Mallett lauds Bok halfbacks

Cape Town - Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett has lauded the performances of halfbacks Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie in the 31-28 win over England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Coach Heyneke Meyer opted for a new combination in this game, after Francois Hougaard and Handre Pollard struggled in the previous Test against Ireland.

Reinach scored a try while Lambie kicked 16 points with the boot, including a late drop goal to put the game out of England's reach.

Speaking in the SuperSport studio afterwards, Mallett said:

"Our young halfbacks played well. Reinach and Lambie can be very proud of their performances today. We talked at half-time about how England weren't using the chip kick. Wasn't it interesting that the first thing the Boks did in the second half was exploit England's flat defence. That chip from Lambie was magnificent. Willie le Roux probably called it from outside and he put it on a tiki.

"Just in the scheme of controlling a game of rugby, we were leading by five points and Lambie's drop goal put us more than a score ahead. There was some good play by the forwards to get us into the position, and he took the three points well."

Ahead of this Saturday's game against Italy in Padova, Mallett said he expected Meyer to give some fringe players in the squad a run.

"Heyneke Meyer's got 30-odd players on this tour, so a lot of guys are not going to get game time. I think it's a great opportunity to see whether our scrum can survive without Jannie du Plessis.

"I'm not sure that Coenie Oosthuizen is a world-class tighthead. In fact I'm sure he's not.

"Maybe Julian Redelinghuys will come into the mix against Italy and let's have a look and see what he can do on the tighthead, because we're desperate to get a replacement that can alleviate Jannie's workload at the moment."

Golden Lions prop Ruan Dreyer was on Sunday called up to the Springbok squad as injury cover for Du Plessis.