South Africa vs. World XV [11 July 2015]

[TRF_heineken]

WORLD XV

Newlands, Cape Town

17:00 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
​

Teams

South Africa: 15. Willie le Roux, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Jessie Kriel, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Handre Pollard, 9. Ruan Pienaar, 8. Warren Whiteley, 7. Marcell Coetzee, 6. Francois Louw, 5. Victor Matfield, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Beast Mtawarira.

Substitutes: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. Trevor Nyakane, 18. Vincent Koch, 19. Teboho Mohoje, 20. Schalk Burger, 21. Cobus Reinach, 22. Pat Lambie, 23. Jean De Villiers

World XV: TBA

 

[TRF_heineken]

Springbok team has been announced!

 

[gaston le gaff]

question Heineken is this likely to be more or less the starting team for the 4 Nations or is it a one off selection for this game, and please take care of the Du Plessis brothers we will need after the WC.!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TRF_heineken]

question Heineken is this likely to be more or less the starting team for the 4 Nations or is it a one off selection for this game, and please take care of the Du Plessis brothers we will need after the WC.!!!!!!!!!!

I think a lot will change.

Remember this is an uncapped game, and is just basically a warm up game to get the guys ready for the Rugby Championship, most of these guys haven't played in a while and some of them are only now back from injury.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Oupa Mohoje, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jean de Villiers

Happy to see Reinach and Lambie have recovered sufficiently enough to make the bench with Coetzee well enought o start even. I am 50/50 on JdV.. kinda feel like history is repeating itself with the 2011 RWC where John Smit and FdP were behind Bismarck and Hougaard on form but starting due to captaincy.

Happy to see Mohoje looks like he is being considered primarily at lock where we have issues ATM.

Very happy Whiteley is starting. Same with De Allende. Hope they make it very hard to not select them going forwards though I see Whiteley shifting to the blindside to accommodate Vermeulen come the RWC.

Intrigued with Jesse Kriel playing at 13..

Hope Le Roux gets his act together again and cuts down the error rate. We'll likely only see this tested under pressure which we probably won't have here passed the 1/2h mark?

WTF is Jannie du Plessis doing there though? I assume Malherbe and MvdM are both injured that I'm not aware of and HM only wants to start Koch off the bench!?!

question Heineken is this likely to be more or less the starting team for the 4 Nations or is it a one off selection for this game, and please take care of the Du Plessis brothers we will need after the WC.!!!!!!!!!!

There are still many guys injured who may get in still. You are welcome to take Jannie off our hands..
Guys that will or could still come in back from injury:
Heinrich Brussow (Cheetahs/Docomo, Japan), Loose forward, 20
Lood de Jager (Cheetahs), Lock, 9
Fourie du Preez (Suntory, Japan), Scrumhalf, 70
Pieter-Steph du Toit (Sharks), Lock, 2
Jaque Fourie (Kobe, Japan), Centre, 72
Lionel Mapoe (Lions), Centre, 0
Coenie Oosthuizen (Cheetahs), Prop, 21
Jan Serfontein (Bulls), Centre, 20
Frans Steyn (Sharks), Centre, 53
Duane Vermeulen (Stormers), No 8, 29

Besides them I expect we'll see Willem Alberts get in when we play in Europe in sterner conditions than an exhibtion match at home. I would be surprised if one of Frans Malherbe or Marcel van der Merwe also doesn't come into the 23 at tight head prop.

 

[William18]

Interesting to see how JdV goes. Who is in the World XV?

 

[TobesHodges]

Jessie kriel at 13, I like that..

 

[TRF_heineken]

Stephen Kitshoff is injured and wasn't selected because of the injury. HM said yesterday that it's a pity that he got injured as we wanted to start him this match as well as next week's match against Oz.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

World XV:
15 Delon Armitage, 14 Lachlan Turner, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 David Smith, 10 Mike Harris, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Jordan Taufua, 5 Bakkies Botha (captain), 4 Ali Williams, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp
Substitutes: 16 David Roumieu, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Flip Van der Merwe, 20 Louis-Benoit Madaule, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Andrew Horrell, 23 Rudi Wulf

Certainly not a poor side. I suspect both teams will be a bit rusty what with very few existing partnerships and lack of time together. I read about Kitshoff. Big pity for his Bok asprations (would've been nice to go in with a few caps and maybe give Beast the opportunity to get rotated) though he is no longer a Stormers player..

 

[SomeOke]

I like the team injuries considered. I can't help but feel our pack lacks a bit of balance though, particularly with regards to ball carriers. While Eben, BdP, and Coetzee are all decent ball carriers I do feel we are lacking that explosive go forward ball without Alberts and Vermulen (PsdT is another who I feel has that explosive running power) but hopefully the problem will sort itself out.
We should have enough to dispense with the World 15 however, a good side, and a very good forward pack it still doesn't feel like it's necessarily international quality especially the back line as none of the Super Rugby players are particularly good.
Still I'm looking forward to the game, just to see die Bokke playing again.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I like the team injuries considered. I can't help but feel our pack lacks a bit of balance though, particularly with regards to ball carriers. While Eben, BdP, and Coetzee are all decent ball carriers I do feel we are lacking that explosive go forward ball without Alberts and Vermulen (PsdT is another who I feel has that explosive running power) but hopefully the problem will sort itself out.
We should have enough to dispense with the World 15 however, a good side, and a very good forward pack it still doesn't feel like it's necessarily international quality especially the back line as none of the Super Rugby players are particularly good.
Still I'm looking forward to the game, just to see die Bokke playing again.

I get the feeling that HM doesn't want the forwards to go into contact like they used to. I think he saw that keeping the ball alive brings more opportunities than guys going off their feet with no support close-by.

I particularly like the balance of the pack to be honest. With Whiteley, Coetzee and Flouw, we can give any team a torrid time at the rucks...

 

[Sonic Kiwi]

I get the feeling that HM doesn't want the forwards to go into contact like they used to. I think he saw that keeping the ball alive brings more opportunities than guys going off their feet with no support close-by.

I particularly like the balance of the pack to be honest. With Whiteley, Coetzee and Flouw, we can give any team a torrid time at the rucks...

HM is also hedging his bets re: running rugby. The myth of the Boks relying on the forwards under Puff Divvy is true but HM is doing the balance act.

HM is buggered if he does and buggered if he doesn't, it's a catch 22.

 

[TRF_heineken]

HM is also hedging his bets re: running rugby. The myth of the Boks relying on the forwards under Puff Divvy is true but HM is doing the balance act.

HM is buggered if he does and buggered if he doesn't, it's a catch 22.

Yeah, look HM gets a lot of criticism, especially from those who aren't Bulls Supporters. And I think he is being unfairly judged at times.

I'm a big fan of him, not because of who he picks or the style he tries to adopt, but rather that he is trying to bring back the old Springbok Culture that was absent under Pdivvy's rule. HM is a big supporter of tradition and players working for one another.

He might not have had the results he wanted at times, but I think he has done a bloody good job at cementing the second position on the rankings, and playing an expansive new gameplan. Since he took over he has had more than 20 players making their Debut for the Bokke, which shows just how he had to start from scratch.

 

[Kiwi_]

How big of an impact do you find DV's injury?

 

[TRF_heineken]

How big of an impact do you find DV's injury?

It's a massive impact. It will certainly have a concerning impact on the squad. But all we can do now is wait and hear about his recovery and if he will be available for the World Cup.

A similar thing happened in 2007. With Pierre Spies, who, at that time was the form no. 8 in South Africa, and was leading the Bulls to a Super Rugby ***le. He got a rare blood disease before the World Cup and couldn't go with the squad. I think if he doesn't make it to the World Cup, the guys will be galvanised to play for him. If he's fit, and ready to play, then we will be better off...

 

[Kiwi_]

He's a great player, I really wish the best for his return. It's always sad if a great player misses out on the RWC. Also it's a lot more satisfying and a better spectacle playing a side at its full strength. Hope to see you guys in the SF with Duane fit.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Yeah, look HM gets a lot of criticism, especially from those who aren't Bulls Supporters. And I think he is being unfairly judged at times.

I'm a big fan of him, not because of who he picks or the style he tries to adopt, but rather that he is trying to bring back the old Springbok Culture that was absent under Pdivvy's rule. HM is a big supporter of tradition and players working for one another.

He might not have had the results he wanted at times, but I think he has done a bloody good job at cementing the second position on the rankings, and playing an expansive new gameplan. Since he took over he has had more than 20 players making their Debut for the Bokke, which shows just how he had to start from scratch.

I have to agree I am one of those who give Meyer (and any other coach of a team I support) a hard time. Lets face it, we are passionate and demanding fans. He has actually had a good run so far. His win % is up there, he has turned around our run of losses to Aussie under PdV, he has (up till last year where we had a terrible EoYT) had 100% success against NH opposition. It's only last years' EoYT and we've been struggling against NZ but lets face it, last year's EoYT we came up against an Ireland side that just had our number and we were struggling with injuries regardless, especially against Wales and as for NZ, well this has probably been the best NZ side of all time in recent years maybe even the best sports team ever and we beat them even if only the one time and came pretty close other times but for a bit of luck. This is not a team that it is a shame to be behind and we have been good value for our number 2 spot under HM. So, I guess this is one of those rare moment I give Meyer the kudos he deserves.

If we look at the big picture Meyer has also had to develop the depth of our squad whether because of injury or age and he has been trying to get us to play a more balanced game than the narrow game we ended up with under PdV/Smit/Matfield. If you look at our teams that have been sucessful they weren't afraid to give the ball some air and we've had brilliant runners of the ball. The big unions need to smarten up and get with the program as well. When I think of the damage done to SA rugby under PdV when HM should've taken over from White..

 

[TobesHodges]

If any of you Southern Hemisphere lads don't watch the top 14, you'll see in this game why there was so much uproar about steffon not playing for England, I will say he is the best 7 in the world at the moment, ridiculous technique and strength..

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Hyperbole!

 

[TRF_heineken]

Hyperbole!

Yeah...

It will take a lot to convince a SH supporter that a NH openside flanker are better than ours...