Springbok Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

RugbyLover123

Emperor1989 wrote: »

Yeah Coetzee is very unfortunate with 2 bad leg injuries in the space of a month.

Would you say he would start if not injured? He's been the most impressive SA back rower in super rugby for me the last 2 years.

Emperor1989

What Schalk has come back from.....

Emperor1989

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

Would you say he would start if not injured? He's been the most impressive SA back rower in super rugby for me the last 2 years.

Yes for me is the most impressive backrow in South Africa and still quite young.

Emperor1989

Huge huge huge game tomorrow. With the Blacks struggling tonight...the Springboks will know this competition is wide open if they get some momentum.

Emperor1989

So here we are four games down and the group stages are finished. Where do we start, the embarrassing loss to Japan that sent South African media into a frenzy that the Sports minster felt a duty to comment on the shame that Meyer had bestowed on the nation or the next three games where the team has refound its true self.

I mentioned before, does South Africa have the Percy catalyst of 07 or the 91 one in Mandela. I believe what many may perceive as misfortune that Meyer has stumbled on a team that can win a World Cup. Lood De Jager has been simply outstanding….the best player in the Springbok jersey at the moment, his hunger and drive in the tackle has set the edge for a destructive defensive game plan for the Boks. For me he is the catalyst to drive this team to World Cup glory.

Jean De Villers retirement was a sad day. However he has not been fit and did not deserve his place in the team. This unfortunate incident has allowed the emergence of the exciting De Allende and Kriel partnership that caused defensives trouble in the Rugby Championship.
The emergence of JP Pieterson in some sort of form and coming from an NFL context the edge he sets for the defence coming in from his wing has helped the Boks compress the field allowing Le Roux and Du Preez to wander in behind and scoop up any dirty ball.

The team picks itself, there should be no change from the team that took on Scotland. Matfield on the bench would be beneficial should the game get away from them against Wales but De Jager is too damn physical to be left on the bench but I suspect Meyer will start Matfield. They need to give Kriel the ball in isolation one on one with his man and the same with Habana. Pollard has turned in some fantastic performances over the last few weeks but I feel he needs to attack the gain line harder and give deep throws to Habana and Pieterson.

One final point is the emergence of Williem Alberts from injury. He has struggled for fitness but he got a few minutes in last week. Can he get back to his destructive best? A ball carrier that has no peer at his peak in South Africa. The use of the bench will likely determine the outcome of the World Cup, are the Springboks bringing on a has been or true difference maker. I guess we will see more evidence next weekend.

Jacovs

Emperor1989 wrote: »

or the 91 one in Mandela.

Think he was part of the reason we didnt feature in 91

Here's to hoping we come through Wales without any injuries so we can put our strongest side out against NZ and Pollard replicating his first game against them.

Emperor1989

Jacovs wrote: »

Think he was part of the reason we didnt feature in 91

Here's to hoping we come through Wales without any injuries so we can put our strongest side out against NZ and Pollard replicating his first game against them.

That should say 1995 . My bad

Emperor1989

Springbok head coach Heyneke Meyer has made one change to his starting XV for Saturday’s quarter-final clash with Wales at Twickenham.

JP Pietersen – who scored a hat-trick against Samoa in the second pool match – is included – at the expense of Lwazi Mvovo, who drops out of the matchday 23 – in the only change to the starting team that beat the USA by 64-0 in the Boks’ final Pool B match, last Wednesday at the Olympic Stadium.

The 63-capped wing, who has recovered from a knee injury which kept him out of the USA Test, will wear the No. 14 jersey and Bryan Habana will revert to the left wing for this encounter. It will be the 42nd time they play together as a wing combination in the Springboks’ starting team.

Habana currently leads the try-scoring stakes at the World Cup with five, while Pietersen is joint second with four, a position he shares with five other players.

“JP and Bryan have been in superb form and are playing some of the best rugby of their lives,” said Meyer.

“They have been scoring some wonderful tries, as has Lwazi Mvovo, so it’s really great to know that there is good competition among the wings.

“It made sense to reunite Bryan and JP on the wing as it brings a lot of experience to our backline, which has been doing well despite the relative inexperience of Handré Pollard, Damian De Allende and Jesse Kriel.”

The Springbok bench shows four changes from the last match. The experienced quartet of Adriaan Strauss, Jannie du Plessis, Ruan Pienaar and Pat Lambie are all back to give the South Africans a boost from the replacements’ bench.

With a combined total of 252 caps between the four of them, these players should be able to make an impact later in the game.

“We’ve seen first-hand how important it is to have experienced players on the field at the end of a match and to have this kind of experience available on the bench in a knock-out match is great,” added Meyer.

“Saturday’s match will be huge and we are expecting an arm wrestle right until the end. We’re playing against a well-balanced side that always likes to mix things up when it comes to physicality.

“They have a good set-piece and some strong ball carriers upfront and in the back – it’s what you expect to face at this stage of the competition and we’re very excited about the challenge.”

The only player who was not considered because of injury is Victor Matfield, who felt some discomfort in his hamstring at training on Tuesday.

“We were planning to use Victor from the bench to add even more experience to our replacements, but we’re also not prepared to risk him if he’s not ready.

“Luckily in Pieter-Steph du Toit we have another young player who has been performing very well and will slot in with ease,” said Meyer.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.

Malherbe in at tighthead....the Boks have stumbled on there best team finally under Meyers rein. Just took four years.

Emperor1989

Here we go the big game, the big weekend and the one both Hansen and Meyer has pencilled in for a long time.

Recent Results
2015: New Zealand won 27-20 in Johannesburg
2014: South Africa won 27-25 in Johannesburg
2014: New Zealand won 10-14 in Wellington
2013: New Zealand won 38-27 in Johannesburg

New Zealand have won by a cumulative of twenty points over the past four meetings. It is very close run thing the past few years with some truly epic test battles and hopefully this one will be no different.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.

New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Sonny Bill Williams.

Bigbok

Coetzee out for 9months

Bigbok

Next SA lock

Journeyman_1

Bigbok wrote: »

Next SA lock

He's so tall, but looks like a baby!

Jacovs

http://www.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/South-Africa/mbalula-bans-sa-from-bidding-for-major-rugby-cricket-events-20160425

**** sake. Wonder how this impacts our bid for the 2023 world cup. Considering he says he will only review after the 2016/2017 Barometer, and the host to be announced in May 2017, id say thats our race run.

Emperor1989

New year, new coach, new team, 9 new caps and new quotas.

Coetzee is the new coach and has been met with approval from all sides of the rugby spectrum.

Willie le Roux, JP Pietersen, Lionel Mapoe, Damian de Allende, Lwazi Mvovo, Patrick Lambie, Faf de Klerk, Duane Vermeulen, Siya Kolisi, Francois Louw, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Adriaan Strauss (k), Tendai Mtawarira is the expected team.

Mapoe has been the form center in South African rugby this year, the wingers pick themselves (who could be phased out as the year progresses), Faf De Klerk has been a revelation at 9 for the Lions and would be a really exciting choice. Strong pack, Kolisi smacks of a quota pick as he isn't international standard at this time. Etzebeth and De Jager are maturing nicely and should really bully there Irish counterparts. Malherbe for me is one of the best tight heads in the World and we will see if McGrath can pack down with the Lions in 12 months time.

Watch out for De Klerk!!

sydthebeat

Faf versus Murray is definitely a match up I'm looking forward too, but I fully expect Murray to come out on top in their own personal battle. Faf is all action and quick but perhaps lacks the ability to change tempo when needed.... As pienaar was excellent at.

Emperor1989

I am sure they will target Henshaw at 13. Get Mapoe running down his channel with Le Roux coming into the line to create an extra man, the Boks have a big advantage in the back row. Louw should clean Murphy out at the breakdown.

Looking forward to a great day of rugby.

Neil3030

Out of interest, is this new racial quota rule resulting in any better quality players currently being left out of the Boks' squad?

The Pheasant2

Neil3030 wrote: »

Out of interest, is this new racial quota rule resulting in any better quality players currently being left out of the Boks' squad?

Flanker Jaco Kriel has one of their form players in Super rugby and from what I hear ought be starting on merit (although I thought Kolisi was decent yesterday).

Similar story for winger Ruan Combrinck apparently

Bigbok

Gotta love that

https://youtu.be/J0GwQrjEOcc

mfceiling

Bigbok wrote: »

Gotta love that

https://youtu.be/J0GwQrjEOcc

Not as good as this...

https://youtu.be/hXIqNNCfyaM

Bigbok

mfceiling wrote: »

Not as good as this...

https://youtu.be/hXIqNNCfyaM

Well if Ireland can't beat a injury and quota hit Mickey Mouse bok team then I would be worried about Irish rugby.

molloyjh

Bigbok wrote: »

Well if Ireland can't beat a injury and quota hit Mickey Mouse bok team then I would be worried about Irish rugby.

You mean the injury hit travelling team at the end of a long season Ireland? That Ireland?

RoundBox11

Bigbok wrote: »

Well if Ireland can't beat a injury and quota hit Mickey Mouse bok team then I would be worried about Irish rugby.

Likewise, the Irish injury list is longer than the Bok one. You can call it a Mickey mouse team all you want, its people like yourself* who'd say that Super rugby players are far better than Celtic league players so surely you should be able to field a decent side?

*Although I'd say you're as likely from south Carlow as South Africa

Bigbok

RoundBox11 wrote: »

Likewise, the Irish injury list is longer than the Bok one. You can call it a Mickey mouse team all you want, its people like yourself* who'd say that Super rugby players are far better than Celtic league players so surely you should be able to field a decent side?

*Although I'd say you're as likely from south Carlow as South Africa

But the problem is that it's not super rugby players been picked?if u went on form players the team should be

1 Kitshoff
2 Marx
3julian
4 Eben
5 PSDT
6kriel
7whiteley
8botha/notshe *
9de Klerk
10janjies *
11hougaard
12serfontein
13kriel
14 combrink
15gelant

8 and 10 have * as the first choice Ste injured from either 1st or 2nd test.

1st choice didn't even make squad due to injuries

Dog Botherer

Bigbok wrote: »

But the problem is that it's not super rugby players been picked?if u went on form players the team should be

1 Kitshoff
2 Marx
3julian
4 Eben
5 PSDT
6kriel
7whiteley
8botha/notshe *
9de Klerk
10janjies *
11hougaard
12serfontein
13kriel
14 combrink
15gelant

8 and 10 have * as the first choice Ste injured from either 1st or 2nd test.

1st choice didn't even make squad due to injuries

And that's why coaches don't pick on form alone. I don't even think theres 150 caps in that side. Ireland would hammer them, Mickey or Minny Mouse regardless.

Bigbok

Dog Botherer wrote: »

And that's why coaches don't pick on form alone. I don't even think theres 150 caps in that side. Ireland would hammer them, Mickey or Minny Mouse regardless.

Irelandwouldnt hammer that team.sll talk about been 19-3 up last week but remember we were 29-7 up second half

Dog Botherer

Bigbok wrote: »

Irelandwouldnt hammer that team.sll talk about been 19-3 up last week but remember we were 29-7 up second half

And the week before you lost to 14 men. Short memory there mate.

Ireland would put 50 on those lads.

Bigbok

Dog Botherer wrote: »

And the week before you lost to 14 men. Short memory there mate.

Ireland would put 50 on those lads.

Lol if u say so.worst bok team in history and u can't put them away?!!!

irishbucsfan

Bigbok wrote: »

Lol if u say so.worst bok team in history and u can't put them away?!!!

We put them away with 14 men on a tour when we're chopping and changing. Just as we've been consistently put them away most time we've played them in recent years.

Hagz

Not sure about some of those "form" players.

Warrick Gelant has only played 4 of the Bulls 12 super rugby games this season.
Francois Hougaard isn't even playing super rugby. He's played 4 games this season for Worcester Warriors and is keeping busy playing 7's.
Jan Serfontein isn't available for selection either AFAIK.