Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has reiterated that his plan to treat every game at this World Cup as a final and not to mix and match combinations to give everyone a run.

Injuries have prevented the Boks from keeping their team unchanged for Saturday’s second clash against Fiji at the Wellington Regional Stadium, but while the All Blacks have been swopping and rotating players in recent weeks, De Villiers has kept largely with a policy of continuity in selection since the second string squad returned from the away leg of the Tri-Nations.

While admitting that the injuries may have helped him in that fringe players are now getting a chance to get in some match practice ahead of a possible call-up for a match in the knock-out stages, De Villiers wants to play the top team in every match. And that includes the probable easy match against Namibia, which is up next for the Boks after the Fiji game.

“I am not sure about giving everyone a chance against Namibia as I feel we need to use every opportunity to sharpen the guys more than anything else,” said De Villiers.

“Remember that the top players had eight weeks of no rugby followed by two weeks of rugby (during the home leg of the Tri-Nations) followed by three weeks of rugby again. And then there were the injuries to Bakkies and Victor thrown in on top of that. So opportunities to play the top combinations together have been limited.

“So we must maximize every opportunity to sharpen the guys, and get the combinations going. We think it is the right thing to play every game as if it is a final. You never know what is going to happen next.”

A look back at recent Bok World Cup history would suggest De Villiers is right. In the 2007 World Cup the Bok coach of the time, Jake White, fielded a second string team against Tonga in Lens but ended up facing a crisis situation which was rescued only by emptying the bench and bringing on the experienced leaders for the last minutes.

Had the Boks lost that game, it would have undone the good work of their previous match, when they whitewashed England.

Then there is the small matter of getting the players confident in one another and in the systems.

“I am confident in the players we have here because I selected the 30, but I want John (Smit) to feel comfortable too so I want to give him maximum opportunity to lead the same team onto the field so he is comfortable when the big games come,” said De Villiers.

Having said that, De Villiers is also not oblivious to the possible silver-lining to the injury problems that have been experienced in the past week, and he is looking forward to seeing the newcomers playing against Fiji.

“There were things I wanted to see from Patrick Lambie against the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth that I wasn’t able to because he got injured early on. I have left out Gio Aplon because I know what I get from Gio. Gio has had plenty of opportunities in recent times. With Lambie it is different, I think I know what I have in the player but I want to be sure.

“What happens if Jean de Villiers is injured for a final like he is now? That would mean we have to move Frans Steyn back to centre again and would have to have a different fullback. We don’t want to be going into that match with someone who hasn’t played.”

Article was written by Gavin Rich

on SS