Victor Matfield and a few key Bokke are set to be rested for the 2nd Test against the Azuri from Italy in East London.
Eary indications are that John Smit will lead the side in the Test and recalls of Andries Bekker, Schalk Burger, Jaque Fourie, Danie Rossouw and Wynand Olivier as well as the omission of Flip van der Merwe, Alistair Hargreaves and Bandise Maku (who did not travel with the team to East London) indicate that we’ll see a considerably revamped Bokke Team this Saturday.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers already indicated on Saturday night that he planned to rest Victor Matfield this week.
In the absense of Victor Matfield it makes sense that Andries Bekker will be selected as No 5 lock and should make the lineout calls.
It appears that John Smit may be over his hamstring injury and that the personal problems and hand and back injuries of Andries Bekker is a thing of the past. It also appears if Schalk Burger will be fit for the clash having failed a late fitness test of this past weekend’s game.
Chiliboy Ralepelle, who followed up his excellent second half against France with a solid performance against Italy, may well make room for Smit in the starting line-up.
The Bokke and their coaching staff were clearly not happy with their Mordor (Witbank) performance, indicating that they were happy with their scrumming and lineouts but that their skills let them down.
De Villiers said “Our scrums and lineouts were good, but we were let down by our skills. The guys dropped some balls and we need to be accurate to get our game going. “I’m disappointed with the individual mistakes. If we make silly errors like that, we have to be introspective about it.”
Seeing so many changes from one week to the next always makes me uneasy and we should expect another win but not a flawless performance again. I am particularly worried that team changes are made with the wrong focus in mind, where rest is the key motivating factor in syead of building solid combinations and controllable depth.
Next week we can expect Peter de Villiers to name his 26-man squad for the Tri-Nations, but to me he still sits with more questions than answers in a few positions, those being tighthead prop, scrumhalf, inside centre and the correct depth at outside centre and flyhalf.
The Italians will also make numerous changes this week.
“There will be six changes among the forwards and three or four at the back. It’s such an honour and privilege to play against South Africa that we want to give every player on tour the opportunity,” said Italy coach Nick Mallett
Rest should now be a minor consideration, seeing as the whole squad gets a rest from game time till the start of the Tri-Nations in July.
In view of that, building combinations and depth in combinations and positions, should be paramount.
But, we won’t see astute choices in this regard… it is far too much to ask of a Brains Trust , who together shares less than 1 brain between them all!
Just hope that John’s injury is 100%. We need him more for the Tri-Nations than this game.
Also pleased that Victor can finally rest. He has played almost non-stop this whole year. Plenty need a rest.
Hope to see Ruan start at scrummie this week too.
I was facing a problem deciding who to support this week-end… Bafana Bafana or the Bokke??????
So I took out my yellow Bafana Bafana shirt…
Then I took out my green and gold Bokke shirt…
I still could not decide!?!?!?!?
Suddenly I had a brainwave…
I cut both shirts in half, length-wise and sewed the two halves together…
brilliant!!!
Now I have one shirt to support both…
… and proudly displayed across the front…
“BAFOKKE”
There is only one week break between the Italy test and NZ. That is not much of a break. If the Boks leaves Monday/Tuesday (5/6 July) the there is not really a break because you then do your preparation in SA. The other option is to leave the Thursday (1 July) and then do your preparation in NZ. Either way the break disappear.
I think I must have Rugby Shirts made for Rugby-Talk, with 4 Quarters to it – Front 2 Quarters, back 2 Quarters on opposing sides… as follows:
1. Half Springbok / Half Bulls in front, Half Bulls / half Springbok at the back (the green of the Bokke on opposing quarters back and front.
2. Half Springbok / Half Stormers in front, Half Stormers / half Springbok at the back (the green of the Bokke on opposing quarters back and front.
3. Half Springbok / Half Sharks in front, Half Sharks / half Springbok at the back (the green of the Bokke on opposing quarters back and front.
4. Half Springbok / Half Cheetahs in front, Half Cheetahs / half Springbok at the back (the green of the Bokke on opposing quarters back and front.
5. Half Springbok / Half Lions in front, Half Lions / half Springbok at the back (the green of the Bokke on opposing quarters back and front.
It will indiate your loyalty to the Bokke AND your loyalty to your Provincial Franchise at the same time.
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