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Cape Town - Former Springbok lock Kobus Wiese believes South Africa will struggle at the breakdown area in their Test against England at Twickenham on Saturday (kick-off 16:30 SA time).
The Boks have a crisis at loose forward, with all of Francois Louw, Jaco Kriel, Marcell Coetzee, Siya Kolisi and Roelof Smit injured, while Heinrich Brussow and Schalk Burger are not available.
This forced coach Allister Coetzee to revamp his loose trio for Saturday’s Test.
Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is normally a lock, was moved to No 7 flank, with Willem Alberts starting on the other side of the scrum and Warren Whiteley retaining the No 8 jersey.
It’s a heavy loose trio and Wiese, a 1995 Rugby World Cup winner, likes the idea of the versatile Du Toit at No 7, but he is worried about the lack of the fetcher.
Wiese took to Twitter to express his concerns after Coetzee named his team on Thursday:
I like the idea of Du Toit at 7, but then you need a "fetcher" at 6. We are in trouble at the breakdown point!
— Kobus Wiese (@4KobusWiese) November 10, 2016
The 52-year-old Wiese played 18 Tests for the Springboks between 1993 and 1996. He was also a Currie Cup champion with Transvaal (now called Lions).
Teams:
England
15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Mako Vunipola
Substitutes: 16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te'o, 23 Jonathan Joseph
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19, Franco Mostert, 20, Nizaam Carr, 21, Faf de Klerk, 22, Johan Goosen, 23 Lionel Mapoe
