Publications
Partners
Stephen Nell
Cardiff – The Springboks are set to abandon the past weekend’s winning recipe against Ireland in favour of a ball-in-hand approach as they look to beat Wales under a closed roof at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
“We hope the roof is closed because it will offer more opportunities to move the ball around. We’d like to play more expansively and keep the ball in hand. The rain did not allow that at the weekend, but we are satisfied with some of the phases we built against Ireland,” said South African backline coach Dick Muir.
Jean de Villiers did not participate in Monday morning’s training session at the University of Glamorgan, but is likely to be announced in the starting line-up for Saturday’s Test.
His centre partner is likely to be either Zane Kirchner or Frans Steyn. Kirchner did not look uncomfortable in the No 13 jersey against Ireland, but Muir admitted that he had not really been tested on defence.
Therefore Steyn’s availability solves an obvious problem for the Boks.
“Jean and Frans are both flexible. They can play together, but Frans is so versatile that he can also slot in at flyhalf or fullback. If we play him and Jean together at centre, I would think that Frans will be at inside centre on attack and outside centre on defence.”
With no fresh injuries reported, the Bok team that will be announced on Tuesday is likely to be fairly similar to the one that beat Ireland. Should loose forward Willem Alberts recover from his calf injury, he may well be considered as an impact player from the bench.
Alberts, Lwazi Mvovo, Coenie Oosthuizen and Elton Jantjies are the newcomers on tour who have yet to make their Test debut. However, any involvement will be aimed at improving the Boks’ chances rather than simply handing out Springbok blazers.
“Hopefully all the young players get a chance as the tour progresses, but winning is our priority,” said Muir.
“This has been a challenging year for South African rugby and we are not proud about what happened to us in the Tri-Nations. This is (our) last chance to redeem ourselves this year.”
What must be pleasing for the Boks then, is that their opponents appear to have bigger headaches than they do, for a change. Wales’ Kiwi coach, Warren Gatland, is under increasing media pressure for his modest winning percentage. There is also talk of the likes of halfbacks Mike Phillips and Stephen Jones being axed.
However, the Boks have been led to understand that Wales have targeted this game for a win against one of the Southern Hemisphere giants.
“We finished third in the Tri-Nations, so they are probably considering this the easier game. We are expecting a massive onslaught and it’s time for us to stand up and be counted,” said Muir.
Cardiff – The Springboks are set to abandon the past weekend’s winning recipe against Ireland in favour of a ball-in-hand approach as they look to beat Wales under a closed roof at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
“We hope the roof is closed because it will offer more opportunities to move the ball around. We’d like to play more expansively and keep the ball in hand. The rain did not allow that at the weekend, but we are satisfied with some of the phases we built against Ireland,” said South African backline coach Dick Muir.
Jean de Villiers did not participate in Monday morning’s training session at the University of Glamorgan, but is likely to be announced in the starting line-up for Saturday’s Test.
His centre partner is likely to be either Zane Kirchner or Frans Steyn. Kirchner did not look uncomfortable in the No 13 jersey against Ireland, but Muir admitted that he had not really been tested on defence.
Therefore Steyn’s availability solves an obvious problem for the Boks.
“Jean and Frans are both flexible. They can play together, but Frans is so versatile that he can also slot in at flyhalf or fullback. If we play him and Jean together at centre, I would think that Frans will be at inside centre on attack and outside centre on defence.”
With no fresh injuries reported, the Bok team that will be announced on Tuesday is likely to be fairly similar to the one that beat Ireland. Should loose forward Willem Alberts recover from his calf injury, he may well be considered as an impact player from the bench.
Alberts, Lwazi Mvovo, Coenie Oosthuizen and Elton Jantjies are the newcomers on tour who have yet to make their Test debut. However, any involvement will be aimed at improving the Boks’ chances rather than simply handing out Springbok blazers.
“Hopefully all the young players get a chance as the tour progresses, but winning is our priority,” said Muir.
“This has been a challenging year for South African rugby and we are not proud about what happened to us in the Tri-Nations. This is (our) last chance to redeem ourselves this year.”
What must be pleasing for the Boks then, is that their opponents appear to have bigger headaches than they do, for a change. Wales’ Kiwi coach, Warren Gatland, is under increasing media pressure for his modest winning percentage. There is also talk of the likes of halfbacks Mike Phillips and Stephen Jones being axed.
However, the Boks have been led to understand that Wales have targeted this game for a win against one of the Southern Hemisphere giants.
“We finished third in the Tri-Nations, so they are probably considering this the easier game. We are expecting a massive onslaught and it’s time for us to stand up and be counted,” said Muir.
