Patrick Lambie

Patrick Lambie

Cobus Reinach

Cobus Reinach

Rugby World Cup winners JP Pietersen and Schalk Burger will start Saturdayā€™s second Test in the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour against England at Twickenham as the Springbok match-23 is retained from last weekend.

The five changes to the team are straight swaps between the starting line-up and the bench. Along with Pietersen and Burger, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has handed starts to hooker Adriaan Strauss and the halfback pair of Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie.

Cornal Hendricks, HandrƩ Pollard, Francois Hougaard, Teboho Mohoje and Bismarck du Plessis will start on the bench.

ā€œWeā€™ve accepted our performance against Ireland last weekend was not up to scratch and everyone in the touring squad has put up their hands and dug deep this week,ā€ said Meyer. ā€œWeā€™ve really worked hard at fixing the mistakes we made and the challenge is now to put that into action on Saturday.ā€

Meyer said the changes were not a knee-jerk reaction following the result in Dublin, but rather in line with rotational changes that he had in mind before the start of the tour.

Strauss, Lambie and Pietersen all started in the Springboksā€™ last Test at Twickenham, two years ago, while Saturdayā€™s match will be Reinachā€™s first in the starting team.

ā€œPat started at Twickenham for us two years ago and did very well,ā€ said Meyer. ā€œHeā€™s playing well at the moment and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start. Pat is tactically very astute and even though heā€™s still pretty young, heā€™s got a lot of experience.

ā€œAdriaan, Schalk and JP have all started a number of Tests this year and they will slot in easily ā€“ we decided beforehand that we wanted to start all of these players in one of the first two Tests on tour.

ā€œItā€™s a big occasion for Cobus but he would not have been here if we didnā€™t believe he could deliver the goods, and heā€™ll be next to his provincial team-mate in Pat.

ā€œAs usual, weā€™re also expecting our replacements to raise the intensity when theyā€™re sent on and Bismarck, who had a very good game in Dublin especially in the set-pieces, ā€˜Oupaā€™, Francois, Cornal and HandrĆ© will provide important cover off the bench.ā€

 

Springbok team:

15 Willie le Roux (22 caps, 35 points)
14 JP Pietersen (57 caps, 90 points)
13 Jan Serfontein (17 caps, 5 points)
12 Jean de Villiers (Captain – 103 caps, 135 points)
11 Bryan Habana (104 caps, 280 points)
10 Pat Lambie (37 caps, 81 points)
9 Cobus Reinach (3 caps, 0 points)
8 Duane Vermeulen (26 caps, 10 points)
7 Schalk Burger (74 caps, 65 points)
6 Marcell Coetzee (23 caps, 30 points)
5 Victor Matfield (Vice-captain – 118 caps, 35 points)
4 Eben Etzebeth (30 caps, 0 points)
3 Jannie du Plessis (61 caps, 5 points)
2 Adriaan Strauss (41 caps, 25 points)
1 Tendai Mtawarira (62 caps, 10 points)

Replacements:
16 Bismarck du Plessis (67 caps, 45 points)
17 Trevor Nyakane (10 caps, 5 points)
18 Coenie Oosthuizen (18 caps, 10 points)
19 Bakkies Botha (84 caps, 35 points)
20 Teboho ā€œOupaā€ Mohoje (4 caps, 0 points)
21 Francois Hougaard (33 caps, 25 points)
22 HandrƩ Pollard (7 caps, 61 points)
23 Cornal Hendricks (10 caps, 25 points)

 

Date: Saturday 15 November
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-Off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 BST & GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant Referees: JĆ©rĆ“me GarcĆØs (France), Nick Briant (New Zealand)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)

 

Stats and facts:

  • The Springbok starting team boasts a total of 778 Test caps (343 in the backline and 435 in the forwards), while there are a further 233 caps worth of experience on the bench.
  • South Africa and England have played each other 36 times since 1906, with the Springboks winning 22 Tests, losing 12 and two were drawn. The Springboks have scored 749 points and 69 tries and conceded 564 points and 39 tries for an average score of 21-16.
  • South Africa and England last met on 24 November 2012 at Twickenham in London. The Springboks won by 16-15 thanks to a try by Willem Alberts and 11 points from the boot of Patrick Lambie (one conversion and three penalty goals). England kicked five penalties, three by Owen Farrell and two by Toby Flood.
  • Jean de Villiers will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok centre, with 88 Tests in this position and will captain South Africa for the 32nd time, placing him third behind John Smit (83) and Gary Teichmann (36).
  • Victor Matfield will extend his record as the most capped Springbok in history (118 Tests). He will also extend his record of 118 Tests as a lock and will also extend his record as the oldest Springbok ever at 37 years 181 days.
  • Bryan Habana will extend his record as the most-capped Springbok wing, with 103 Tests in this position. If he scores a try, he will extend his record of 56 Test tries for South Africa.
  • If he goes on and scores a try Bismarck du Plessis will extend his record of nine Test tries for South Africa as a hooker.
  • Schalk Burger will extend his record as the most capped Springbok flanker in history (72 caps). If he scores a try, he will become the sole record-holder for most Test tries as a flanker (11), a record he currently shares with Juan Smith.
  • Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks, Duane Vermeulen, Jannie du Plessis and Bismarck du Plessis have played in all 10 Tests for the Springboks in 2014. Bryan Habana and Tendai Mtawarira have both missed only one Test in 2014.
  • Schalk Burger (Jnr) and Cobus Reinach are sons of Springboks. Schalk Burger (Snr) played six Tests for South Africa (1984-1986) and Jaco Reinach four Tests for South Africa in 1986. They played together in all four Tests against the New Zealand Cavaliers in 1986.
  • It will be the fourth time in history that a Springbok team will have three centurions in the starting line-up. The three previous times were against Australia and New Zealand in the Rugby Championship and against Ireland last week.
  • It will be Heyneke Meyerā€™s 35th Test in charge of the Springboks since he took over in 2012. Of the previous 34 Tests South Africa have won 24, lost eight and drew twice.
  • The referee is Steve Walsh of Australia. It will be his 18th Test involving South Africa. This is a new record for a referee in Tests involving SA, breaking the record of himself and Alain Rolland. Of the previous 17 Tests the Springboks have won 13, lost one and three were drawn. His last Test involving South Africa was in August this year against Argentina in Salta in the Rugby Championship – a game that the Springboks won 33-31.

 

Springbok Test match records at Twickenham:

  • Most points ā€“ 21 by Jannie de Beer (6p, 1d) against Australia on 30 October, 1999.
  • Most tries ā€“ two by Chester Williams against England on 18 November, 1995.
  • Most conversions ā€“ three by Ruan Pienaar against England on 22 November, 2008.
  • Most penalty goals ā€“ six by Jannie de Beer against Australia on 30 October, 1999.
  • Most drop goals ā€“ four by Andre Pretorius against England on 25 November, 2006.
  • The Springboks have played 18 times at Twickenham, winning ten and losing eight. They have scored 283 points and 27 tries and conceded 296 points and 26 tries for an average score of 16-17.

238 Responses to End Of Year Tours: Springboks – 5 Changes for England battle… Lambie, Reinach, Burger, Strauss, Pietersen

  • 211

    @ Angostura:
    We all will speak our minds thats why we all are here. Meyer has his faults of course. But to judge “consistency” without and comparrison to other coaches is a bit crazy imho. That way you could twist anything on earth in your way. Especially when you ignore simple factors such as injury or loss of form or quality of players available for a certain position and rotation.

  • 212

    MacroBok wrote:

    Again 4/33 is a figure simply sucked from your thumb

    So share with us how many of the 33 are established, vested Springboks; also name them.

  • 213

    @ Angostura:
    How many “could be” if not for injury? I already posted names and their current status in my opinion. Ne need to repeat myself. šŸ™‚

  • 214

    nortie wrote:

    Central contractingā€¦.SARU must contract the top 180 players, the national coach picks 6 squads of 30 players each, from his first choice to his 6th choiceā€¦..name them the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers, Lions, Kings and Cheetahs or whatever, and they can play SR .
    The franchises will lose their identities, tough luck, it will be the Boks, A side to F side or whatever.

    SARU should implement it from the junior levels, no team is allowed to contract players 18 years or older from say 2016

    All junior players 18-19 year old get rated by the talent scouts, from 1 to 200 or however many juniors

    SARU hold an annual draft like the NHL and NFL where the teams ranked lowest in the CC gets first pick and the CC winner last and then they keep doing it till all players are selected

    They are contracted to the team for two years, it’s enough time to see if they have what it takes to become a professional player

    Young players must play for the team for at least one season, they are all contracted and paid the same salary by SARU directly and the CC team pays back SARU

    After a year they can be bought by the big teams with a fixed transfer fee of say R 1 000 000. It would help the small teams, give the players exposure and prevent teams like the Bulls stockpiling young talent and not playing them

    Even if they move to the bigger unions players are still all employed by SARU with a sliding pay scale for CC, Super Rugby and Springbok duty.

  • 215

    @ Victoriabok:
    The problem is that we need a working solution to keep the players in south africa as well… An american sports there is big money all around while the players that stay in South Africa get a fraction of what they would in europe.

  • 216

    @ Victoriabok:
    Jy sal sien hoe hardloop al wat n jong talent is oorsee agter meer geld aan.
    Dink nie die ouers van talentvolle kinders sal dit like as hulle amper soos verpligte diensplig of onderwys na n kak span soos Grens of die Kings of SWD gestuur word nie.
    Dis n nice konsep, maar met die land se labour laws sal prokureurs weer n for tuin maak šŸ˜€

  • 217

    Angostura wrote:

    178 @ Victoriabok:
    2. So what was SARUā€™s contingency plan post 2007?

    3. As regards this point, was there ever a time when it was different? If not, why are you mentioning it?

    Snor received basically a full and experienced WC winning squad, as a matter of fact the core of the squad won the S14 twice more

    So he had a lot more to work with

    HM had to blood 2 new locks against the Poms, Schalk and a lot of our first and second string loosies were injured, he had to make do and more important, he had to win too

  • 218

    Angostura wrote:

    178 @ Victoriabok:

    BTW, I strenuously support HM as Bok coach, .

    Before I waste your and my time any further, please tell me who you wanted as coach?

    More Snor?

    AC? Btw he wasn’t interested

    Jake the Snake?

    Who?

  • 219

    @ MacroBok:
    209
    IMAGINE that.
    Sleep well pal.Rye

  • 220

    nortie wrote:

    @ Victoriabok:
    Jy sal sien hoe hardloop al wat n jong talent is oorsee agter meer geld aan.
    Dink nie die ouers van talentvolle kinders sal dit like as hulle amper soos verpligte diensplig of onderwys na n kak span soos Grens of die Kings of SWD gestuur word nie.
    Dis n nice konsep, maar met die land se labour laws sal prokureurs weer n for tuin maak

    Dit werk vir NZ

    Die unies sal moet saamwerk, dis al hoe ons jong outjies hier sal hou

    Onthou hulle gaan al klaar oorsee, die Bulle verloor vir Paul Willemse en hy’s ‘n yster en sou lekker saam met Eben in die Bokspan gespeel het

    Dit kan werk, as die speler sy eerste kontrak met SARU teken is dit om vir ten minste vier jaar in SA te speel

    Die jong outjies gaan ook nie kontrakte in die buiteland kry as hulle vir die kleiner unies speel nie

  • 221

    MacroBok wrote:

    How many ā€œcould beā€ if not for injury? I already posted names and their current status in my opinion. Ne need to repeat myself

    **

    I don’t like to deal in “could be’s”- you mentioned thumb sucks, well, “could be’s” fit that description to a T.

    Some time ago I posted the following which strives to categorize the new caps into categories most could hopefully agree to; I’ll concede that some disagreement could arise about the category in which certain players must be placed, but I don’t believe it’ll be widespread, nor do I believe there will much dissent about the categories; here is an extract from that earlier post duly updated with Whiteley & Reinach’s capping:

    “2. Of those 33 ONLY 4 have been an unqualified success at Test level (Eben Etzebeth, Duane Vermeulen, Willie le Roux & Marcell Coetzee);
    3. A further 10 of the 33 have generally given good account of themselves with the limited opportunities afforded them, & one can accordingly say that the jury is still out in respect of these ā€˜Possiblesā€™ (Arno Botha, Jan Serfontein, Trevor Nyakane, Siya Kolisi, Frans Malherbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Cornal Hendricks, Lood de Jager, Handre Pollard & Oupa Mohoje);
    4. 4 have only recently been brought into HMā€™s extended Bok squad and are yet to (dis)prove themselves one way or the other (Marcel van der Merwe, Marnitz Boshoff, Stephan Lewies & Damian de Allende);
    5. 6 of the 33 have been tried and apparently discarded by HM, OR have been capped, have not convinced, then been discarded & subsequently reintroduced (Juandre Kruger, Coenie Oosthuizen, Jacques Potgieter, JJ Engelbrecht, Johan Goosen & Jaco Taute);
    6. 9 of the 33 have received insufficient opportunity/game time to be rated which leads to the conclusion that HM viewed them as mere lower down the pecking order emergency stop gaps (Pat Cilliers, Tiaan Liebenberg (now retired), Elton Jantjies, Jano Vermaak, Piet van Zyl, Franco van der Merwe, Lourens Adriaanse, Warren Whiteley & Cobus Reinach);
    7. 6 of the 33 newcomers have been played out of position & of those only Marcell Coetzee can be considered a success;
    8. Only 6 of the 33 new caps are ā€˜players of colourā€™ of which a mere 3 are Black Africans. None of the 4 new caps that ā€˜have arrivedā€™ are ā€˜players of colourā€™, but 4 of the 10 ā€˜Possiblesā€™ are. I donā€™t know what HMā€™s transformation targets were when appointed, but his tenure appears to be retrogressive, whether intended or not;
    9. HM has only VESTED 4 New Springboks, none of them players of colour, yet he continues to seek success with ā€˜Dadā€™s Armyā€™, most of them veterans of RWC 2007 ā€“ I guess time will tell whether he is vindicated or not.

    PS: Iā€™m not an HM hater ā€“ I believe he is the best weā€™ve got & that he should at least see out his contractual term as coach. Notwithstanding, the above analysis does suggest that he has made several mistakes and that there is plenty of room for introspection & improvement.
    Nothing will make me happier than HM winning the TRC & the RWC during his present tenure, but has he established a platform for success, especially future success?”

    **

    OK, ciao – out

  • 222

    220 @ Victoriabok:
    Ek weet nie of dit so goed hier sal werk soos in NZ nie….hemeltjie help die laaitie wat by Grens opeindig…..daai bestuur sal seker sy SARU salaris ook steel

  • 223

    @ Victoriabok:

    I supported HM post 2007 WC
    &
    post 2011 WC

    & I still support HM as the best coach we have.

    Snor was an embarassment – I never supported him or AC for Bok coach

    I never was a Jake fan; that much is well documented over at Keo & over here.

    Your problem is assuming I’m anti HM – it clouds your view of what I say.

  • 224

    @ Angostura:
    I think 4/33 is definitely a skewed statistic because it inplies that 29 players have not been successful.

    Rather put it in a way to say ok well here are “12” guys that have not cut it at the top level. 4 that have been “awesome” and 17 players that are still in the middle ground or at the very least never stepped their game up and “put their hand up” for the springboks as well as during SR.

  • 225

    nortie wrote:

    220 @ Victoriabok:
    Ek weet nie of dit so goed hier sal werk soos in NZ nieā€¦.hemeltjie help die laaitie wat by Grens opeindigā€¦..daai bestuur sal seker sy SARU salaris ook steel

    Nee SARU betaal hom direk vir sy hele loopbaan

    Dis hoe die All Blacks sulke groot sponsorships kry

    En ek dink nie die top jong spelers moet na B Liga spanne gedraft word nie, hulle moet Curriebeker blootstelling kry

    SARU kan ‘n salaris vasstel vir spelers buite die draft en ouer spelers wat B Liga wil speel, maar hulle word ook sentraal gekontrakteer

  • 226

    @ Victoriabok:
    Die bulle het nou baie spelers verloor… Maar hulle het ook baie spelers. Die cheetahs het n klomp nou verloor. Sommer 9 oorsee.

    Sonder n vrye mark gaan ons hard klippe kou in die toekoms dink ek.

    Maar dis is n goeie idea, soos kommunisme om die liefde te versprei šŸ™‚

  • 227

    @ Victoriabok:
    Ek kon nooit die nz sisteem verstaan nie. Hoe gaan speel.n ou vir die crusaders en nie vir die hurricanes nie? Meestal val hulle onder die sub unie… Maar hoe kom hy daar? Is dit nou waar hy skoolgegaan het? Wat keer span b om nie te speler te lok nie en wat as die speler vir n seker uniei wil speel? Sit hy dan n transfer in, is daar ook n salary scale?

  • 228

    Soos het julian savea op 19 dieselfde geld verdien as al die ander ouens?

  • 229

    Angostura wrote:

    @ Victoriabok:
    I supported HM post 2007 WC
    &
    post 2011 WC

    & I still support HM as the best coach we have.

    Snor was an embarassment ā€“ I never supported him or AC for Bok coach

    I never was a Jake fan; that much is well documented over at Keo & over here.

    Your problem is assuming Iā€™m anti HM ā€“ it clouds your view of what I say.

    If they picked HM in 2007 it would have been a different story, managing the players he raised from junior level at their peak?

    You criticise HM because he selected a lot of players, but he started with a blank slate

    He brought back Victor and Fourie, if they were still playing he would have selected two fewer players by your standards, maybe three, he wouldn’t have picked Juandre

    The same with Schalk, if he wasn’t injured he wouldn’t have picked Potgieter

    HM was appointed in March for the June tour

    The main culprit is SARU, they don’t know their elbow from their a$$hole and can’t plan or manage anything

    They get buggered in the SANZAR contract negotiations everytime

  • 230

    MacroBok wrote:

    it inplies that 29 players have not been successful

    Nope it does not, e.g. here are the categories of those that have not yet vested:

    “A further 10 of the 33 have generally given good account of themselves with the limited opportunities afforded them, & one can accordingly say that the jury is still out in respect of these ā€˜Possiblesā€™ ”

    Where do you read an implication of failure in this description?

    “4 have only recently been brought into HMā€™s extended Bok squad and are yet to (dis)prove themselves one way or the other”

    No implied suggestion of failure there.

    “9 of the 33 have received insufficient opportunity/game time to be rated which leads to the conclusion that HM viewed them as mere lower down the pecking order emergency stop gaps”

    This suggests that HM (through his conduct) doesn’t really rate them; that can be construed as failure, but through no obvious fault of the players (HM is entitled to his preferences & to his player ratings).

    “6 of the 33 have been tried and apparently discarded by HM, OR have been capped, have not convinced, then been discarded & subsequently reintroduced”
    YES, this suggests failure (but then, not all can succeed, eh?)

  • 231

    MacroBok wrote:

    @ Victoriabok:
    Ek kon nooit die nz sisteem verstaan nie. Hoe gaan speel.n ou vir die crusaders en nie vir die hurricanes nie? Meestal val hulle onder die sub unieā€¦ Maar hoe kom hy daar? Is dit nou waar hy skoolgegaan het? Wat keer span b om nie te speler te lok nie en wat as die speler vir n seker uniei wil speel? Sit hy dan n transfer in, is daar ook n salary scale?

    It helps to get players game time as well

    I remember years ago in the S12 when the Blues still dominated, how they moved a hooker playing for the Blues to another team to get game time. The Blues had two All Black hookers and by moving him to another team where he would be the first choice hooker he would play a lot more

  • 232

    OK g’nite – out

  • 233

    MacroBok wrote:

    Soos het julian savea op 19 dieselfde geld verdien as al die ander ouens?

    Ja hy kry Super rugby pay as hy S15 speel

  • 234

    Have a look at this… one of the new up-and-coming artists in SA… managed by my wife’s company, Big Bang Events & Marketing Solutions.

    They manage a few other artists too, amongst them Lizelle Smit (she appears in an advert on top of Rugby-Talk sometimes).

  • 235

    GBS. Good song but shouldn’t have had the background echo.
    She “appears” to be lip syncing.

    Hoop jy sal nie die kritiek te persoonlik wat nie….

    Anyway, Go Bokke. Asseblief…. belangrik voor die RWC.

  • 236

    grootblousmile wrote:

    They manage a few other artists too, amongst them Lizelle Smit (she appears in an advert on top of Rugby-Talk sometimes).

    Die Blouhaar bokkie?

    In die lang gras?

  • 237

    236 @ Victoriabok:
    Ja, die blouhaar enetjie… sy is so lang maer enetjie.. jonk man, 19 of 20.

    235 @ Jeraldjay:
    Nee, ek vat geen kritiek persoonlik nie.. dis nie ek wat daar sing nie.

    Ons ken vir Zane al sedert sy 16 is, sy is nou so 22… en het ‘n baie, baie powerful stem! Sy’s nou nie die mooiste pop wat daar is nie, maar sy het ‘n besondere goeie stem.

    As sy sou lip sync op die video, wat ek nie dink so is nie… sync sy definitief van haar eie stem af, want dis definitief haar stem klanke wat jy hoor, nie iemand anders nie.

  • 238

    Hondo wrote:

    charlesm wrote:
    It has been reported widely that HM has decided before the tour that Lambie will start against England but that Pollard is still above Lambie in the pecking order
    165
    And you believe that?

    If you want to quote, don’t do it selectively – do it properly – and yes I believe that !!

    charlesm wrote:

    My two cents on Pollard / Lambie.
    It has been reported widely that HM has decided before the tour that Lambie will start against England but that Pollard is still above Lambie in the pecking order.
    He has also told the players about his intentions ā€“ I therefore donā€™t see it as a kneejerk reaction. Surely HM wouldnā€™t lie to us about that!! The players and their relatives read newspapers as well and if HM starts lying to the players weā€™ll soon have a lot of unhappy Boks.
    IMO Hougaard had to be replaced due to his poor performance against the Irish. I would have liked to see Jano Vermaak on the bench though!

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