Will it be third time lucky for England?
June 17, 2012 in Uncategorized
Now that the test series win is in the bag we can sleep a bit easier. Heyneke and Rassie certainly looked like they needed this series win to calm their nerves. The old cliche goes that you are as good as the last match that you played and i am sure that not only Heyneke , but the whole English team will literally take this cliche to mind. This will mean that we are in for a gruelling encounter in Port Elizabeth. The English will probably do much better at coast level and they also will have much better ideas on how to beat the Boks. To complicate matters further we will have to deal with a growing list of injuries.
First we must look at the injuries in the team. After that at the weaknesses in the Bok team shown up by the English. Then we must ask ourselves if this is something that can be fixed by the coach or something we have to fix by selecting another player. Eventually it is Heyneke that will have to make the call and live with the consequences. This far he has done quite well and i would suggest that we give him our full support.
If Lambie is not fit for selection i would like to see Aplon selected . Personally i would like to retain the rest of the backline including Morne Steyn. I thought that Morne did quite well except for his placekicking and the odd mistake here and there. Everyone wanted to axe Habana and look at how he came back to form. I would however have liked Heyneke to pick Elton Jantjies as an insurance policy on the bench. Olivier would definitely not be in my match 22.
The forwards will pose more tricky questions. The frontrow looked great while the 3 Sharks was still on the field. The locks was great , but with Juandre Kruger injured and possibly not available for selection, we will have to find another lock. I believe Heyneke will go with Flip van der Merwe and play Franco of the bench. With Alberts probably also out i would have been tempted to play Jaques Potgieter in his place. Potgieter is an aggressive and robust player. After the Bulls lost him to injury their play lost a lot of intensity. Personally i would have loved to pick a player like Elstadt on the bench to cover both lock and the looseforward position.
But we know that he is suspended. Right? And also not in the group?
Unicorn007 said on June 17, 2012
Oh yes, Aplon is the obvious choice.
Tumcashm said on June 18, 2012
Don’t forget that Steyn is not playnig in the next game,so who would you play in his place?Meyer is talking about tired players who do you think he is talking about?Habana?
COOLJ said on June 18, 2012
I would not be surprised to see Pienaar get the flyhalf berth. Why would Steyn arrange his marriage during the rugby season? you would think he would do it off season. We must keep as much of the starting line up as possible as i see a similar fate as to the Lions tour taking shape here. We must go for the jugular now and white wash.
uysh said on June 18, 2012
I’d also like to know from the die hard Wynand”most tries are scored outside him” OLivier what he’s done in the 36 minutes he’s been on the field!
No, JP’s try doesn’t count as scored “outside” Wynand…
My major worry for this weekend is that Wynand will go to 12 with Frans out. He is just not up to International Rugby level. Never been able to step up in the 21 starts he had in Test Rugby.
Hopefully Alberts and Lambie’s injuries are not that bad. If they are injured I’d opt for Aplon at 15 and Potgieter will be the only player that will almost be able to fill Alberts boots, halfway…
Keegan Daniel has just been absent everytime he took the field.
Our scrums were woeful with Kruger at tighthead. He doesn’t belong there.
Elstadt would not see my team even if he was the las tplayer on earth. His ill discipline will cost you too many points.
Benlloyd said on June 18, 2012
CoolJ you might find that the wedding was planned along time ago…before frans was chosen for the boks and he was still playing in franse where this time of year is considered offseason and rugby is not played.
hanjooveres said on June 18, 2012
amen Uysh. amen.