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Cape Town - The Springboks have no intention of playing an expansive Barbarians-style of rugby when they kick off their year-end tour with a festival match.
The Boks open their European tour with a clash against the Barbarians at London’s Wembley Stadium next Saturday (November 5), before scheduled Tests against England (London, November 12), Italy (Florence, November 19) and Wales (Cardiff, November 26).
Their first match is not an official Test, but Coetzee said there will be no intention of just throwing the ball around.
“We’re definitely not going to play to please the crowd,” Coetzee told Netwerk24.
“This is the encounter where the groundwork for a successful tour must be laid. It won’t help for us to adopt to the Barbarians spirit and play a style that we have to completely change for the next week against England.”
“I want us to take the tour week by week and Test by Test and therefore the focus will for now only be on the encounter with the Barbarians. Even though it’s not an official Test, I want us to play the type of rugby we’ll be playing in the three other Tests. Therefore, we’ll be sticking to the structures I believe will be necessary to be successful and not fall into the trap of playing Barbarians rugby.”
Coetzee picked two Boks squads - one for the Barbarians clash and another for the three subsequent Tests.
Springbok squad v Barbarians:
Forwards (17)
Lourens Adriaanse, Nizaam Carr, Uzair Cassiem, Eben Etzebeth, Lizo Gqoboka, Lood de Jager, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Oupa Mohoje, Tendai Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Jean-Luc du Preez, Roelof Smit, RG Snyman, Adriaan Strauss (captain), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Thomas du Toit
Backs (13)
Damian de Allende, Ruan Combrinck, Faf de Klerk, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Patrick Lambie, Rudy Paige, Sergeal Petersen, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Tian Schoeman, Jamba Ulengo, Francois Venter, Piet van Zyl
Note: No foreign-based players available for Barbarians match
Springbok squad v England, Italy and Wales:
Forwards (18)
Willem Alberts, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Jaco Kriel, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Oupa Mohoje, Franco Mostert, Tendai Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Jannie du Plessis, Jean-Luc du Preez, Roelof Smit, Adriaan Strauss (captain), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Warren Whiteley
Backs (15)
Damian de Allende, Ruan Combrinck, Faf de Klerk, Johan Goosen, Bryan Habana, Elton Jantjies, Jesse Kriel, Patrick Lambie, Lionel Mapoe, Rudy Paige, Sergeal Petersen, JP Pietersen, Willie le Roux, Francois Venter, Piet van Zyl
