The Springboks have landed in Argentina with no injury concerns, but Meyer will be forced to ponder the likes of fit-again Pat Lambie and Juan Smith.
Having come away from the wet and wild Loftus Versfeld with only an injury before the game to Willem Alberts, Meyer will have a full compliment to pick from when they play Argentina in Salta.
Meyer has now picked up Lions captain Warren Whiteley as cover for Alberts who is staying at home alongside Victor Matfield.
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“There are the two guys we left behind, Willem Alberts with a hamstring and Victor Matfield with that knee cartilage – our plans for them are to have them available for the Perth Test,” Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts said from Argentina.
Against the Pumas in Pretoria Marcell Coetzee covered the void left by Alberts, and Teboho Mohojé filled the spot on the bench.
For the upcoming Test however, Meyer will have more variety to choose from in the loose forwards with Whiteley in the mix along side Juan Smith.
“Juan Smith is looking 100 percent, he is coming back from a hamstring problem, but he has been running flat out, he has been training and today [Tuesday] will be his first field session so we will see how he goes.” Roberts continued.
Another position that Meyer might have to look closely at is flyhalf after he whipped the inexperienced Handré Pollard off just after half-time in Pretoria.
Pat Lambie has rejoined the Boks after coming off the bench for the Sharks in their Currie Cup match against the Pumas.
“Pat Lambie got through his Currie Cup game with the Sharks fine, he picked up a mild ankle strain, but it is nothing that will keep him out of training or playing – we are happy with him and he is looking good.” Roberts added.
The Springboks have had a long flight over to South America which has clearly cut down their training time before their second Rugby Championship Test on Saturday.
“A long flight does always take it out of you,” Roberts said.
“We are lucky our guys are really used to long haul travel, we do have a lot of strategies in place that we implement to adapt to the jet lag.”
“Flying Westwards is easier than East, so this is one of the easier trips for us, but it is a factor and it does take the guys a while to adapt.”
The issue of a shortened week did not seem to trouble the Doctor.
“We were always aware that this would be a short week in terms of training in Argentina,” he added.
“However, we had that week in Johannesburg to prepare ourselves – a lot of the work has already been done.”
I know the weather was dire, but I can’t help thinking that Lambie would have been better at 10 on Saturday.
He is a calm character, and I don’t think even a monsoon would have flustered him
@ nortierd:
Lambie would have been so much better in both Kalahari desert’s conditions that of the North Pole
😉
No need to justify that HM’s ‘jobs creation’ for his boykies
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