
Following the loss to the Brave Blossoms, Meyer has made eight changes to his team in preparation for his side's clash with Samoa, but Delport is not convinced the right players have been dropped.
The loss to Japan represents South Africa's darkest hour in their proud rugby history, and though Delport paid tribute to the Japanese, the former Bok was not complimentary of the South African performance.
"I've experienced some relatively dark days in Springbok rugby," said Delport. "Watching South Africa get humiliated by 50 points at Twickenham. Being in the squad when New Zealand put 50 points on us in 2003.
"But after the Brighton game I was absolutely gutted, just about on the floor. You just don't expect the Springboks to lose to a nation so far down the list.
"All credit to Japan. The way they've improved, the way they approached the game and the way they played, it was phenomenal. Eddie Jones is a wonderful coach and he really picked the Springboks apart and motivated his team to persist with his game plan.
"But from a Springbok point of view, that hurts a lot. And it's still hurting. It was embarrassing to be fair.
"All the other teams in this pool will now believe they can beat the Springboks - there won't be a doubt in their mind."
Meyer has made eight changes to his team, but has largely stuck with the older players in the squad, with Eben Etzebeth coming in to replace Lood de Jager in the second row, while Victor Matfield holds onto his place.
"It's an absolute travesty that our best player has not been picked to start against Samoa," said the former Springbok.
"For me Lood de Jager has been one of the few shining lights in the Springbok team and I can't believe he's not starting.
"Every time he's on the ball he makes a difference, he hits rucks and brings physicality.
"That's the stand-out non-selection for the Samoa game over which there are question marks.
"I think Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager should be the starting lock combination."
In the midfield Jean de Villiers has been moved to outside centre to accommodate Damian de Allende, with Jesse Kriel dropping out of the team.
Delport says the skipper De Villiers should have missed out after a poor showing against Japan.
"I think Jean's still struggling, he hasn't regained his pace following the injury and he's looking like he's not as sharp. Outside centre is a position that requires a bit more pace than an inside centre, so I'm stumped.
"I think South Africa missed a trick with the combination of De Allende and Kriel; building them up in the Rugby Championship, then splitting them up.
"They needed the experience in the build-up to the World Cup in order to perform in the tournament.
"They were split up and now it's a combination that will need to be picked up from scratch.
"As hard as Jean tried against Argentina and Japan, he doesn't have the same impact that he used to. He was clearly targeted by Japan and they exploited his lack of recent game time."
Delport, who was part of South Africa's squad in the 2003 World Cup, also feels fly-half Pat Lambie was unlucky to have been on the wrong side of Meyer's axe.
"I thought Pat Lambie, apart from a bad kick early in the second half and a poor pass in the game, didn't have a bad game. He was quite solid, while Handre Pollard tends to make mistakes under pressure."
In the forwards there is the return of Duane Vermeulen, with Schalk Burger moving from No 8 to blindside flank for Saturday's game to allow for the Toulon-bound Vermeulen.
"Duane Vermeulen will be interesting. He hasn't had any game time so he's pretty much been thrown in the deep end.
"Schalk Burger had a big work rate, but he probably was responsible for half the unforced errors, dropping the ball in contact."
There has also been a change in the No 15 jersey.
"I like the fact that Willie le Roux is back at full-back," said Delport. "I don't think Zane Kirchner really offered a lot, again kicking away possession on attack, and had a kick go out on the full when he stepped over the line.
"Willie is a great attacking player, though his tactical kicking has also been criticised in the Rugby Championship, but what he will bring is a bit more excitement in the counter attack."
As for the prospect of facing a brutal Samoa outfit on the back of the loss, Delport says that hard work from the forwards will be the order of the day.
"It's going to be a physical challenge, that's the thing about playing Samoa, it's always physical and you have to win those battles - particularly in the tackle.
"Against Japan South Africa lost those battles. When the Boks were defending the Japanese players were making yards in the carry and off the pick and drive on the back of it.
"The boys will have to be switched on, but being the Springboks, we know that bad performances are often followed by 100 per cent turnarounds - we're expecting a Boklash this weekend.
"Positives from the loss - if you can call it that - they still got two bonus points. The pressure is on to win all the games, and the two big games are still to come.
"However being runners up may not be such a bad thing because they could avoid New Zealand in the semi-final.
"South Africa would always have had to play either Australia, England or Wales in the quarter-final and they're all tough games. Regardless of where they end up you still have to play one of the top six teams in the quarter-final."
South Africa can still top their group at the end of the pool stages, but Delport says selections will need to reflect form if they are to do it.
"Test matches, and especially the World Cup, aren't won on sentiment and reputation. Heyneke has clearly hung onto a lot of players because of sentiment and because of past reputations.
"This is a high-performance environment and you need your best players to play, whether they've only got two or three Test caps or 100 Test caps.
"There's an argument for an experienced player compared to a relative youngster if he's performing to his ability, but if that player's putting in under-par performances you cannot select him for experience above performance.
"South Africa have too many players in the team who are playing based on past reputation and are not performing, as well as guys who are coming back from lengthy injuries and are therefore not match sharp.
"The opposition squads are prepared and not struggling with injuries on South Africa's level, why should the South African's expect to just turn up? These preparations should have been in place two to three months ahead of the World Cup.
"Everyone drums on about the experience in the England team when they won the World Cup in 2003, and yes, when they won it they had a lot of leaders and experience within the squad, but those guys were at the time in the top three in their positions in the world. They were picked based on form, the experience was a bonus.
"Unfortunately some of the experienced players in the Bok team are not performing, and they haven't been all year. Why should they be in the squad when there are younger players not included in the squad who were performing in Super Rugby and the lead-up to the World Cup?"