Patrick Lambie
Cobus Reinach
Rugby World Cup winners JP Pietersen and Schalk Burger will start Saturday’s second Test in the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour against England at Twickenham as the Springbok match-23 is retained from last weekend.
The five changes to the team are straight swaps between the starting line-up and the bench. Along with Pietersen and Burger, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has handed starts to hooker Adriaan Strauss and the halfback pair of Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie.
Cornal Hendricks, Handré Pollard, Francois Hougaard, Teboho Mohoje and Bismarck du Plessis will start on the bench.
“We’ve accepted our performance against Ireland last weekend was not up to scratch and everyone in the touring squad has put up their hands and dug deep this week,” said Meyer. “We’ve really worked hard at fixing the mistakes we made and the challenge is now to put that into action on Saturday.”
Meyer said the changes were not a knee-jerk reaction following the result in Dublin, but rather in line with rotational changes that he had in mind before the start of the tour.
Strauss, Lambie and Pietersen all started in the Springboks’ last Test at Twickenham, two years ago, while Saturday’s match will be Reinach’s first in the starting team.
“Pat started at Twickenham for us two years ago and did very well,” said Meyer. “He’s playing well at the moment and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start. Pat is tactically very astute and even though he’s still pretty young, he’s got a lot of experience.
“Adriaan, Schalk and JP have all started a number of Tests this year and they will slot in easily – we decided beforehand that we wanted to start all of these players in one of the first two Tests on tour.
“It’s a big occasion for Cobus but he would not have been here if we didn’t believe he could deliver the goods, and he’ll be next to his provincial team-mate in Pat.
“As usual, we’re also expecting our replacements to raise the intensity when they’re sent on and Bismarck, who had a very good game in Dublin especially in the set-pieces, ‘Oupa’, Francois, Cornal and Handré will provide important cover off the bench.”
Springbok team:
15 Willie le Roux (22 caps, 35 points)
14 JP Pietersen (57 caps, 90 points)
13 Jan Serfontein (17 caps, 5 points)
12 Jean de Villiers (Captain – 103 caps, 135 points)
11 Bryan Habana (104 caps, 280 points)
10 Pat Lambie (37 caps, 81 points)
9 Cobus Reinach (3 caps, 0 points)
8 Duane Vermeulen (26 caps, 10 points)
7 Schalk Burger (74 caps, 65 points)
6 Marcell Coetzee (23 caps, 30 points)
5 Victor Matfield (Vice-captain – 118 caps, 35 points)
4 Eben Etzebeth (30 caps, 0 points)
3 Jannie du Plessis (61 caps, 5 points)
2 Adriaan Strauss (41 caps, 25 points)
1 Tendai Mtawarira (62 caps, 10 points)
Replacements:
16 Bismarck du Plessis (67 caps, 45 points)
17 Trevor Nyakane (10 caps, 5 points)
18 Coenie Oosthuizen (18 caps, 10 points)
19 Bakkies Botha (84 caps, 35 points)
20 Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje (4 caps, 0 points)
21 Francois Hougaard (33 caps, 25 points)
22 Handré Pollard (7 caps, 61 points)
23 Cornal Hendricks (10 caps, 25 points)
Date: Saturday 15 November
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-Off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 BST & GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Nick Briant (New Zealand)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
Stats and facts:
- The Springbok starting team boasts a total of 778 Test caps (343 in the backline and 435 in the forwards), while there are a further 233 caps worth of experience on the bench.
- South Africa and England have played each other 36 times since 1906, with the Springboks winning 22 Tests, losing 12 and two were drawn. The Springboks have scored 749 points and 69 tries and conceded 564 points and 39 tries for an average score of 21-16.
- South Africa and England last met on 24 November 2012 at Twickenham in London. The Springboks won by 16-15 thanks to a try by Willem Alberts and 11 points from the boot of Patrick Lambie (one conversion and three penalty goals). England kicked five penalties, three by Owen Farrell and two by Toby Flood.
- Jean de Villiers will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok centre, with 88 Tests in this position and will captain South Africa for the 32nd time, placing him third behind John Smit (83) and Gary Teichmann (36).
- Victor Matfield will extend his record as the most capped Springbok in history (118 Tests). He will also extend his record of 118 Tests as a lock and will also extend his record as the oldest Springbok ever at 37 years 181 days.
- Bryan Habana will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok wing, with 103 Tests in this position. If he scores a try, he will extend his record of 56 Test tries for South Africa.
- If he goes on and scores a try Bismarck du Plessis will extend his record of nine Test tries for South Africa as a hooker.
- Schalk Burger will extend his record as the most capped Springbok flanker in history (72 caps). If he scores a try, he will become the sole record-holder for most Test tries as a flanker (11), a record he currently shares with Juan Smith.
- Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks, Duane Vermeulen, Jannie du Plessis and Bismarck du Plessis have played in all 10 Tests for the Springboks in 2014. Bryan Habana and Tendai Mtawarira have both missed only one Test in 2014.
- Schalk Burger (Jnr) and Cobus Reinach are sons of Springboks. Schalk Burger (Snr) played six Tests for South Africa (1984-1986) and Jaco Reinach four Tests for South Africa in 1986. They played together in all four Tests against the New Zealand Cavaliers in 1986.
- It will be the fourth time in history that a Springbok team will have three centurions in the starting line-up. The three previous times were against Australia and New Zealand in the Rugby Championship and against Ireland last week.
- It will be Heyneke Meyer’s 35th Test in charge of the Springboks since he took over in 2012. Of the previous 34 Tests South Africa have won 24, lost eight and drew twice.
- The referee is Steve Walsh of Australia. It will be his 18th Test involving South Africa. This is a new record for a referee in Tests involving SA, breaking the record of himself and Alain Rolland. Of the previous 17 Tests the Springboks have won 13, lost one and three were drawn. His last Test involving South Africa was in August this year against Argentina in Salta in the Rugby Championship – a game that the Springboks won 33-31.
Springbok Test match records at Twickenham:
- Most points – 21 by Jannie de Beer (6p, 1d) against Australia on 30 October, 1999.
- Most tries – two by Chester Williams against England on 18 November, 1995.
- Most conversions – three by Ruan Pienaar against England on 22 November, 2008.
- Most penalty goals – six by Jannie de Beer against Australia on 30 October, 1999.
- Most drop goals – four by Andre Pretorius against England on 25 November, 2006.
- The Springboks have played 18 times at Twickenham, winning ten and losing eight. They have scored 283 points and 27 tries and conceded 296 points and 26 tries for an average score of 16-17.
MacroBok wrote:
Very good point…..Brent Russel syndrome is obviously just a SA condition
89 @ Hondo:
HM has put too much into Pollard to do an about turn now, irrespective of what Lambie can do.
He has made it clear that Pollard is his 10 for the WC
@ Hondo:
You’re right.
I should’ve put “destroyed” in inverted commas. It did take a penalty (by Lambie
) in the last minute to beat the AB.
Pollard had a great game though. 😉
91 @ nortie:
In my opinion if you have the skills and people keep praising you for your skills… You should possess skills!
Unless you are a jack of all trades, master of non.
@ nortie:
10 So he made an about turn, give him the credit for that
Pollard couldn’t close out the tests against the Wallabies and the ABs, he was no better than Jantjes in both 2nd halves!
HM also dropped two quotas from the line up, I expected Nama to comment on that?
😉 😉
nortie wrote:
Kurtley Beale and James o connor might be dose, but they are pretty good on the field, does everyone in Australia scream, “oh don’t mess with their heads, play them both in one position”?
@ MacroBok:
“Wasnt Meyer criticized for planning out the starting teams for the RC last year?”
Not sure what you’re on about.
I’m just questioning HM’s point that he planned all along to play Lambie against England. That after Pollard had such a good game against the AB.
MacroBok wrote:
Both Beale and O’Connor don’t need positional switches to mess with their heads….booze and fame have farked them up enough already
@ Nama:
93
Yep, Pollard had a great 1st half, and then?!
If any team was ‘destroyed’ by Pollard, it must have been The Bulls 🙁
97 @ Nama:
Last year he rotated Bissy and Strauss as a plan set out before the tournament, why wouldn’t he do it again?
It is not far fetched that Lambie would have been penciled in to play against England two weeks ago.
I think that there is a tremendous difference between being a versatile player. And one that can cover 2 or more positions.
You should be able to master both.
Someone mentioned Ben Smith. Very good example. One I would’ve suggested as well.
Trying to think of examples of NZ players that were messed around… Christian Cullen playing at 13?, maybe there is just a huge gap because he was a masterly fullback and not as good a center.
@ MacroBok:
Good point. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if HM hadn’t selected teams for all 4 NH matches before they left OR Tambo.
Bok coaches before him have done it.
@ MacroBok:
If you want to believe that…that’s fine by me. I don’t.
If the Boks walked off as winners on Saturday, you might have seen Strauss, Schalk and JPP (not necessarily all of them) getting a start. He would not have dropped Pollard. He needs playing time in the NH conditions since he is going to play there in the WC, as Nortie suggests in an earlier post.
@ Nama:
I am just saying it is a possibility that I have to take into consideration before I can judge without facts… but you go ahead 😀
@ Nama:
Lambie doe not need playing time.
Lol Meyer gets critisized for not giving enough players chances and building squad depth, then when he does he is a “stupid fuhrer” for giving them an opportunity 😆 Tough job
@ MacroBok:
Mils Muliaina? Didn’t he also play a match or two at centre/wing?
106… Edit to add… Lambie does not need playing time?
Guys don’t get your panties in a bunch.
It’s the same 23 that was on the field last week.
The starting order has been adjusted that’s all. You shouldn’t pick someone in the match day 23 if you don’t have enough confidence in them to start them.
So Meyer is just being consistent.
Put your conspiracy theories back in the closet.
@ MacroBok:
This is Lambie’s 3rd or 4th tour to Europe. You think that the previous tours do not count for experience.
Tsk…tsk..tsk. 🙄
@ MacroBok:
New Zealanders like to rotate their back 3. Wings should be able to slot in at 15 – that is something that they have consciously worked on. Not as an ad hoc ” sort of, hey let’s try this” BS.
@ Nama:
I think he played center at a stage
@ Nama:
Well if he is fine without getting much game time, why do you keep complaining about eben being selected? 😆
@ Stormersboy:
Exactly. What if Pollard got injured in the first match of the WC? We’ve seen that movie before! He wants to see what he has in Lambie. Ditto for all the other changes made.
@ Nama:
Well if he is fine without getting much game time, why do you keep complaining about eben being selected? 😆 @ IAAS:
Yes they do, I think that is fine… but I cant think of an example like James O Conner, Beale, Lambie or Fransie playing for NZ? playing 10, 12, 11/14 and 15
IAAS wrote:
Precisely. Regardless of Ruan or FDP’s availability we need to know what we have in players like Reinach, who I think has great potential. More than Hougaard IMO.
nortie wrote:
Each coach had his favourite, sometimes it cost him his job
Kitch had Francois Pienaar, Mallet had Bobbie met die lekker lang tong, Harry Viljoen had his hair, Straeuli had about 60 favourites(we’re still waiting for your plan with the Boks Rudolph?), Jake had John Smit, Peter Divvy had Smit and Victor and HM has Pollie
Frans “heartbroken” Ludeke had Jonno but he’s gone now
@ MacroBok:
“…keep complaining about eben being selected?”
You must be confused.
Only thing about Eben that I complained about is the fact that he was drafted straight into the Bok team (by your hero) without playing for WP first. I mentioned the way that the AB went about bringing back Carter into the fold after his injury with the inference that that was the right way to go. Remember? 😆
MacroBok wrote:
Can you remember how good Frans Steyn was when he returned from the rugby academy in NZ?
I think it’s run by Murray Mexted?
I wish we could have sent Pollard, Lambie, Hougie, Reinach and Willie there for a few months
@ Nama:
There is a difference between being neutral and biased 😛
Difference is the Carter has not been there in some time anyway and Cruden has been doing a pretty good job, only his kicking has been shocking lately… While Meyers success has partially been built on Eben.
Has Carter been 5 years youngerm you can bet your house he would have been drafted ASAP
So your getting side tracked… you were saying that Lambie does not need game time and we should play Pollard in every single game? 😆
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