Three changes to Bok pack

Ex Supersport

Springbok captain Jean de Villiers will be given until Friday to prove that he has fully recovered from a sternum injury, which has kept him off the training field thus far this week.

The Springboks face Samoa in the final match of the Castle Lager Incoming Series at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday. The team shows three changes – all of them in the pack – from the side which beat Scotland by 30-17 in Nelspruit last weekend.

The backline is unchanged from last weekend, apart from the doubt over De Villiers’ fitness.

If De Villiers can’t play, Jan Serfontein will start at inside centre, with Juan de Jongh coming onto the bench. Adriaan Strauss will then lead the Springboks to become South Africa’s 55th Test captain and Bryan Habana will take over the vice-captaincy.

“Jean is an integral member of our squad and we will give him all the time he needs to get back to full fitness,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.

“Luckily we have a strong group of leaders in the squad and if Jean doesn’t make it, Adriaan will take over the captaincy, with support provided by Francois Louw, Pierre Spies, Bryan Habana and Bismarck du Plessis.”

Upfront, the injured Arno Botha is replaced at flank by Willem Alberts, who has been struggling with a side strain.

Alberts, who has been training with the team this week, will have to pass a fitness test on Friday to prove that he has recovered fully from his injury. If he is not passed fit to play Samoa, Siya Kolisi will start in his place and Marcell Coetzee will be included on the bench.

Francois Louw returns on the other flank after missing last weekend’s match because of his wedding. The third and final change to the starting line-up is at lock, where Flip van der Merwe comes in for Juandré Kruger.

“Francois was always going to be back this week and Willem has been our first-choice ball carrier, so it’s been good to have them back on the training field,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.

“Because Willem is returning from an injury, we decided to start with him. Siya played very well last weekend and it is great to have someone of his versatility on the bench. We saw last week how valuable it is to have replacement players who can make a real impact late in the match.

“I’m happy that we’ve been able to keep some form of continuity during these Tests, especially in the backline, where a number of exciting new players have come in and put up their hands during Vodacom Super Rugby and in the last two weeks.”

Meyer said the match against Samoa will be a proper test for his squad.

“They have a strong squad and have benefited from having their best players compete in Vodacom Super Rugby and at the top club level in Europe, but our focus is on putting in an improved performance from last week,” said Meyer.

The Springbok team to face Samoa in Pretoria is:

15 Willie le Roux (GWK Griquas), 2 caps
14 Bryan Habana (DHL Western Province), 85
13 JJ Engelbrecht (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 3
12 Jean de Villiers (captain, DHL Western Province), 86 / Jan Serfontein (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 2
11 Bjorn Basson (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 8
10 Morné Steyn (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 44
9 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster, N-Ireland), 65
8 Pierre Spies (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 52
7 Willem Alberts (The Sharks), 20 / Siya Kolisi (DHL Western Province), 1
6 Francois Louw (Bath, England), 18
5 Flip van der Merwe (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 25
4 Eben Etzebeth (DHL Western Province), 13
3 Jannie du Plessis (The Sharks), 44
2 Adriaan Strauss (Toyota FS Cheetahs), 23
1 Tendai Mtawarira (The Sharks), 43
Replacements:
16 Bismarck du Plessis (The Sharks), 47
17 Trevor Nyakane (Toyota FS Cheetahs), 2
18 Coenie Oosthuizen (Toyota FS Cheetahs), 3
19 Juandré Kruger (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 10
20 Siya Kolisi (DHL Western Province), 1 / Marcell Coetzee (The Sharks), 14
21 Piet van Zyl (Toyota FS Cheetahs), 1
22 Pat Lambie (The Sharks), 22
23 Jan Serfontein (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 2 / Juan de Jongh (DHL Western Province), 14

Well I am not that  happy but at least Meyer did do a few things to strengthen the pack.

ou maaaikie van graan has described Alberts as world class. To me when fully match fit he is. He needs however to be used more subtley. We are expecting a physical onslaught so Alberts will help out there.

Louw coming back is obvioulsy the right move. Flip in for Juandre  Well I am okay with this. I could be wrong but one expects the two packs to go hammer and tongs in the opening exchanges and Flip will cope better with that. However we do lose a bit of pace so I am glad at least Strauss was retained.

However to me Mike the problems are two props who are playing lethargic rugby. Can these two up the tempo. I was hoping for Trevor and Coenie.

Also I am very sorry that Labbers never got a shot. Man the guy has shown heart, skills, pace, lineout ability. How in the world can you ignore all that and play the sub par Spies. I would have liked Labbers as a linking forward covering the backline etc.

Your suggetion re JJ on the wing for the match was another change I hoped for.

Pienaar is a damp squid. Its weird - when he burst on the scence he was a brilliant runner with the ball. Where has that all gone to!!! He and Morne as a combo dont work. Morne needs a breaking, in your face scrummie in the Kockett mold not  a kicking link man. If we need tactical kicking leave it to Morne. Can Pienaar throw off the shackles and get stuck in?

The Samaons will provide a good test. 

From what I recall Alberts was very good on tour last year. My concern is he is not match fit and sharp. But hopefully will give us a good 50 minutes.

Looking at the bench andthe number of caps one can see Meyer values experience. He obviously doesnt like the Starting 15 to have to many test greenhorns.

its not quite the team i would have picked, but more then capable of beating a dangerous looking manu samoa team.

having flip over kruger is not all bad, with du toit injured there was no other real option and kruger hasnt made the most of his two starts.

alberts selection is understandable with the big manu samoa boys, and some of the points mozter made about the boomfa tackles that alberts can produce will be key, i have doubts on wether were going to see them though.

spies can cosider himself fortuante, cos right now his selection can only be justified on his level of experience, his form and impact in the green jersey has been below average.
if meyer insists on playing him, maybe he should start on the bench??? could give spies a wake up call to pull finger.

like many here i cant help but feel for lappies who is more deserved of a shot, IMO he deserves a chance to stake his Boks claims, even more then all the other loose forwards who will/might be playing on sat.
his non selection is just a waste and i only hope hansen dosent follow suit regarding steven luatua who is in the exact same boat.

we all know JDV time is coming to an end, but he still has plenty to offer in the immediate future, but i cant help but salivate at the thought of a possible serfontein/englebrecht midfiled combo.
the bulls midfiled has the potential to be one of the worlds best center pairing and every bit as good as the JDV/fourie combo which was also world class. at least until ranger becomes the incumbent All Blacks 13 and SBW returns with that shinning look on his face saying "heres johnny", lolz, :oP

i see de jong might get called onto the bench, i would of preferred ebehrson TBH, i also think ebherson has the potential to be a good winger, but u could easily move jj out one to accomodate ebherson, something that i think will happen anyways with de jong. i hope mikeys all right, hes been a bit quielt lately, maybe the de jong selection finally got him flying over the cuckoos nest, lolz, hope thats not the case, :o)

one advantage about the scotland test was. is that thesocts did the manu samoa team no favours with the Boks now on red alert after that wake up call. Boks will now go up a gear and its why im thinking they will win by a comfortable margin, but im still looking forwrad to the match, :o)

Fair comment there saSUE. There surely can be no complacency.

I fully agree re Lappies - he surely was the most deserving of the loosies to get a start. Spies must be running out of chances. 

I await with interest the Boks efforts to get quick ball and its effect on the backline

 Flip in at 5? I suppose he and Eben will share the 5 role, but it is still a good move. Looking forward to see more of " ze German battleship"

Hi there DbD good to hear from you again. I note you also think Kolbe could make a scrummie given that brilliant try he scored from the scrummie position.

Meyer certainly didnt ring the changes not wanting too much disruption. 

Wrong again Maaik, he didn't fall on the ball, he gathered it and powered over the line. You are lying again.

 On the contrary he is tackled by the English number 6 a metre out and carries him over the line. When did the truth become optional?

 Watch the try here to decide

It is the whole match but starts just before the phase before the try. 

the clip that sharkbok provided u can find the incident in question on the 1:01:10 mark 1hr, 10mins 10secs.

mikey is right in that it the try didnt need any skill or power what so ever, alberts was in the right place at the right time.
did alberts instantly recognise that he was onisde??? dont know about that, IMO it was just normal rugby instinct that made him grab the ball when it presented itself.

IMO right place right time sums up alberts try.

Disagree.....the ball lands in front of him, and bounces low. Alberts has only the top of the ball in his hands as he is tackled by the English 6 and one other player over the line....it would have been easy to spill it. To sum up, he needed to make a quick decision he was on side, track the ball....you can see him following it he wasnt in a place, he moved to a place, he had to take a low bounce right up against his legs....and not lose the ball in contact,.

 I don't think we should question whether there was skills involved in that try, what do you expect? loosie doing steps and offload skills? Alberts did what he can, powering over the line, short ball creating phases is what they do best with ball in hand. Alberts did well to control the ball in that try, he's a suitable player that will most likely do better than Marcell Coetzee. However Kolisi is also good enough to be included in the starting 15 this week not just because of his superb performance last week but he's also played well consistently for the Stormers this year, that being said i think he deserves more game time. 

If this team doesn't control the breakdown the same issues will occur like the previous match, the momentum will be rather one sided. I'm expecting a slight improvement in that area but the confindence and discipline has to be right. We do need specialist fetchers but in order to get a player that is capabe of doing that there needs to be a indication that the player can do more than just be good at fetching at the breakdown which i don't know if there is at this stage.

Moz you have to tip your hat to Mike. He has stuck his kneck out and boldly stated the Boks could win, draw or lose the  test agains tSamoa. You have to admire the keen insight and boldness of the prediction.

As I said elsewhere anyone disagreeing with Mike on this matter has NO clue.

Mike is right Alberts is a bit of a soft spot in the Bok pack. Jannie, Alberts, louw and few on the bench are very slow immobile players. alberts is very strong but very slow. i think he does better in tight tests in wet conditions because his power game can hit you head on but he got exposed (the whole loose trio against new zealand) for their lack of mobility and skills. samoa have good pace, strength, mobility and skills from 1 to 8. they will have better ball retention and thats going to be a big problem.

Mike I also have some concerns as to the speed of the loose trio. Spies doesnt do enough and I would have dropped him and played labbers who has a brillian tackle count. As I suggested and Meyer confirmed - Spies is running out of chances.
Arno is a big loss. Coetzee and Kolisi are not ready yet.

From what Stander said it is clear he has set his sights elsewhere.

 Agreed that the loose trio is a bit on the slow side, faster with spies there than it was with Vermeulen. Alberts has not really had the gametime this year to validate a bok spot. Coetzee seems out of form. 

Would an option of Louw, Lappies and Kolisi at 8 not solve both speed issues and keep the workrate where it should be?

Sorry that Botha is injured he would have made a good option at 8 then you could have used Kolis or Lappies of the bench. No use tryin to cry over Stander. he is gone we need to accept that. We have enough loosies around in the country for that loss not to be a trainsmash.