Zane Kirchner and Chiliboy Ralepelle have been selected to travel with the Springboks to Australia and New Zealand for the next two Tests in The Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
The squad of 26 players who returned from Argentina on Monday was retained, with Kirchner (fullback) and Ralepelle (hooker) the only additions.
Ralepelle, the third hooker in the squad, missed the Argentinean tour because of a back injury and he will have to pass a fitness test before he can board the plane to Australia. A final call on his availability will be made by Friday.
The Springbok squad of 28 players will depart for Brisbane via Sydney on Saturday afternoon for their Tests against Australia in the Queensland capital on 7 September and New Zealand in Auckland on 14 September.
“This will be two tough weeks on the road against two of the best sides in the world and as we saw last weekend against Argentina, we still have a lot of hard work to do,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
“The Springboks have never beaten Australia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and our last victory at Eden Park was in 1937.
“Australia may have lost their first two matches of The Castle Lager Rugby, but they showed a marked improvement last weekend in Wellington.
“They are always a tough opponent at home – the Springboks’ last victory over there was in 2009 and we’ve only won three out of 18 matches in this competition in Australia.
“We get together on Thursday and will have to put in a lot of hard work in the next 10 days. We let ourselves down in certain areas of the game in Mendoza and will have to fix those if we are going to be competitive against Australia.”
The 28-man Springbok squad to Australia and New Zealand:
Forwards (16): Lourens Adriaanse, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Juandré Kruger, Francois Louw, Tendai Mtawarira, Coenie Oosthuizen, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Adriaan Strauss, Flip van der Merwe, Duane Vermeulen.
Backs (12): Bjorn Basson, Jean de Villiers (captain), JJ Engelbrecht, Bryan Habana, Zane Kirchner, Patrick Lambie, Willie le Roux, Ruan Pienaar, Jan Serfontein, Morné Steyn, Piet van Zyl, Jano Vermaak.
“Springboks’ last victory over there was in 2009 and we’ve only won three out of 18 matches in this competition in Australia”
i never thought it is so bad, a mountain to climb. Well the team and Heynecke need to get over this mountain if they ever want to get to the top of the pile and stay there.
“Springboks have never beaten Australia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and our last victory at Eden Park was in 1937”
Tough tour good luck Bokke, just do it.
1 & 2 @ superBul:
Daar’s altyd ‘n 1ste keer… en die Wallabies is reg om gepluk en geskil te word soos ‘n lemoentjie!
Ek sou Lambie op heelagter sit, Willie le Roux na regtervleuel, Habana terug oor na linkervleuel… Bjorn Basson uit die span van 23 uit.
Ek sou begin met Jano Vermaak as skrummie en met Flip & Etzebeth as slotte. Ek sou JJ Engelbrecht drop bench toe, Jan Serfontein inbring as Nr 12, Jean de Villiers uitskuiwe na Nr 13.
… en op die bank sou ek vir Coenie die Boef (loskopstut plaasvervanger), Bissie (haker), Lourens Adriaanse (vaskopstut plaasvervanger), Juandré Kruger (slot), Siya Kolisi (flank), Piet van Zyl, JJ Engelbrecht & Zane Kirchner gebruik.
Daarmee spreek ek die vaste 5 se swakhede aan, sorteer die skrumskakel dilemma uit, sorteer JJ Egelbrecht se swak verdediging in die middeveld uit en het ‘n meer gekonsentreerde en geballanseerde agterste 3 wat beter sal wees op verdediging en hantering van skoppe. Uit 23 in die squad verander ek derhalwe net 3 spelers (Gurthro, Bjorn & Pienaar uit, Adriaanse, Piet van Zyl & Zane in [al drie op die bench])
Maar nouja, Heyneke sal nie soos ek redeneer nie, ek berus my daarby.
HM gaan Zane insit op 15, watch it
Bly by sy Lovechild Ruan
en dan hoop ek hy kry bietjie spoed by by 6,7,8
To be able to execute the game plan the Springboks envisage, one needs to beef up the tight 5 slightly, speed up play behind scrums, rucks & mauls… have a solid defensive midfield against the likes of Lealiifano and Adam Ashley-Cooper, field a solid back 3 who are good under the high balls and defence in general… yet potent on attack and counter-attack, with the necessary X-Factor built in which all back 3 choices have in abundance.
Beefing up the tight 5 at the same time provides the opportunity for a balanced loose trio to flourish and concentrate on their primary tasks at the breakdowns, tackles and strike running.
The link between forwards and backs (scrumhalf) cannot be understated… and of course with Fourie du Preez not there right now, the logical successor should be Jano Vermaak who has played next to Morné Steyn all season, not Ruan Pienaar who is slow, cumbersome and is used to Northern Hemisphere Club Rugby and it’s conditions.
4 @ superBul:
Ek dink nie Heyneke gaan veel verander nie… dalk vir Willie regtervleuel toe skuiwe, Habana linkervleuel toe.. en Zane of Lambie heelagter toe.
Hoor my lied, hy gaan die voorspelers netso los en hy gaan Ruan Kotsnaar op skrummie los.
@ grootblousmile:
If we can all see that Pienaar is the problem, why doesn’t he say: “you are the weakest link, goodbye!!”?
7 @ Lion4ever:
Jeeez, if I had an answer for that I might even begin to understand women as well… not that they understand themselves anyway!
@ grootblousmile:
LOL. My sentiments exactly.
@ grootblousmile:
@3 Ons twee dink alweer eners,presies soos ek ook die span sou kies!
10 @ Pietman:
Jy is ‘n rugby kenner, Piet…
@ grootblousmile:
6
dink jy slaan spyker op die kop
Hy het al voorheen die slotte geskommel so daar kan hy dalk roteer
Dan die K woord , mens weet nie wat daar binne aangaan nie maar dalk is CR weer in die 23, ek sou dan vir Strauss laat rus teen die Aussies
Kyk ek dink eerlik dat Bissie en Strauss tans die in manne is maar soos ek se hier kan hy die Top base please sonder om die span te veel te verswak.
Lambie to go full circle?
It is where he started under Heyneke Meyer’s tenure, so perhaps Pat Lambie is set for a return as Bok fullback, says Rob Houwing.
13 @ superBul:
Super,
I doubt Meyer will risk flyhalf cover from the bench. Lambie is our 1st choice flyhalf cover for Morne. Ruan is 2nd choice and he will start I am sure of that. Meyer will never risk not having flyhalf cover from the bench. Well that is how it seems to me.
Also with Zane there it seems we will play the kick and chase game. So expect to see Basson start as well with Willie coming on later to wing with Lambie to fb much later on in the game with 15min or less. That is how I see it.
Pity as I think we would be a stronger team with the play makers there. Willie at wing and Pat at fb.
Have to wait and see as our overseas players are gonna be tired with all the travel and having to play on Saturday.
Puma wrote:
I think you can be right, if we play kick and chase it will be with Basson and even Zane there. Well at least one of them will do the chasing and contesting thing. Eisssssh
14 @ Puma:
We all know that Heyneke Meyer believes in consistency in selection, so in essence the 23 who formed part of the match day 23 this past weekend is almost a virtual shoe-in.
Meyer will be looking to address shortcomings… well the shortcomings HE perceives!
The glaring problems were at scrumhalf (which I do not think Heyneke Meyer sees or will acknowledge), at fullback or in better words in the balance in the back 3 and my guess is that Pat Lambie will be moved to fullback, from where he could also easily move to cover flyhalf.. with a specialist fullback on the bench (Kirchner). I don’t think Willie le Roux will be dropped, rather moved to right wing, with Bjorn Basson the casualty out of the match 23.
Another big problem was midfield defence and my guess is that Meyer will continue with the centres as is and with Jan Serfontein on the bench. I would have relegated JJ to the bench and started with Jan and Jean.
Grunt was missing in all our forwards, but most tellingly so at No 5 lock, but I think Juandré Kruger will retain his spot, as will Eben Etzebeth, with Flip still on the bench.
I’m still not happy with Coenie die Boef as replacement tighthead, but Heyneke will keep them and replacements in tact. I would have shoved Gurthro out of the match day 23 and brought in Lourens Adriaanse as replacement tighthead, with Coenie only as replacement loosehead.
Looking at the possibility of so-called kick-and-chase rugby… take note that both the All Blacks and Wallabies kicked much more this past weekend compared to the Springboks as well as the Pumas for that matter.
The Springbok approach for the Wallabies game will be a bit different, but Heyneke knows bloody well that Ewen McKenzie is trying to play a more ball in hand game… McKenzie states as much… which leads me to the belief that the Springboks will limit up-and-unders but rather kick for position and to the corners, to get spacial and territorial dominance established.
I see that the SA Rugby has signed a new kit sponsor… Asics… who plan to make individualised Springbok jerseys for players…
So, why not just spray-paint the jersey onto the Bokke bodies… or tattoo them on….
No grip problems, no stretched or ripped jerseys… and perfectly individualised…
grootblousmile wrote:
Imagine the hard on that HM will get with Spies in such a jersey, “those powerfull thighs, those muscular arms, those tight buttocks” etc, etc.
Kyk net hierdie oorsese Springbokspan (op News24 vandag):
Zane Kirchner
JP Pieterson
Jaque Fourie
Wynand Olivier
Bryan Habana
Morne Steyn
Fourie du Preez
Flo Louw
Andries Bekker
Bakkies Botha
Heinrich Brussouw
BJ Botha
Schalk Brits
Guthro Steenkamp
Joe van Niekerk
Allamaskas, my bek water eintlik!
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