[June Tests 2018: 1st Test] South Africa vs. England (09/06/2018)

[Gena_ZA]

Bongi will start at 2

 

[unrated]

I don't think there is a single established combination anywhere in our back line, and this team has barely had any time together.

I like Lukhanyo Am and i think he needs to be blooded into the Springbok team before the world cup, all indications point to him starting on saturday but i really think it will be a better idea if Jesse Kriel started with Am coming of the bench in the second half. Suddenly we would have a backline that has played together. The Pollard, de Allende, Kriel axis has played together and you can then add in the experienced le Roux who also played with de Allende, Pollard and Kriel at the last world cup and you can start seeing a backline that has some serious experience. There is nothing we can do about the inexperience on the wings but tbh i dont think the wings matter that much in terms of experience, and then there is the fact that our previous wing experiments under AC did not work out, what we lose in experience at the wings we will gain in exuberance.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Sucks that Bismarck is out of the first test, can't see how playing Chiliboy will help us in any way to win this game. Maybe he can at least have a 90% lineout throwing record for the first game? Cant see Akker being selected to start.




Don't think we will see Willie le Roux ever playing wing for the Boks again, and i'm pretty sure that lineup you mentioned will start the game, with le Roux at fullback.

I see that the England team will be basing themselves at the Beverly hills hotel in Umhlanga (close to Durban) and then flying to the games the day before and then flying back to Umhlanga after the games. That's quite an interesting move by EJ, They can now avoid the winter chills that the rest of South Africa experiences currently by staying in the warm sub tropical environment on the east coast which i think is a good move.

A side effect of being based on the coast is that England will have no time to practice at altitude, and i've heard of people who got altitude sickness by just driving to Joburg, so interesting that EJ doesn't care about acclimatization.

Bloemfontein is 1,395 m above sea level and Johannesburg is in the 1,700 s

Yeah I also don't understand this logic by the England coaching team. Isn't it part of the tour, to acclimatize to the local conditions? Instead they chose to go to the only part where it's not winter and where they're not playing a single game. Seems to me more like a vacational plan. Also the severe change in temperature could also be a factor as Durban is still around the high 20's low 30's at this time of year while Joburg and Bloem are closer to the zero mark.

 

[SomeOke]

I like Lukhanyo Am and i think he needs to be blooded into the Springbok team before the world cup, all indications point to him starting on saturday but i really think it will be a better idea if Jesse Kriel started with Am coming of the bench in the second half. Suddenly we would have a backline that has played together. The Pollard, de Allende, Kriel axis has played together and you can then add in the experienced le Roux who also played with de Allende, Pollard and Kriel at the last world cup and you can start seeing a backline that has some serious experience. There is nothing we can do about the inexperience on the wings but tbh i dont think the wings matter that much in terms of experience, and then there is the fact that our previous wing experiments under AC did not work out, what we lose in experience at the wings we will gain in exuberance.

Yeah I have to say I thought we'd see EITHER DDA and Kriel OR Am and Esterhuizen, it's a little strange that he's mixing and matching the guys who have actually played together, who knows though, maybe Esterhuizen plays, he was certainly our best player on Saturday night.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Poor planning by Jones and RFU then. I think the games at altitude are going to really mess up England's players if they're not properly acclimatised to the heat and altitude.

 

[Gena_ZA]

It is not new for teams to stay at sea level and go up to altitude just for the match.
Heat is not a problem, it is coldish on the highveld at present, 1 June winter started

 

[SomeOke]

It is not new for teams to stay at sea level and go up to altitude just for the match.
Heat is not a problem, it is coldish on the highveld at present, 1 June winter started

Yeah it won't be hotter than 10-15 degrees, no rain though, perfect rugby conditions really.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Yeah it won't be hotter than 10-15 degrees, no rain though, perfect rugby conditions really.

Ha! tell that to the gods who provided us with rain here in the highveld the past 2 weeks. To have it rain in Polokwane in June was so weird!

 

[RedruthRFC]

It is not new for teams to stay at sea level and go up to altitude just for the match.
Heat is not a problem, it is coldish on the highveld at present, 1 June winter started

This is being discussed in the EPS thread too, so I won't repeat what has been said there. Do you know if the Sharks and Stormers fly in just before their matches at altitude or if they give themselves longer when possible? If the former, is this motivated by budget or performance?

The only time I've visited Jo'burg was on the way back from Durban in May and it felt flipping freezing. Hopefully the London based players in particular have remembered their thermal jock straps!

 

[TRF_heineken]

This is being discussed in the EPS thread too, so I won't repeat what has been said there. Do you know if the Sharks and Stormers fly in just before their matches at altitude or if they give themselves longer when possible? If the former, is this motivated by budget or performance?

The only time I've visited Jo'burg was on the way back from Durban in May and it felt flipping freezing. Hopefully the London based players in particular have remembered their thermal jock straps!

I think it's a bit different though for the teams living in SA. They have a lot of training camps at altitude level and a lot of the guys playing for the coastal teams are from the highveld and is relatively used to the altitude and it's effects.

 

[SomeOke]

Ha! tell that to the gods who provided us with rain here in the highveld the past 2 weeks. To have it rain in Polokwane in June was so weird!

Haha fair enough, just glad Cape Town is getting some rain for once.
Anyway according to the forecast the weather will be clear but chilly, not that they are very reliable.

 

[Gena_ZA]

This is being discussed in the EPS thread too, so I won't repeat what has been said there. Do you know if the Sharks and Stormers fly in just before their matches at altitude or if they give themselves longer when possible? If the former, is this motivated by budget or performance?

The only time I've visited Jo'burg was on the way back from Durban in May and it felt flipping freezing. Hopefully the London based players in particular have remembered their thermal jock straps!

Local teams are very much used to the change in altitude and it does not affect them in the slightest.
Early morning an evenings are cold yes, mid day is nippy and a light jacket or jersey is adequate, not bitterly cold
Then again Highveld cold is very different to London cold

 

[Gena_ZA]

Back to the game, I thought Kriel had a bad game, as if he tried to hard

I would start with the Sharks midfield paring and bring De Allende on later
I would also opt for Akker vd Merwe as backup hooker and Galant as replacement fullback

 

[SomeOke]

Local teams are very much used to the change in altitude and it does not affect them in the slightest.

I don't know about that, every time we toured Grey Bloem back in high school I felt like my chest was going to explode haha.

 

[Gena_ZA]

I don't know about that, every time we toured Grey Bloem back in high school I felt like my chest was going to explode haha.

lol, and you played on the Highveld how many times a year:
and you had a professional conditioning team right and a dietitian on tap

 

[SomeOke]

lol, and you played on the Highveld how many times a year:
and you had a professional conditioning team right and a dietitian on tap

Does getting force fed kilos of braai meat by my father every weekend count as a dietitian?

 

[RedruthRFC]

I think it's a bit different though for the teams living in SA. They have a lot of training camps at altitude level and a lot of the guys playing for the coastal teams are from the highveld and is relatively used to the altitude and it's effects.

That's interesting, how long to the benefits of altitude training last? My impression was that it was a short term thing, so any benefits gained would be gone after a few home games and a tour or Australia / New Zealand. I guess being used to the effects would be useful in terms of dealing with for the ball moves through the air, but I don't see how it would help with the inevitable fatigues versus a team partly made up of players whose bodies are used to breathing air with less oxygen in it.

Edit: I know little about the sports science on this other than what I've learned today, so stand to be corrected on any / all points.

 

[McTallshort]

Holy **** are we really not staying at altitude?!
Wildly short sighted and gonna **** us massively.

No it wont, with Altitude you either travel the day before and play or travel up the week before, anything in the middle is a killer.

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

No it wont, with Altitude you either travel the day before and play or travel up the week before, anything in the middle is a killer.

Not doubting you, but got any proof of that?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Anecdotally I think long term exposure to

No it wont, with Altitude you either travel the day before and play or travel up the week before, anything in the middle is a killer.

Anything under three days is a killer, according to the papers I skimmed over earlier. Two to three weeks is the ideal amount, but anything under three saw a 50% reduction in aerobic performance.