Springbok mentor Heyneke Meyer looks set to take a gamble against the Pumas at Loftus this weekend with the likelihood of Damian de Allende, Handre Pollard, Jean de Villiers and Eben Etzebeth starting this weekend seemingly very high.
Today the Springboks assembled for their first full-contact training session in preparation for the coming weekend’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship opening game and some of Meyer’s selections at training indicate that he might finally take the gloves off and take a risk for glory.
The fact that they trained with this team on Monday doesn’t mean that it will necessarily be the team that takes to the field on Saturday, but Meyer has always been known to allow his selected team to train as much as they possibly can and many, like myself, hope for this to be the case again.
Starting up front, Springbok prop Jannie du Plessis sat out with Stormers powerhouse Frans Malherbe taking his place at training. This however seems only precautionary and the most probable scenario will see du Plessis starting and Malherbe taking his spot on the bench.
Veteran scrum-half Fourie du Preez sat on the sidelines with his cast on so him participating in any game this year in most likelihood will not happen. Ruan Pienaar trained in his place with Francois Hougaard alternating with him. The smart money says Pienaar to start, Hougaard to bench and Reinach to peel the oranges.
With vice-captain Victor Matfield sidelined for this Test, it seems that Meyer is going to go with what would be the tallest, biggest lock pairing in the world: Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager.
Matfield’s old partner Bakkies Botha was not present at the session but it wouldn’t be out of the question to suggest that he may also start with Etzebeth moving to the bench. Either way all three these locks are around 205cm and weigh in at 125kg, it would definitely be a monstrous pack.
Springbok talisman Jean de Villiers trained at the inside centre position with Jan Serfontein receiving minimal opportunity. With Matfield out it only seems logical for de Villiers to start as someone would have to take over the captaincy. Serfontein will most possibly fill the void on the bench as centre and wing cover.
On de Villiers’ outside Meyer slotted in his Stormers teammate Damian de Allende. In June, Meyer had alluded to it that he most certainly would have played de Allende at 13 had he been available, and by the looks of things he still believes the Stormers behemoth is the best prospect to fill Jaque Fourie’s boots.
But the blindside Meyer threw at the entire country was when he let Handre Pollard train the entire session, with Morne Steyn only practicing a few kicks and about three runs with the backs.
It would seem that Meyer has full confidence in Pollard’s abilities and may do the unthinkable by letting him prove his worth. If this training run was anything to go by, the Springbok 23 to face the Pumas would look something like this:
1. Tendai Mtawarira (186cm, 120kg)
2. Bismarck du Plessis (189cm, 114kg)
3. Frans Malherbe (190cm, 124kg)
4. Eben Etzebeth (205cm, 125kg)
5. Lood de Jager (206cm, 125kg)
6. Francois Louw (190cm, 114kg)
7. Willem Alberts (192cm, 120kg)
8. Duane Vermeulen (193cm, 116kg)
9. Ruan Pienaar (187cm, 90kg)
10. Handre Pollard (189cm, 96kg)
11. Bryan Habana (180cm, 94kg)
12. Jean de Villiers (190cm, 103kg)
13. Damian de Allende (189cm, 105kg)
14. Cornall Hendricks (188cm, 90kg)
15. Willie le Roux (185cm, 90kg)
16. Jannie du Plessis (188cm, 121kg)
17. Gurthro Steenkamp (188cm, 125kg)
18. Adriaan Strauss (184cm, 111kg)
19. Bakkies Botha (203cm, 124kg)
20. Marcell Coetzee (191cm, 109kg)
21. Francois Hougaard (180cm, 93kg)
22. Morne Steyn (184cm, 93kg)
23. Jan Serfontein (187cm 98kg)
Pieter Sauerman
Guest
Its a good team - one picked to play hard collision rugby setting up ball to put Habana, Le Roux and Hendricks in space. Love Pollard playing this test, will be interesting come home tests against Australasian counterparts with Steyn destined to start the away games. The World Cup is still played in England, not the hard fields of the Highveld. Our selection does point out 3 problem areas though. There's no back three cover on the bench, as we selected three 12's and three 4 locks. Not that it is breaking news, but there is no backup to a Le Roux injury (maybe Frans Steyn drop kicking back up plan), 13 looks vacant as Jacques Fourie's hasn't played for convincingly for the Boks in a while, JJ can't defend against Currie Cup competition at centre and JP hasn't been tested at top level. Damian is strong, but can he finish the linebreak with Ben Smith as last defender? I hope so. Looks good kid, and don't have many second guesses left. Bekker and Kruger couldn't/wouldnt fill Matfield's boots, hence he had to dust them off. Steph Nell du Toit is injured in the wrong year, hope de Jager has another cracker as Van der Merwe never convinced. Juan Smith might be a great Danie Rossouw like player covering 5 and 8 next year. At least we're not alone. Either one of the Bledisloe teams will have think hard after Sydney. In the mind I hope its the team in Black, in the gut? The problems down under isn't solved yet....
Frogbok
Guest
Nice team with good backup in the reserves. Probably not such a bad decision by Meyer to slowly give Pollard and other newcomers some game time against what should be lower quality opposition. I still have a concern over his game plan and his vision for how the Boks should play though, there's no point in selecting a team that could be a good attacking team and then getting them to play kick and chase rugby all the time.
Harry Jones
Guest
Only gripe I have is at tighthead. I want that jersey to be Malherbe's. Hopefully there's a clear enough difference between him and Jannie that Malherbe is the starter by the time we play OZ. The rest of the team looks dangerous on attack or defence.
Armand van Zyl
Roar Guru
Team was just announced. 1. Mtawarira 2. du Plessis 3. du Plessis 4. Botha 5. de Jager 6. Louw 7. Alberts 8. Vermeulen 9. Pienaar 10. Pollard 11. Habana 12. de Villiers 13. de Allende 14. Hendricks 15. le Roux 16. Malherbe 17. Steenkamp 18. Strauss 19. Etzebeth 20. Coetzee 21. Hougaard 22. Steyn 23. Serfontein
COme on Ivan, Gurthro is a passenger, he is worse than Jannie in the loose
IvanN
Guest
Agree, he is a good player - my only concern, everytime Marcel has come on as a sub - we lose momentum. He makes a lot of tackles and is energetic - but he seldom dominates a tackle the way that Willem or Duane do.And when we dominate tackles, we turnover ball. When Marcel is on, he will stop a man, and try to get over the ball, will be cleaned out and the opposition will set their next phase. I prefer the hard hitters, When they are winning collisions - you have Flo, Biz and Duane poaching ball, and then you have our backline against unstructured defense. So i like Marcel, but I wont play him against NZ or Aus.
Armand van Zyl
Roar Guru
I wouldn't mind Smith at 7. He will give us that extra fitness as Alberts tends to dissapear in the last 20. But then there would be the tragedy of Marcell Coetzee losing a bench spot. I dislike Coetzee personally but he has been playing some stellar rugby and deserves a spot at the Boks. Smith starting and Coetzee bench that would be my pick.
IvanN
Guest
Ja, I think he's a better player - adds more in the loose. Beast has done little to impress me since the Lions tour.
Now I have heard it all, Gurthro in for Beast?
IvanN
Guest
Nice article Armand, only query - Eben is 203cm, not 205. I'd rather see Frans getting the nod over Jannie, and Gurthro starting ahead of Beast. Exciting things coming from the Boks - Bring in Pieter Steph du Toit and we have 3 young but talented locks, add the mongrel Bakkies and I think we are good there. Juan is class, he must be in this team, Id even start him ahead of the Bone collector - and bring Willem on 2nd half. My pack would have been Gurthro, Biz, Frans, Eben, Lood, Flo, Juan Duane. Ruan is still too slow for my liking, and will be exposed again against faster teams like Aus. Id rather let Hougie play a full 80 and get his mojo back before the big games, he doesnt have the same kicking game but his speed works better for the type of game we should play. Reinach was brilliant in SR against NZ and Aus opposition, he has enough to shine here - put him on the bench. Jean and de Allende - solid combo. Let Willie come running between them to split the defense and Jean must vary his passes short to Willie, Long to Damian or inside to bryan off the blind - that will be hard to defend against and unpredictable.
Armand van Zyl
Roar Guru
Sup Diggercane. It's usually around Wednesday midday here in South Africa so should be in the next couple of hours.
fredstone
Guest
Rumours about Smith at 7 because of the loss of Vic and the influence that would have on the line out considering Lood is not that capable a line out forward abound.
Armand van Zyl
Roar Guru
Yeah Jannie will most likely start with Malherbe on the bench and Botha will probably start ahead of Etzebeth. I can live with that though.
Sam Taulelei
Roar Guru
Oh I can't wait to play the Boks again. If this forms the backbone of the team to take on all comers this year, it's going to be one hell of a series. Halfback still appears to be a problem position but quality throughout from 1-8 and 10-15.
Canetragic
Guest
Thanks Armand - nice to read something other than Bledisloe! I'm struck by the size of the squad - the forwards especially. Going to be some great tests coming up - can't wait
Cj
Guest
Impressive team. I know Hougaard didn't start at 9 during the Welsh internationals and I haven't caught too many Bull's matches this season but howcome he no longer is the starting 9? Injuries? Poor form, or did the Bulls start playing him back in his old position on the wing?
Digby
Roar Guru
Thanks Armand. When is the team announced?
Rainbow Nation
Guest
Pumas perfect to start De Allende and Pollard against. People in SA are expecting another super score like last year and they may be dissapointed, pumas have only suffered that once in the RC. SA supporters would do well to remember that the AB's did not get a bonus point in either of their games against the Pumas last year - so dont underestimate them! No surprise that De Villiers will start as Captain as HM announced he would be captain before Vic got injured.I think Pieter is right and Etzbeth will be on the bench with Bakkies and Lood starting (unless HM pulls a surprise and has Juan at 5).
Harry Jones
Guest
Starting Pollard is bold. I like it. Hope it happens. That's a big, physical 9-10-12-13 group. And speed/skill at the edges.
Armand van Zyl
Roar Guru
Yeah it might seem a bit of a gamble and maybe unfair to de Allende. But he seems to have the skillset for the position so that might count in his favor. But rather test him against Argentina than against Australasia I guess.