Springbok injury updates and possible team for Fiji.

First some news from the Springbok camp. Jean de Villiers and Victor matfield will be out for at least 10 days, which means they may miss the next two pool matches. Bryan Habana has pulled a hamstring and will not play against Fiji. Good news though Bakkies Botha will be back. Johann muller is also in doubt.

This means in all likely hood a team looking something like this.

1. Gurthro Steenkamp
2. John Smit
3. Jannie du Plessis
4. Bakkies Botha
5. Danie Rossouw
6. Heinrich Brussow
7. Schalk Burger
8. Pierre Spies
9. Fourie du Preez
10. Morne Steyn
11. Ndungane (due to the big Fijian backline)
12. Frans Steyn
13. Jaque Fourie
14. JP Pietersen
15. Patrick Lambie
16. Bismarck du Plessis
17. Beast Mtwarira
18. CJ v d Linde
19. Willem Alberts
20. Butch James
21. Gio Aplon
22. Francois Louw

There were some good things that came out of the Wales test, South Africa remained calm under pressure and lifted their game when it was needed, they made 178 tackles and only missed 17. Although that tackle count is too high, it did show that our defence was under pressure for long periods of time and managed to hold out a rampant Wales.

Overall for a team on the defence for so long the penalty count was not bad, 10 penalties in all, so it did show quite a bit of discipline and there were a number of those penalties conceded on attack for going off their feet and some for holding onto the ball.

Morne Steyn remained calm under what I can only imagine was immense pressure with his kicking to goal and the only miss coming from him was a drop goal attempt.

The execution was done well considering the few opportunities they had to score when they weren’t pinged at the breakdowns.

For once Pieter de Villiers’ subs came on at the right time and immediately made an impact, was it not for Bismarck du Plessis and Willem Alberts powerful runs and impact at the breakdown, we may not have pulled that match off. What can be said about the enthusiastic Francois Hougaard.
But alas, there were also some areas which would cause great concern.

Firstly PDV and the players were “confused” at the way Wales flooded the breakdown areas and why they were not penalised for it. Well this in my opinion is an age old problem with SA forwards, their inability to read the referee and how to play to him.

A number of times our forwards were driven back in the tackle, especially John Smit and Pierre Spies, neither of them running onto the ball with pace or maintaining the correct body angle when going into contact.

We were also counter rucked a few times which basically tells you there are not enough numbers at the ruck, now i understand when you are on the defence, you want to spread your defensive lines, so to commit to many players to the ruck can be fatal, but on attack, rather have one or two more players ensuring clean ruck ball and provide Fourie du Preez with enough time to clear the ruck.

Our indiscipline on attack really irritated me, because you work so hard and show the patience to get into the opposition half only to give away a stupid penalty. The fact is we sometimes run away from our support players, or alternatively our support players do not stay with the ball carrier.

Although both teams kicked a lot on Sunday there were times where getting the ball wide quickly and then offloading once you have drawn in the defence could have gained us the same territorial gains it almost never happened, I only saw that happening when Francois Hougaard came onto the field.

There are some players that still concern me because of their from. Fourie du Preez looks a shadow of his earlier self and seems low on confidence, it seems PDV is not keen to risk Francois Hougaard as he is still relatively inexperienced and why Ruan Pienaar is there I do not know. Pierre Spies is only effective in open games, when it is tight he disappears. John Smit may be our leader, but he had two skew throw ins on the weekend, only once crossed the advantage mine and missed some tackles.

But overall there are some good and some bad, we still need to improve quite a bit more, before we will be able to knock over the big teams.

I just watched the game again and I think you've pretty well summed it up there Biltong. The subs made an immediate impact, Alberts in particular I thought. Body height was a bit too vertical on occasion, Spies was well tackled and driven back and, in almost panic, he flings the ball back over his shoulder to no one. SA did seem a little impatient on attack and will need to just settle things down a bit and work on their composure.

Also, I thought they didn't really commit enough numbers to the breakdown at times, often Brussow was the only man there. Speaking of him I thought he had a fantastic game, was everywhere and always pressuring. F Steyn had a solid game at the back too, JP not so much.

Biltong I would like to Juan de Jongh because of the combination and they have played together at WP.

White lightning, I worry about his defence for 80 minutes against such a physical side, I agree the combo has worked well for WP, but this is the RWC and in all honesty I doubt whether PDV will compromise defence

Good luck,Biltong.Keep your players fit for our rematch.

It seems to me Biltong that both South Africa and England had problems with committing the right numbers to the breakdown in their first games, this is a recent "development" for SA as they have historically been very strong in that area. England have been carp for years due to their inability to field a balanced back row and especially in failing to develop a specialist 7 at Test level.

Although I agree with your point about giving away needless penalties after doing all the hard work, in actual fact I think that the difference between the two teams in the opener was making the most of territorial advantage.

It seems harsh to criticise Priestland after he had put in such an overall solid performance, but I think he took the DG attempt way too early in that particular passage of play.

Wales had been protecting the ball well in the second half, and if he'd have given the forwards a few more phases to work through SA could have easily given away a penalty or worse.

SA worked the ball very well overall and took the big points when the opportunities were there, and they didn't enter Wales's 22 area too often without picking up something, so I didn't see much squandering going on.

I expect to see SA work the Fiji forwards hard for the first 20 minutes and then try and create some number advantage out wide through making Fiji over-commit at the breakdown.

Botha will be the key there as I think he can be devastating at the rucking platform, his clearouts can be borderline lethal and his counter-rucking can create turnover ball from nothing.

I think SA will run the ball a bit more against Fiji and win quite comfortably.

Oh, and just because Botha's back - don't expect to be leapfrogging England in the thug stakes, OK?

If you're going to raise a Botha, I might have to see you with a Hartley and raise you a Tuilagi, no danger.

interesting bench , I hope Ruan is strictly scrumhalf cover and doesnt find himself replacing morne coz it will all go wrong from there.JDJ can cope with the big runners i think ,he didnt leak tries in the super season and he's one of very few boks with a good sidestep.the other being Aplon who i'm dissapointed is not on the bench.

On to Frans steyn ! who can make or break the game .He's either going to be sublime or he'll singlehandedly destroy bok chances.

And finally THE ENFORCER RETURNS !!!!

Surprised at a few of the players....

Think its bizarre against probably the 4th best team in the group and one which is known for its crunching tackles that you'd put your top pivot, Morne in the thick of it when you have a Monster 10 of your own in Butch James.
Especially also when Morne graduated from the campo school of tackling.

Surely PDV should have been looking to blood a couple of the squad players too and resting some first team players like Jannie, Smit & Spies.

The more I look at the boks the more I wonder where the ball carriers are.. other than Alberts & Bismaarck (neither in 15) the 22 looks pretty shy of guys who regularly gain the hard yards in the forwards.
Schalk has always been focused mainly on defence. Brussow is the fetcher and Spies.... well Spies very rarely has a barnstorming game for the boks (although he carried very well against the AB in PE in Aug).

SA went close to losing on the weekend because they often kicked away possession as they weren't confident of maintaining the ball for multiple phases. Without players like Alberts, Bismaarck & Beast you won't get that forward momentum and will more than often lose out come ruck time.

Has anyone been red carded at the WC before?

Has anyone been red carded at the WC before?

Guthro is a better ball carrier than beast, STeyn at 12 is a ball carrier ,Lambie at the back is the playmaker i except he'll be taking most first phase ball.

Butch James is injured otherwise he'd have started thats why he's not on the bench

Taffineastbourne wrote:Good luck,Biltong.Keep your players fit for our rematch.

Look forward to it Taffin

PJHolybloke wrote:It seems to me Biltong that both South Africa and England had problems with committing the right numbers to the breakdown in their first games, this is a recent "development" for SA as they have historically been very strong in that area. England have been carp for years due to their inability to field a balanced back row and especially in failing to develop a specialist 7 at Test level.

Although I agree with your point about giving away needless penalties after doing all the hard work, in actual fact I think that the difference between the two teams in the opener was making the most of territorial advantage.

It seems harsh to criticise Priestland after he had put in such an overall solid performance, but I think he took the DG attempt way too early in that particular passage of play.

Wales had been protecting the ball well in the second half, and if he'd have given the forwards a few more phases to work through SA could have easily given away a penalty or worse.

SA worked the ball very well overall and took the big points when the opportunities were there, and they didn't enter Wales's 22 area too often without picking up something, so I didn't see much squandering going on.

I expect to see SA work the Fiji forwards hard for the first 20 minutes and then try and create some number advantage out wide through making Fiji over-commit at the breakdown.

Botha will be the key there as I think he can be devastating at the rucking platform, his clearouts can be borderline lethal and his counter-rucking can create turnover ball from nothing.

I think SA will run the ball a bit more against Fiji and win quite comfortably.

Oh, and just because Botha's back - don't expect to be leapfrogging England in the thug stakes, OK?

If you're going to raise a Botha, I might have to see you with a Hartley and raise you a Tuilagi, no danger.

PJ, we miss Juan Smith, he brings balance to our back row, as bullsbok said, Burger is our defender,Juan is our ball carrier, that is why there was such an impact when Alberts came on. I agree we will first take control and then play wide, should be a good game, Oh and Bakkies will take Hartley end all of them

Just saw the team selected, they could make me a selector.

I am surprised that Aplon is not on the bench, I thought Muller was a doubt, but it seems he is OK to be on the bench

biltongbek wrote:Just saw the team selected, they could make me a selector.

I am surprised that Aplon is not on the bench, I thought Muller was a doubt, but it seems he is OK to be on the bench

Always knew you were Peter De Villiers

Glad to see Bakkes Botha back,but so much PDV mind games about injuries
this year.Can`t believe a Word he says.

biltongbek wrote:

PJHolybloke wrote:It seems to me Biltong that both South Africa and England had problems with committing the right numbers to the breakdown in their first games, this is a recent "development" for SA as they have historically been very strong in that area. England have been carp for years due to their inability to field a balanced back row and especially in failing to develop a specialist 7 at Test level.

Although I agree with your point about giving away needless penalties after doing all the hard work, in actual fact I think that the difference between the two teams in the opener was making the most of territorial advantage.

It seems harsh to criticise Priestland after he had put in such an overall solid performance, but I think he took the DG attempt way too early in that particular passage of play.

Wales had been protecting the ball well in the second half, and if he'd have given the forwards a few more phases to work through SA could have easily given away a penalty or worse.

SA worked the ball very well overall and took the big points when the opportunities were there, and they didn't enter Wales's 22 area too often without picking up something, so I didn't see much squandering going on.

I expect to see SA work the Fiji forwards hard for the first 20 minutes and then try and create some number advantage out wide through making Fiji over-commit at the breakdown.

Botha will be the key there as I think he can be devastating at the rucking platform, his clearouts can be borderline lethal and his counter-rucking can create turnover ball from nothing.

I think SA will run the ball a bit more against Fiji and win quite comfortably.

Oh, and just because Botha's back - don't expect to be leapfrogging England in the thug stakes, OK?

If you're going to raise a Botha, I might have to see you with a Hartley and raise you a Tuilagi, no danger.

PJ, we miss Juan Smith, he brings balance to our back row, as bullsbok said, Burger is our defender,Juan is our ball carrier, that is why there was such an impact when Alberts came on. I agree we will first take control and then play wide, should be a good game, Oh and Bakkies will take Hartley end all of them

Brussow is a great fetcher but he doesn't provide much in the way of linking the play, not the go forward carrier Smith is either I would agree, but I'm starting to see a weakness in the SA back row that I haven't seen for years. Butter my a£5e and call me a biscuit if you think I'm wrong, but I thought Spies was at sea against Wales.

Is Alberts just an impact player? He made a name for himself in that role in the AI's last November but is he really not capable of producing 80 minutes at Test level? It's probably borderline heresy to suggest Spies needs a break, but I think SA are missing a loud and vexatious 8 more than they are Smith. Spies has been quiet hasn't he? Or am I talking shoite again?

I doubt it would make a difference for the remaining group games if Spies got a few splinters in his backside, and it might help Alberts develop into something a bit mighty.

As for BB? Yeah, he'd probably munch Hartley and ask "what's for breakfast then". I can't lie, I'm not a massive fan - but he scares the shoite out of me just watching him play - he's a tremendous presence on the pitch and that's worth a lot of respect.

Alberts is a better 8,Spies is good player but an 8 he`s not,Juan Smith is the most missed Bok loosie.Broussow like Pocock is a great fetcher,Mc Caw unlike them has adaptedhis game to the new law interpratations.
Less involved as fetcher,now making loads of tackles,and acting more as a ball carrier.

PJholybloke, I am sure alberts can put a 80 minute performance in, but it seems PDV has it in his head that specifically Bismarck and alberts will contribute more as impact players because of their gungho physicality.

Bismarck, Beast and Alberts are three frankly awesome impact subs to have in the locker, and a fresh Aplon coming on with 20 to go could also cause some damage.

It's a good Bok side. The question is really how well PDV has prepared it. No well judging on the Wales game. Fiji will provide a stern test.