Talk about adding injury to insult. The Springboks are in disarray on Sunday as they turn their attention to the All Blacks with their stock of second row forwards wiped out in the 39-20 defeat to the Wallabies.
Saturday’s starting pair, Alistair Hargreaves (abdominal muscle tear) and Flip van der Merwe (ribs) are likely to join Johann Muller (hamstring) on a flight home while only former Sharks lock Gerhard Mostert has been confirmed as a replacement.
Muller aggravated a hamstring injury in training last week and departs for home on Sunday and Mostert will fly in from Paris, where he has only just joined his new club, Stade Francais. Van der Merwe left the field early in the first half in pain and when Hargreaves suffered his injury midway through the first half, there was no one else to come on at lock and he bravely played through considerable pain.
Final decisions on Hargreaves and Van der Merwe were not made on Saturday night probably because the selectors are not sure who they can call up, although you can be sure it won’t be Victor Matfield or Bakkies Botha. There are rumours of Cheetahs captain Wilhelm Steenkamp getting the nod.
“When it rains it pours. Are there any locks left in South Africa!” lamented Peter de Villiers. “First we had the news of Andries Bekker being ruled out of the World Cup, now the injuries to the three locks.on tour…”
The starting locks against the All Blacks by default will be Danie Rossouw (who moved into the second row from flank, with Ryan Kankowski replacing him) and uncapped Mostert, with the bench cover anybody’s guess.
To make an understatement, this is an unheralded combination, even if Rossouw was probably the Boks’ Man of the Match.
The coach said the injuries to the locks (especially Muller) had left the team short on leadership.
“It was not by choice that we brought so many young players on tour. I felt sorry for John at one stage of the game because of the lack of leaders to help him settle the guys down,” he said.
“I hope they have learned that the difference between Super Rugby and Test rugby is significant.”
The Boks will remain in Sydney to prepare for the All Blacks and will travel to Wellington on Wednesday.
Eish we had a lot now we are scraping the barrel. I would try a fighter like Wikus van Heerden, but i think he is a forgotten man.
O donner… it’ll have to be a number 5 lock they fly out to join Mostert
Who are the candidates…. Anton van Zyl, Ross Skeate, Adriaan Fondse, Juandre Kruger….
Anton van Zyl, if fit…. the ideal choice, if not then I suppose it’s a lottery… any of the next 3
Anton van Zyl had a blinder last year for the Barbarians, was consistant and isperational last year.
Actually, I cant understand why AC and co didn’t rotate him more with Bekker duirng the super competition.
Btw, the reason De Jongh was so ineffective this weekend is because Wynand Olivier and Morne Steyn was one-dimentional, predictable and latteral.
Seriously, At one point in the game, as me and my friend was watching in a bar, we started to make bets as to how long it will take WO to run into a defender next. 2 seconds, 4 seconds.
Other than that, he threw about 4-5 hospital passes. And ran letteral, giving De Jongh, who had very little room in the first plae, even less room.
And NO WONDER things started to change once Lambie came on. M.Steyn is about as creative as a paint by numbers.
From ALL of the weekends Rugby I have made a few observations and questions that perhaps our more knowledgeable scribes could comment on or answer.
1. The All Blacks, while far from perfect did enough to beat Fiji comfortably and never looked like losing. They can only start to gel from here on in.
2. The Aussies extended the Boks every time they ran with the ball. The Boks defense was anything but up to standard.
3. From having the best 2nd row on the planet, we are now languishing well down the ranking, and if any one of Bakkies, Victor or Danie get injured before or during the WC we are in deep poo.
4. The Bok backline was extremely innefective in getting any type of “go forward” ball until changes were made. From this I have to ask, “Is it because Steyn and Olivier are just not good distributors and users of the ball, or are there splits along Provincial lines within the squad?”
Once Lambie and Jacobs came onto the park there seemed to be “one happy family” in the backline. Any thoughts?
4. Ruan Piennaar must take his fancy little behind the back passes and shove them so far up his dark recesses that they never grace a Rugby field again.
At least 3 times he succeeded in pulling off great little offloads, straight to Australian players! He also does not seem to appreciate the concept of quick ruck ball.
Too long in the NH methinks.
5. The Bok scrum is not up to scratch. On heavy Autumn fields in NZ during the WC there is a good chance they will have a difficult time. Scrumming and line out is the primary task of the “tight five”, and something they should be VERY GOOD at at this level. Why do we continually struggle?
6. The referee on Saturday (Pollok?)appeared to miss a number of blatant forward passes. Why? What do the “assistant referees” do?
7. The Currie Cup is wide open this year.
8. The Sharks win against the Pumas put the Lions win last week into perspective.
9. The Leopards will be playing Div 1 Rugby next year.
10. The Bulls youngsters are anything but a “Vodacom Cup” team.
11. The Griquas are not too difficult to beat in KBY if the right attitude and game plan is present.
12. The Lions now top the CC log for the second time in 2 weeks. (Last Friday night and now), and it is therefore no wonder it’s snowing in the Karoo as I type!
@ Scrumdown:
Om mee te begin. Alles goeie punte.
1.) I think that once again the AB’s biggest problem this year will be to select a first option squad. If they manage to settle on a team, and like you say gel, we are all in groot moeilikheid.
2.) Jaques Nienaber in the Bok kamp for a month or two wont do much good. All too late if you ask me.
3.) Yep. Lions and Cheetahs locks have not set the world alight in almost 4 years. Province and Sharks has SOME promise, but its scant.
4.) To be BLATANTLY honest, I had the exact same feeling a you about the “happy family/provincial lines” possibality. Either that, or Steyn and Olivier are SO useless, they should just stay at home, and we should take Lambie and and Doppies le Grange as 10&12 cover.
4.) On the point of “flick passing”. If SBW does it, we all k*k in our broeke and think its the end of the world. When P.Div critisizes him for doing so, the whole world laughs at Divvy.
But if one Bok tries to be creative, he should never come near a field again? Thoughts.
IMO, the flick pass is also just as good as the support the “flicker” gets. Support running in good lines is ESSENTIAL in backline play. Mr. Muir????
5.)We may rectify the lineouts, but only because Matfield will essentially take over the coaching. Breakdown, Smith, Burger will lead the way on field.
Scrums… one hope, Gurthro comes back and Beast regains form.
6.) Weti~
7-12.) Lions in with a BIG shout. So is Sharks… WP, maybe. more so than Bulls, based on the available teams. Cheetahs, always a threat, but this year they could be par to the Kwas. Or the Kwas could be on par with them… still early days though.
Greenpoint-Gunner wrote:
Agree, with the defensive game plan we play running in support is breaking the defensive line. We must learn to play less mechanical, like pre programmed robots. Does it make sense? Weeet nie, vanmore klink Engels vir my moeilik.
Sb & GG
I think that basically all creativity is, as you say SB “programmed out” of our backline players from a young age.
As for Tricky Dicky, well as his name suggests……
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