Lood de Jager
South African Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer named an unchanged starting 15 to face New Zealand’s All Blacks in the 1st Rugby World Cup 2015 semifinal, on Saturday at Twickenham Stadium in London, England.
The only change to the matchday squad is at replacement lock – where Victor Matfield has overcome his hamstring injury and takes over from Pieter-Steph du Toit, bringing even more experience to the bench.
There is a provisa though, Lood de Jager still has to pass a fitness test on Friday, to be able to play, and if he does not pass that fitness test, Victor Matfield will slot into the starting berth at No 5, with Pieter-Steph du Toit then coming onto the Replacements bench.
It’s the 1st time since last November that Meyer has been able to name an unchanged team for back-to-back Tests and only the 6th time since his appointment in 2012.
“It’s great to be able to give another run to the team that got us through to the semifinals in the biggest Test of the year,” said Meyer.
“Victor’s inclusion on the bench gives us even more experience there and, as we saw last weekend against Wales, when the Replacements did very well towards the end of the match, this will be crucial. His influence will also be pivotal against a strong New Zealand line-out.”
Meyer said his team is braced for a massive onslaught on Saturday.
“We’re playing against the defending champions and the top-ranked side in the world, but the current New Zealand side can also be regarded as arguably one of the best Test teams ever,” said Meyer.
“We have the utmost respect for their players and coaching staff and although there is an intense rivalry we actually get along very well away from the field.
“But we have to believe we can beat them otherwise we’ll be wasting our time on Saturday. We will have to be at our ultimate best and although we played some excellent rugby against Wales, there are always things to improve on.
“Tests against New Zealand are very intense and the margins over the last couple of years have been small. We’re not expecting anything different this weekend and the self-belief is there.
“Everyone in our group is massively excited about Saturday’s challenge. For many players this will be an once-in-a-lifetime occasion and we want to go out there and make it count in front of what will be a magnificent crowd at a superb stadium.”
Springboks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (Captain), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Patrick Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.
Date: Saturday 24 October
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-Off: 17:00 SA Time (16:00 BST, 15:00 GMT, Sunday 04:00 NZ Time)
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Johnny Lacey (Ireland)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
Farkit, I hope Lood is fit enough to play, he just brings 10 times the physicality of a Matfield and / or a Pieter-Steph du Toit!!
Surely a semi-fit Lood is still light years ahead of Matfield in terms of tackles made, ball carries, ruck clean outs, etc?
From today’s edition of “Son” !
Hansen feels for Meyer over selection
Adnaan Mohamed | Son 21:58 22/10/2015
London – Steve Hansen says is glad he is not in the shoes of his Springbok counterpart, HeynekeMeyer, because he is not burdened with issue of selecting quota players.
Hansen said earlier this week that selecting the Springbok team is not easy for Meyer because the Bok coach also has to consider the dynamic of selecting quota players.
The All Black coach was asked on Thursday at the team announcement of the All Black side who will be facing South Africa in the semi-final of the World Cup, if he regards players in the Bok match 23 like Bryan Habana, Tendai Mtawarira, JP Pietersen and Trevor Nyakane as quota players.
Hansen responded by saying: “Look, I wouldn’t, but the facts are and the case of the matter is that they (South Africa) have to select their side differently to everybody else.
“Whether you or everyone else has to say that those guys provide the quota, I just don’t know enough about it.
“All I know is that they have a quota they have to pick, which is different for me because I don’t have to do that. I just pick the best players and I think that is the way any sport team should be picked.
“I also don’t want to go in too deep with that, otherwise I will be in trouble with everybody. So, it’s best to sidestep the issue”.
– Son
If the Boks somehow managed to win tomorrow it will do wonders for the future careers of young players like Malherbe, Etzebeth, Lood, Pollard, De Allende and Kriel.
@ Pietman:
It’s a unfair from the journo to ask Hansen that question as there is no ways Hansen can give him a honest answer.
The new Liverpool FC manager, Jurgen Klopp, was recently more straight forward in dealing with a similar situation when one of his players, who sat next to him at the press conference, was asked to rate Klopp as a person/manager. Klopp told the Journo it is a stupid question under the circumstances because even if the player thinks he is an idiot he is sure as hell not going to say so while sitting next to him. He then also told the player he does not have to answer the question.
Interesting read:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11946703/Rugby-World-Cup-All-Blacks-rise-to-best-ever-has-roots-in-a-spanking-by-South-Africa.html
Off Topic:
Imo (as you grow older) there are few things as satisfying as wistful rumination:
http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/101522/this-is-what-joburg-looked-like-in-1900/
http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/98839/cape-town-like-youve-never-seen-it-before-1940-1980/
http://www.fad.co.za/Resources/postcards/postcards1.htm
http://www.fad.co.za/Resources/28Views/28Views.htm
http://www.fad.co.za/Resources/album/email/mail.htm
Enjoy
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