Unchanged Bok team for Soweto.

Courtesy of Supersport.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday named the same starting line-up that beat Australia last weekend for Saturday’s test in The Castle Rugby Championship against New Zealand at Soccer City in Soweto.

It’s the first time this season that the Springboks will field an unchanged starting team for consecutive tests. The team is the same as the one that beat Australia by 31-8 in Pretoria last weekend. The only change is on the bench, where Coenie Oosthuizen takes over from Pat Cilliers as prop replacement.

The last time the Springboks started two consecutive tests with the same starting XV, was in 2009 in the home victories over New Zealand (31-19 in Durban on August 1) and Australia (29-17 in Cape Town on August 8).

“It’s always a good thing if you don’t have to make any changes and after the late replacements we had to call in last week, it’s especially nice to be able to select an unchanged starting team for Saturday’s test,” said Meyer.

“We’ve been hit hard by injuries this year, but thanks to the great work done by our medical team, we’ve managed to sort out a few of the little niggles left over from the Wallaby match for our final test on home soil this year.

“Last week’s win was very satisfying, but we all know we will have to make another step up against New Zealand on Saturday. They recorded a good win in Argentina and will be confident, but so are we.”

The Springboks’ starting XV has a combined total of 430 test caps – 162 to the forwards and 268 to the backs.

The Springbok team to face New Zealand in Soweto is:

15. Zane Kirchner (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 20 caps
14. Bryan Habana (DHL Western Province) 82 caps
13. Jaco Taute (MTN Golden Lions) 1 cap
12. Jean de Villiers (captain, DHL Western Province) 80 caps
11. Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 23 caps
10. Johan Goosen (Toyota FS Cheetahs) 3 caps
9. Ruan Pienaar (Ulster, N-Ireland) 59 caps
8. Duane Vermeulen (DHL Western Province) 3 caps
7. Willem Alberts (The Sharks) 16 caps
6. Francois Louw (Bath, England) 13 caps
5. Andries Bekker (DHL Western Province) 28 caps
4. Eben Etzebeth (DHL Western Province) 7 caps
3. Jannie du Plessis (The Sharks) 38 caps
2. Adriaan Strauss (vice-captain, Toyota FS Cheetahs) 17 caps
1. Tendai Mtawarira (The Sharks) 40 caps
Replacements:
16. Tiaan Liebenberg (DHL Western Province) 4 caps
17. Coenie Oosthuizen (Toyota FS Cheetahs) 1 cap
18. Flip van der Merwe (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 19 caps
19. Marcell Coetzee (The Sharks) 8 caps
20. Elton Jantjies (MTN Golden Lions) 1 cap
21. Juan de Jongh (DHL Western Province) 11 caps
22. Pat Lambie (The Sharks) 16 caps

Good to hear the Boks have an unchanged team. The Wallabies will be dying of envy. Or if not dying of envy, severely wounded.

Interesting to see Kirchner still in. I thought he'd injured his hip in AAC's cannonball effort but I expect Lambie to get a rub. But in any event wasn't Fran Steyn playing last week and Taute came on late in the second half? Or am I confusing De Jongh and Taute and was still reeling from the effects of going out Friday.

Frans was injured last week, and is now out for the rest of the year, he has to have an operation on his ankle, apparently there are some loose bone fragments that needs to be sorted out.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has challenged his forward pack to repeat their form of the last two games, in order to lay the platform for a historic win over the All Blacks at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

The Bok pack has taken immense strides this year from the young but talented bunch that took the field against England, and have already established themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

And while the All Blacks deny it, they were on the wrong side of domination up front for most of the game, with the forwards taking another step up against Australia at Loftus.

Meyer praised their effort, which is crucial to the team’s fortunes against the World Champions this weekend, and challenged them to do better.

“I’m very happy with our forwards and Johan van Graan should get a lot of credit there. If you look at how many loose forwards are injured – as well as Bismarck (du Plessis) and Chili (Chiliboy Ralepelle) out.

“They have shown in the last three games they are developing into a formidable unit. We were superb in the lineouts, and Andries Bekker played probably his best game for the Boks – he made 19 tackles. It’s the highest I’ve seen from a lock, so he is hitting form.

“A lot of the forwards are hitting form at the moment and with Duanne (Vermeulen) and Flo (Francois Louw) both competing on the ground it is a different sort of combination, but it is working well. It is a workmanlike pack and Flo was awesome on the weekend.

“But I said to them it’s no use doing it once or twice, they have to compete at that level week in and out and Saturday will be a big test for them.”

Meyer also had special praise for Ruan Pienaar, who took a lot of pressure off Johan Goosen in Pretoria.

“Ruan was great, and I told him to take pressure off Johan. His tactical kicking was good and his service was awesome. If you look at the stats, we got a lot of quick ball and he was always there. By saying that, in the Highveld the ball travels better and the kicks are more accurate, whereas at sea level you kick either too long or too short.

“It was a good performance, and it is important for us that our scrumhalf plays well if you want to play good rugby and a lot of the players are hitting form right now.”

Meyer added that the team was hungry to win this game, as it would give them a clean sweep of their home games this year, and gives them a lot of confidence going into the end-of-year tour.

Having said that, he did point out that the team was still moulding itself into a unit, and they had grown closer having to face some tough challenges this year.

“You start by playing the fourth best team in the world – England. Every week everyone wants you to play the best rugby you’ve ever played but you haven’t even had the time to implement the basics.

“Looking back now, we played well against Argentina in Cape Town and then you’re straight overseas for three tough games away from home. In every game we improved in how we played, but there are youngsters who are adapting, so it will always be difficult.

“We haven’t changed any moves – it just works like this. If you get into their half with a great kick, obviously they will kick back and it will continue until one team makes a mistake. If you’re pinned down in your own half, obviously you won’t run everything.

“We haven’t changed one move, nor the game-plan. Obviously the personnel do have an effect, but we always play better at home and on the Highveld. What we did better was the execution of the game-plan.

"I also feel the players are starting to know what I want and they took a huge amount of confidence out of the New Zealand game in Dunedin. Confidence is contagious, as is a lack of confidence and the more you have confidence, the more you will move the 50-50 ball.

"I’ve always said this is a process and if we win on Saturday, we would have won all our home games and we can look forward to the end-of-year tour.”

The Boks moved into the No 2 spot on the IRB World Rankings with their victory over Australia, who drop to three. Saturday’s opponents, World Cup holders New Zealand, are still No 1.

Heinrich Brussow has been injured again and will be out for 6 months. I think that will put pay to his chances of making the squad for quite some time, if these youngsters cement their place in the team, I can't see him coming back.

It's all slowly coming back now Biltong.

Knew F Steyn was out injured but got the games mixed up. Well the good news for the Boks is tempered by the bad news for Brussow. Another 6 months out and you wonder whether players like him and Juan Smith will ever make it back into the side. I certainly hope we see Burger back in a Bok shirt again as he's always been one of my favourite Bok players.

In NZ we will have the same problem if SBW, Kaino and Richie McCaw return more or less at the same time, albeit for different reasons to Brussow. Will it be too late for them as some young kid has taken over and consolidated his position in the team? What's true to say is that the absence of many stars for all international sides is a sad thing and international rugby seems to be suffering a bit this year because of it. Or is that just me?

I think the quality does perhaps get lost when you lose certain players, I mean look at JP Pietersen, he was in the form of his life when he got injured, so not seeing him at 14 and Habana at 11 does certainly make a difference.

But then again we also need new guys to get their shot, sometimes they might even be better than those they replace, case in point Pierre SPies, he has been poor for some time and yet never dropped, it took an injury for Vermeulen to get a call up, but then lets look at the Boks of last year, did we really see the best quality from SA with PDV keeping players past their sell by date?

Told you so,all so much hot air mind games and sound bytes.Want to bet the AB`s say same again too.

Du Plessis warms the bench and Smit finally retires only to be out for 6 months. Fourie has left a big hole and I think JP was the man to fill that hole for SA rather than remain out on the wing. Then he gets injured and a Fran Steyn JP partnership gets quashed and we get JDV and the feeling that we got shortchanged. Injuries are cruel at the best of times and then there's really cruel luck. And then there are the Wallabies who take it to the next level.

Injuries in a way forced Meyer's hand. He was willing initially to follow PDV and line his side with experience. Young players were introduced and they helped probably his decision to keep along those lines by selecting Goosen. Sometimes there are blessings among all the cruel blows.

Exactly, nothing better than injuries to force the coaches hand, they don't always come off, but sometimes they do.

Am I alone in worrying about the lack of an experienced kicking option in the SA lineup? and the lack of experience in the pack? I'm worried they are trying to play a game that is too expansive with this combinator.

Flashy, mindless "basketball" rugby is all very entertaining, but at altitude surely one needs to play percentages? dominate the set piece and grind out a win through slow dominance?

I think this combinator purely picked to play reckless harum-scarum rugby my come back to be a big regret for Heneke Meyer.

AWOP, you needn't worry about harrum scarrum, SA won't play that way, we're neanderthals remember.

anotherworldofpain wrote:Am I alone in worrying about the lack of an experienced kicking option in the SA lineup? and the lack of experience in the pack? I'm worried they are trying to play a game that is too expansive with this combinator.

Flashy, mindless "basketball" rugby is all very entertaining, but at altitude surely one needs to play percentages? dominate the set piece and grind out a win through slow dominance?
I think this combinator purely picked to play reckless harum-scarum rugby my come back to be a big regret for Heneke Meyer.

...kinda like they did in Dunedin...