This Monday morning the overseas contingent of the Springboks joined the squad in preparation for The Rugby Championship and this weekend’s game against Argentina. This after the Pumas have already been in camp for a month and having just completed 2 vital warm-up games against a strong New South Wales Barbarians touring side, just winning the first encounter and then doing a real demolition job on the NSW Barbarians side on the weekend, winning 58 / 12.
Of course the Springboks firstly have to come to grips with the new scrum engagement sequence, something we saw this past weekend in The Currie Cup Premier Division matches, which caused quite a stir.
During last week Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira sat out with a hamstring twinge, Coenie Oosthuizen had the flu and Jannie du Plessis was nursing a light calf strain, so it’s fair to assume not a great deal of scrum preparation work could be done.
Do not expect Heyneke Meyer to deviate too much from the match 22 which did duty in the June Internationals, firstly because he is known to believe strongly in consistency in selection and secondly because most of the overseas contingent are fresh off the Super Rugby Competition anyway.
The front row should realistically be Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis and Jannie du Plessis (The Sharks front row), with Adriaan Strauss and Coenie Oosthuizen on the bench.
The locks should be no different to those who did duty in June, with Eben Etzebeth at No. 4 and Juandré Kruger at No. 5 and with Flip van der Merwe on the bench.
At looseforward, the nod should go to Francois Louw at openside, Willem Alberts at blindside and Duane Vermeulen at No. 8, even though Vermeulen admits that he lacks game fitness. Expect either Marcell Coetzee or Siya Kolisi on the bench.
It’s at scrumhalf where we would be wildly speculating, who would start. Will it be Jano Vermaak after his stellar Super Rugby Season or will it be Fourie du Preez who’s been drafted in from his Japanese club and who has just completed a 4-month off-season? The thinking is that Heyneke Meyer might want to ease Du Preez into the team from the bench, initially. Of course the other option would be to play Ruan Pienaar and he might get the nod due his more rounded kicking abilities around the rucks. Your guess is as good as mine at this stage but if you had to ask me, I would opt for Jano Vermaak due to his more recent familiarity with Morné Steyn at flyhalf and I would have Fourie du Preez on the bench. Ruan Pienaar is slow behind the oven and cumbersome in getting the breakdown ball away, so he would sit out in my book.
Flyhalf is a no-brainer, Morné Steyn should get the nod and Patrick Lambie should be on the bench, specially after Patrick Lambie’s poor Super Rugby season.
At centre there is no doubt that Jean de Villiers should get the nod at No. 12, and he would captain the side too. At outside centre JJ Engelbrecht should get the nod ahead of Juan de Jongh.
At wing Heyneke Meyer is likely to continue with Bjorn Basson at left wing and with Bryan Habana at right wing.
Willie le Roux should also retain his fullback berth over Zane Kirchner.
The question will be whether Heyneke Meyer will go for a 5 / 2 split between forwards and backs on the bench against a strong Argentinian forwards pack, in which case Trevor Nyakane or Gurthro Steenkamp could slot in as extra loosehead prop. It will leave the Springbok backs a tad light on the replacement bench and Heyneke Meyer could opt to put Zane Kirchner on the bench in place of the extra prop option.
It is with apprehension and that I approach The Rugby Championship, in light of the short preparation time afforded to the Springboks and the application of the new scrum engagement sequence.
It would appear that bigger and naturally stronger props will profit from the new scrum engagement rulel, which should suit South Africa and the Springboks in the long run, but it might not be evident on the weekend yet, due to the very limited exposure and preparation time this week.
The 1st Rugby Championship Test for the Springboks is at FNB Stadium, in the Nelson Mandela celebration double-header this Saturday.
Pity Lourens Adriaanse is not in the Springbok squad. He should be backup tighthead for Doc Jannie, and then Coenie die Boef could concentrate on making it work at loosehead.
Jeez, I hope the Springboks get the scrum engage thingy sorted out quick!
Lately the Pumas lost that BIG scrum, so hopefully we will not be dominated there. If we get enough ball we have great backs , maybe it is time to run them ragged.
My span vir Saterdag:
Willie
JJE
JDV
Jan
Habana
Morne
FDP
Duane
Alberts
Louw
Juandre
Eben
Jannie
Bismark
Beast
Reserwes:
Guthro
Strauss
Die Boef
Flip
Siya/Marcel
Jano
Lambie
Zane
Wie het ek gemis ?
2 @ superBul:
They don’t have that massive bajada scrum anymore… but they’ve had a month to prepare!
@ grootblousmile:
But a lot of their players play in France, so expect them to have a strong scrum. But expect the SA team to gel together very quickly. Just hope they have the right “gees.”
@ grootblousmile:
lets hope they have overtrained. Too much of a good thing….
Lion4ever wrote:
i see JdeV likes the gees in the camp. OK obviously he is HM chosen one and will talk positive.
HM i am sure will build the Boks into a great big family like he did for the Bulls.
Saddly MONEY spoiled everything so precious in the Bulls Home.
@ superBul:
Jean also stated that he saw how everything around him deteriorated, this is my problem with him, he does not talk to the players, does not motivate them during a game, does not inspire them!!! he is too quiet and laid back, he does however know how to wave his arms at the ref (hehehe) so I do hope he has worked on the above……
But I will always support the Bokke, does not matter who is the captain and who is in the team!!!!!
Lets hope that we don’t get more aimless kicking of the ball away.
A birthday cake coming up tomorrow 13 August 2013… guess for whom… and no it’s not for me personally??
@ grootblousmile:
Seker ons 4de, great times
10 @ superBul:
Yip, sal more ‘n lekker Verjaarsdag boodskap opsit… 4 jaartjies oud!
… en sterker as ooit!
Baie harde werk deur jou, deesdae heel op jou eie. Dankie
Hier op Hoedspruit het ons n baie effektiewe Group, die Hoedspruit -Info Group, dit stuur middernag al die nuutste ads en offers aan al die lede van die groep. Werk baie goed, het so al n paar goed gekoop wat ek nodig het in die Padstal.
Die amin van die groep was in n lelike ongeluk en le in n koma, sal moontlik nooit weer die ding kan doen nie, baie emosioneel hier rond. My kop bykans afgebyt toe ek vra of iemand haar password ken en die ding aan die gang hou.
Ek het vanmore n nuwe groep gestig maar dit doen nie die ding vir my nie.
superBul wrote:
en ek is goed vertel ek is onsensitief. Die werklikheid is die leemte gaan gevat word deur iemand.
Ek het toe maar gelos en probeer om my eie web blad reg te maak. Die ding is ook baie werk en ek weet nie of dit werklik gaan werk nie. As jy graag wil loer daarna en raad gee sal ek dit waardeer.
13 @ superBul:
Natuurlik sal ek loer… kan ons dit more een of ander tyd doen, my batterye is nou pap!
Ek persoonlik dink al was die Argenteine al ‘n jaar besig om te prep staan hulle nie ‘n kans nie.
Intimidation is a big part of the aura that surrounds the All Blacks. That history and belief comes into play when you tackle the world champions. I liked McKenzie’s comments about how they are like other teams, that when put under pressure they are vulnerable. You just have to find what that vulnerability is and play to it, so the opposition feel uncomfortable>>> easier said than done; but this is the only way to beat the AB’s so if the Boks want to win they will have to use the likes of Eben, Bissie and Alberts to face up to the AB big men and keep them on the back foot
@ Raggie:
I contest that one of SA’s biggest problems is that when plan a) doesn’t work on the field, or the opposition aren’t doing things “as they’re supposed to”, they (the SA side) do not have the ability to change the way they’re doing things or go to a plan b), and just get frustrated and compound their errors.
I guess I would say that our Rugby players are by and large not the most intelligent in world Rugby.
Maybe I’m over simplifying things, but that’s how I see it, snd it’s been like that for years now, so we can’t just point the finger at whoever the National coach is.
@ Scrumdown:
Argentina have announced a strong 26-man squad for their first Castle Rugby Championship clash against the Springboks :
Pumas have included a host of players who play their club rugby in Europe. They will be chasing their first win in the Sanzar competition
Hernández, Agulla , Marcelo Bosch and Felipe Contepomi are dangerous with ball in hand and are all game breakers while Juan Fernández Lobbe is prhaps the most astute captain and one of the finest loose forwards in world rugby > the Boks will do well not to take this pumas team likely
The Boks will not have the ascendancy in the front row and will must be aware that the kick chase game plan may prove to be counter productive.
19 @ Raggie:
Yip, we had the Pumas 26-man squad on as an Article 7 Days ago already, here’s the link: http://www.rugby-talk.com/2013/08/the-rugby-championship-los-pumas-name-strong-26-man-squad-bound-for-sa/
burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp
damn n windhoek draught burps lekker
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