Springboks vs England, squad announcements and matchday thread.

[Biltong]

First topic message reminder :

I will update as more information is released.

Springbok team announced for the first test vs England.

15 Zane Kirchner, caps 14
14 JP Pietersen, caps 42
13 Jean de Villiers (captain), caps 72
12 Frans Steyn, caps 47
11 Bryan Habana, caps 74
10 Morné Steyn, caps 34
9 Francois Hougaard, caps 15
8 Pierre Spies, caps 47
7 Willem Alberts, caps 9
6 Marcell Coetzee, caps 0
5 Juandré Kruger, caps 0
4 Eben Etzebeth, caps 0
3 Jannie du Plessis, caps 30
2 Bismarck du Plessis, caps 42
1 Beast Mtawarira, caps 32

Replacements:
16 Adriaan Strauss, caps 9
17 Coenie Oosthuizen, caps 0
18 Flip van der Merwe, caps 11
19 Keegan Daniel, caps 1
20 Ruan Pienaar, caps 51
21 Pat Lambie, caps 11
22 Wynand Olivier, caps 34

I am surprised and happy to see Eben etzebeth in the starting XV and Strauss on the bench, Meyer has gone for a 4-3 split on the bench which is interesting. The pack has 160 combined caps with 4 debutants, the back line has a combined cap of 302 caps.

I am actually rather impressed with Meyer's selections. The English may see this pack as vulnerable and inexperienced, but I think it is a rather exciting pack. full of mobility and physicality.

England Team:

15 Mike Brown, caps 3
14 Chris Ashton, caps 23
13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, caps 10
12 Brad Barritt, caps 5
11 Ben Foden, caps 26
10 Owen Farrell, caps 5
9 Ben Youngs, caps 17
8 Ben Morgan, caps 5
7 Chris Robshaw (C), caps 6
6 Tom Johnson, 0 caps
5 Geoff Parling, 2 caps
4 Mouritz Botha, 6 caps
3 Dan Cole, 25 caps
2 Dylan Hartley, 34 caps
1 Joe Marler, 0 caps


Replacements:
16 Lee Mears, 38 caps
17 Paul Doran Jones, 3 caps
18 Tom Palmer, 37 caps
19 Phil Dowson, 5 caps
20 Lee Dickson, 0 caps
21 Toby Flood, 46 caps
22 Jonathan Joseph, 0 caps

[nathan]

Knock on completely missed by the officials.

Walsh is so poor

he has his mind on other things, like how he looks

[wales606]

Knock on completely missed by the officials.

Walsh is so poor

He picked up on it.

SA have a chance to take the lead at HT.

[wales606]

Oooh, poor kick Steyn.

6 - 6 at HT.

[mystiroakey]

errmmmm..


miss .. SWEET!!

I hope england dont bother kicking secoind half- we look much better running wth it

[Biltong]

SA not gelling yet, too many one off plays, they aren't getting any continuity

[Rory_Gallagher]

Not sure why Steyn is starting is he can't get the scoreboard ticking over. Is Lambie on the bench?

[Duty281]

6-6 HT, I'll take that. Good defence by England including one try saving tackle by Tuilagi. Decent work at the breakdown as well notching up some turnovers and no line outs lost yet. Couple of linebreaks as well, so things are looking up! Need to improve the scrum though. Come on England!

[nobbled]

Pretty pleased with the first half! Would have taken your arm off if offered a half time draw before the game. Now - we have a shout!

[welshy6]

enjoying this match so far, the SA backrow are Blydi huge!
and habana is rapid, and really on fire, if SA can get the ball to their back 3 england could be in trouble.
but fair play to england very good defence, you need to get manu and ashton (grrr) into space.
brown has a huge boot, foden not doing much.
but a good big bruising match so far.

also the SA commentators are really good and unbiased, enjoying listening to their analysis

[mystiroakey]

yeah i am very surprised at our scrum. considering what we did in our last game!!!

[nathan]

enjoying this match so far, the SA backrow are Blydi huge!
and habana is rapid, and really on fire, if SA can get the ball to their back 3 england could be in trouble.
but fair play to england very good defence, you need to get manu and ashton (grrr) into space.
brown has a huge boot, foden not doing much.
but a good big bruising match so far.

also the SA commentators are really good and unbiased, enjoying listening to their analysis

we have barnes, he's just a donut!

[welshy6]

yeh scrum, england are engaging early,need to get their timing sorted as they do have a good scrum tbf (not as good as ours but...... )

as i say how good the commentators they say ben morgan is welsh

ah i am watching a stream nathan

[EnglishReign]

Good vision by Youngs for putting Ashton through, Ashton has more gas than I remember. Shame there were no support runners, same applies to Morgan's break. Looking alright though!

[Morgannwg]

Anyone know why the SH refs have to delay the crouch, touch, pause, engage so much?

[nobbled]

enjoying this match so far, the SA backrow are Blydi huge!
and habana is rapid, and really on fire, if SA can get the ball to their back 3 england could be in trouble.
but fair play to england very good defence, you need to get manu and ashton (grrr) into space.
brown has a huge boot, foden not doing much.
but a good big bruising match so far.

also the SA commentators are really good and unbiased, enjoying listening to their analysis

Habana's off injured - so hopefully that will blunt their attack a little (although probably improve their defence)

[Morgannwg]

yeh scrum, england are engaging early,need to get their timing sorted as they do have a good scrum tbf (not as good as ours but...... )

We were engaging early against Aus too. It's the SH refs, no wonder the scrums are a mess.

[ChequeredJersey]

Bar stewards (literal and misspelt) have switched over to effing football.

[doctor_grey]

Don't you think 6 - 6 at the half is pretty fair?

Lot's of mindless running up the jumper and kicking, as expected.
Both teams seem to want to run at the opposing 10.

[CurlyOsp]

Yeah Ashton's definatly getting some confidence back. Brow looks very good at fullback, can't wait to see what he's like after a few caps at this level!

Could go either way at the moment, Steyn wont miss many penalties so england need to be careful from everywhere inside their own half. JDV is a real powerhouse too!

[welshy6]

i thought habana was just off for a blood sub, and yes morg, SH refs dont see the scrum as a weapon but just as a way to restart play, but ah well.

[doctor_grey]

Tuilagi has to learn not to run at angles into contact. He's more effective straight on at the shoulder.

[welshy6]

yeh tuilagi needs to get a bit more space, but i guess that is down to the SA defence not allowing him space.
england should now use him as a dummy runner,
Barrit has been anonymous so far

[doctor_grey]

spot on.
Is Barritt on the pitch? Thought it was a manniquin.

[doctor_grey]

se that replay of Tuilagi running into JdV?

[welshy6]

ignore

[niwatts]

one apiece between Tuilagi and de Villiers

[nathan]

clear knock on!

[nobbled]

ah habana is off, thought it was a blood sub?

Yeah you're right

[maestegmafia]

Excellent defence by England...!

[wales606]

Morne Steyn try

Looks like he is going to have all the SA points.

[doctor_grey]

Excellent try.
All starting from another mindless kick. But once taken, smartly built, skillfully executed.
Rats.

[wales606]

Alberts has been superb - he's definitely my favourite Springbok flanker aswell.

[wales606]

Another miss by Steyn

11 - 6

[doctor_grey]

One possible chance for England is Lambie on the pitch. His last few matches he was quite poor defensively. But is a terrific attacking weapon. England must find a way to isolate on him.

[Morgannwg]

Biltong's favourite player is notching up all the points. Houggard is a class scrum-half, perhaps no.2 in the world behind Genia?

[welshy6]

the whole SA backrow has been.
johnson and morgan carrying well for England, but whats happened to Robshaw?
and wow Steyn missing two kicks??

[nathan]

this isnt looking good for england

[wales606]

Biltong's favourite player is notching up all the points. Houggard is a class scrum-half, perhaps no.2 in the world behind Genia?

Houggard isn't that good on the backfoot, I think Pienaar is the better allround SH - but Houggard has the pace.

[nathan]

hmmm, will be interesting to see where Flood will play

[wales606]

Flood on.

Farrell to 12 surely?

[ChequeredJersey]

the whole SA backrow has been.
johnson and morgan carrying well for England, but whats happened to Robshaw?
and wow Steyn missing two kicks??

Well in the first half he was doing his job, which is tackle and steal ball

[nathan]

grrrrrr Farrell

[welshy6]

barrits off after one tackle? crikey, ah well will allow england a more attacking midfield. now use tuilagi as a dummy and get ashton into space. (god i should be a coach, and why am i giving england advice??)

otherwise let ashton run at the SA backrow, i would enjoy that!

ah checkered, i havent really noticed him, he is more of a 6 than a 7 tbh. good leader though considering small no. of caps

[Hood83]

I hate Steyn, dirty little fecker

[CurlyOsp]

why do Sky always pan across the crowd when something interesting happens on the pitch?

[nathan]

he wasnt sure he was menat to kick the ball at them, what a fecking joke!

[wales606]

I hate Steyn, dirty little fecker

??? What did Steyn do.

[EnglishReign]

Does sky fancy showing the match?

[welshy6]

haha i like walsh as a ref, allain (lots of naughty words) rolland, tells him something and walsh just goes yeh yeh, whatever, just dont talk to me!

[rodders]

haha i like walsh as a ref, allain (lots of naughty words) rolland, tells him something and walsh just goes yeh yeh, whatever, just dont talk to me!

Gwan Pienaar son

SUFTUM!

[Sponsored content]