Conservative Kirchner likely to start, Willie LeRoux moves to wing

Kirchner in last line for Springboks

03 Sep 2013   Follow _JC_ on Twitter More stories by _JC_

Zane Kirchner is set to start at fullback for the Springboks

Zane Kirchner, Flip van der Merwe and Bismarck du Plessis are all expected to start against the Wallabies on Saturday, reports JON CARDINELLI in Brisbane.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said on Monday that there would be several changes to the starting team and suggested that Du Plessis would replace Adriaan Strauss at hooker. And sure enough, Du Plessis ran with the likely starting side at Tuesday afternoon's training session at the Anglican Church Grammar School.

The big surprise was to see Kirchner running at fullback. Kirchner has not played for the Boks since the Test against England at Twickenham last November, missing the June Tests due to injury, but it's now likely that he will line up at No 15 against the Wallabies at the Suncorp Stadium.

Willie le Roux will shift to the wing, with Bjorn Basson dropping to the bench.

The back-three reshuffle indicates that Meyer values Kirchner's kicking game, and that he considers Kirchner one of the two best fullbacks in the squad at this point. Pat Lambie alternated with Morné Steyn throughout Tuesday's session, and it would appear that Meyer still views the Sharks playmaker as a strong flyhalf option.

Apart from the pending selection of Du Plessis, Meyer is set to make at least one other change to his tight five. Van der Merwe trained in the second row on Tuesday and is likely to replace Juandré Kruger for reasons of rotation.

Eben Etzebeth is battling a stomach bug and sat out the training session. According to the team management, there is a serious concern that he will be unavailable for the weekend's game.

If Etzebeth does not recover in time for the match, then Kruger will retain his place in the starting line-up.

The Bok match 23 will be confirmed on Wednesday.

Probable Bok XV – 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.

Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images

I saw that coming ... I guess we all did.

What the hell does Lambie have to do to get a start?? For that matter, Vermaak??

Let's see what changes Porkie makes.

Ag nee F$K!!!!!!!!!! Zane and Pienaar ???? WTF!!!!!!

Ou Maaik, I have seen a previous argument where you have seen Habana as an ex-Bulls player as well. I count nine Bulls/ex-Bulls players in your team above, so I have to assume that you have once again counted Habana as an ex-Bulls player. If that is correct then you are missing the boat again. The reason I say this is that by your definistion, there Vermaak is an ex-Lions player, Basson is an ex-Cheetah, Kruger is an ex-Notingham player, Steenkamp is an ex-Cheetah, Engelbrecht is an ex-Stormer and Kirchner is an ex-Cheetah as well. That leaves three Bulls players. But hang on. Strauss started off at the Bulls, so that brings it back to four Bulls players. Interesting is that the Sharks are left with only Mtawarira and Bismarck who isn't ex-something.

 Lambie has to be on the bench to cover Flyhalf, and also Fullback to some degree - so it looks like the stick insect Basson will have to be dropped form the match day squad. 

It would be proposterous to not have flyhalf cover. 

Ou Maaikie. My arguments are not half as rubbish as your assessment of the Stade de Francias/Biarritz game.

 I'm feeling pretty confident about the next two games and think there is a good chance we break the hoodoo at one of these venues and come away with a victory. There are a lot of reasons for optimism with a team that is looking experienced and showed good mental resolve in coming back to win the second Argentina game. 

While like many on this board I would prefer Lambie at fullback, I don't mind Kirchner at fullback especially if it means Basson is out of the lineup. Kirchner is better than LeRoux under the high ball and has a better boot. If Meyer is targeting the Aussie lineout its a smart move imo as they are suspect and frankly Genia has been off form and has not dealt with set-piece pressure well.  Obviously Kirchner is nowhere near the counter-attacker but with LeRoux at wing we now have two legitimate game breaking threats at the wing position. 

Morne is on song with the boot right now so any Aussie transgression will not go unpunished. 

Flip Flop will bring more mongrel at the breakdown - an area I am sure the Boks have focused on cleaning up.

Would like to see Kolisi come in early in the second half for Alberts to offset some of the speed advantage the Aussie backrow will have.

These will be the games Louw will need to step up - he has gone missing a little bit in the two Argie tests, but his performances in the June series and the difference he made when he played in last years RC show that he is a class impact player.

Not surprised if Pienaar starts, especially when Vermaak got no playing time last game. Probably my only really big disappointment in the lineup as Vermaak has the ability to lift the pace of the attack. 

Australia will be giving it absolutely everything and are a very very dangerous team especially if the combinations start to work - Boks need to play the territory game, focus on dominating their set-pieces, starve them of the ball and slow down their attack. Get to Genia and give him no space like the All Blacks did and it will make things a lot easier. Have a feeling that the Boks will have the lead going into the last 20 and it will be all about holding onto it. Can't wait - going to be epic !

Very well reasoned Matey. Nonetheless, while Kirchner is better under the high ball....I'd rather have Lambie. He tackles better, kicks better and reads the game better.