Lambie set for Bok start
5 Nov 2012
RYAN VREDE, writing from Dublin, says Pat Lambie ran at flyhalf for the bulk of Monday’s training session in a strong indicator that he will play ahead of Morne Steyn at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Lambie impressed throughout the Super Rugby campaign in the position and was exceptional in Currie Cup semi-final at Kings Park, where his tactical game management and goal-kicking lead the Sharks to the final.
It had been a straight choice between Lambie and Steyn for head coach Heyneke Meyer, who remained hopeful that Steyn would regain his confidence after dropping him for the home leg of the Rugby Championship. He believes Steyn’s tactical kicking game is the best of his available flyhalves, but has acknowledged Lambie’s growth in this facet of play, most recently at Monday’s press conference which preceded training.
‘You can’t compare the Currie Cup and Tests but he showed great tactical awareness in winning the Currie Cup with the Sharks in 2010 as 19 or 20 year old. Suddenly I’ve seen some of that in him again and he is really improving and knocking on the door hard at the moment.’
Steyn is now unlikely to feature in the match 22 as Meyer doesn’t see him as an impact player, with Elton Jantjies expected to provide cover on the wood.
Lambie has an opportunity to stake a serious claim for the shirt and will be acutely aware of the importance of a strong performance at the weekend. Johan Goosen remains Meyer’s preferred pivot of those at his disposal, but with Meyer set to commit to a deputy for Goosen for the 2013 season and onwards towards the World Cup, Lambie has an inside lane.
‘I know Morne will get back to his best soon,’ Meyer said. ‘Dan Carter said to me a couple of years ago that he went through a difficult time and went to France and came back a better player, which gives me confidence about Morne [Meyer was intimating that a break will have done Steyn good]. But you also want to see who is the next guy after Goosen.’
Meyer lamented that nearly a year into his reign he was still deciding between flyhalves.
‘Because the three are young [Goosen, Lambie and Jantjies] the only way you’ll see whether they have it or not is by playing them. The difficulty is that if your flyhalf isn’t on song then you lose because he runs the whole game plan. I would have loved to have the opportunity earlier in my tenure to look at the 10s. But I didn’t have that luxury. We’re probably the only elite nation without an established 10,’ he said.
He did, however, express delight at the new-found depth in a position that has historically been troublesome.
‘I’m happy at what we have at present and then future looks good with Handre Pollard and others coming through,’ he said. ‘If you look at the last 10 years this is probably the best group of flyhalves we’ve had available. But how they respond in these conditions is key. They’re all good at running and distributing the ball, but with the World Cup being in England you’ll need guys who are tactically astute. They all have to work on that aspect of their games.’
Meanwhile, JP Pietersen is set to be reinstated on the wing after missing the Rugby Championship through injury. Francois Hougaard is likely to retain his place on the opposite flank.
Jean de Villiers and Francois Louw didn’t participate in the contact session but the former ran freely and is expected to overcome a hamstring strain to start. Louw has a neck injury that is being monitored. If he fails to respond to treatment he will be replaced at openside flank by Marcell Coetzee, with Arno Botha coming onto the bench.
Adriaan Strauss will keep his place at hooker ahead of Schalk Brits, who will be used as an impact player. Elsewhere in the front row, Gurthro Steenkamp was a notable absentee at training, the prop picking up an injury in Toulouse’s match this weekend. In the event of Steenkamp’s injury precluding him from joining the squad, Leinster’s Heinke van der Merwe will be called up.
Probable Springbok XV to face Ireland – 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermuelen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
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635 Comments
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7 Nov 2012, 06:20 am
Sorry, the House not Congress.
7 Nov 2012, 06:25 am
At about 11.15pmEST it seems that Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen power is conquering the Redskin incumbent rule for only the 2nd. time in 19 elections.
The Boss is carrying the win for Obama who has just won Iowa, leads comfortably in Ohio(about 50%of votes in) and holds his own in Wisconsin.
Penna. is in the bank as is NJ and NY. In Florida OB. leads by 30000 votes with more than 90% of votes in.
OB has 249 of the Electoral College votes already(needs 270) whilst Romney only has 191.
The Dems retain the Senate but may lose the House(lesser body).
All this happens because the US is less white, has a lot more younger voters and women are making sure they are being heard.
7 Nov 2012, 06:28 am
@David-600:
The Romney HQ. has gone quieter and quieter since after 9pm.
The official result will be soon after 12am the way matters unfold.
7 Nov 2012, 06:31 am
CNN has just projected that Obama wins re-election.
ABC, NBC, CBS have not made that call yet. Nor Fox, obviously.
7 Nov 2012, 06:33 am
ABC and NBC have just now too projected an Obama win having projected he has now 275 electoral votes.
7 Nov 2012, 06:34 am
The victory speech will be soon after 12am and who cares about the concession speech of a rat?
7 Nov 2012, 06:37 am
They are dancing in the streets in Times Square already.
7 Nov 2012, 06:43 am
OB now has 281 electoral votes.
7 Nov 2012, 07:07 am
one more white supremacist hits skid row
The world heaves a sigh of relief as sufficiently sane americans put their faith in humanitarian principles over redneck recklessness and WW111 has been averted …., for now at least.
7 Nov 2012, 07:07 am
@ET.-608:
Nothing has hanged in the balance of power though. That is unless the Repubs start worrying about the next mid-terms and change their blocking tactics.
7 Nov 2012, 07:47 am
@ET.-608:
I see Leeds lost last night.
7 Nov 2012, 07:49 am
@I am a stormer-438:
i think you mean the worlds largest DEBTOR nation as opposed to creditor nation..?..
http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/leslie-cuadra/2011/08/31/list-of-worlds-largest-creditor-and-debtor-nations
7 Nov 2012, 08:00 am
@Hurricane-482:
you’re fooling no one but yourself, hurri.
your countrys rugby side is a team of professional cheats.
cheats in the same mold as lance armstrong, and who rightly should be striped of their wins and titles aquired so shamefuly and dishonestly.
harp on all you want about sa being average or not, it does not detract from the facts about nz.
7 Nov 2012, 08:05 am
@David-611: Oh no, not again!
Oh, woe is me!
;-(
7 Nov 2012, 08:26 am
@skopdiekan-609:
i dont think america is any more likely to start ww3 than israel is.
7 Nov 2012, 09:19 am
@skopdiekan-460: Seems you know as much about music as you do about rugby!
7 Nov 2012, 09:58 am
Israel and Iran WILL start world war 3. Too much hate and not enough common sense in the mid east.
7 Nov 2012, 10:45 am
@poltergeist-593: @Kaizan-597: @the authority-595: @McAwesome-596: Did Skop hurt you guys badly in some way or form or are you simply Katman’s groupies. Either way your guys are behaving like girls.
7 Nov 2012, 11:22 am
@John1976-618:
7 Nov 2012, 11:36 am
@McAwesome-596:
You are not a kiwi so be quiet.
7 Nov 2012, 11:39 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-613:
And the facts about you is worse.
Every team cheats according to you.
One of the saddest losers to blog on Keo. Embarrasing really.
Averge South African team and its everyone elses fault. lol.
Man up little fella. Not all teams cheat that beat you like you have been saying on here.
Even bloggers on here think you ******* insane.
7 Nov 2012, 11:41 am
@John1976-618:
I think they are all the same person. McCawsome is no kiwi, i know this.
There are a few on here that make this blog childish at best and those 4 you have mentioned are part of it. Katman can be just as bad.
7 Nov 2012, 11:52 am
David George admitting to taking EPO.
Another champion bites the dust.
7 Nov 2012, 12:19 pm
@Hurricane-620: I am a kiwi, so perhaps you should be quiet instead.
7 Nov 2012, 12:22 pm
@McAwesome-624:
Whoopsie!
7 Nov 2012, 12:29 pm
@McAwesome-624:
Get stuff, you are no kiwi. If you are then i must apologise to the South African bloggers here.
Some of the things you say are just pathetic
7 Nov 2012, 12:51 pm
@Hurricane-626: You better get to apologising then. And while youre at it, you might want to apologise for the countless times you’ve spewed vulgar nonsense about South Africa too. My wife is South African and I don’t have to share sides with your views because we come from the same country. Doesn’t matter where you were born, you’re an idiot. End of story.
7 Nov 2012, 13:00 pm
@Hurricane-626: Come on, Hurri, if you must be a cyber bully, at least be a factually correct cyber bully.
7 Nov 2012, 13:06 pm
Ooohhh, keewee fight!
7 Nov 2012, 14:51 pm
@Transformation-629: LOL
7 Nov 2012, 21:32 pm
@katman-628:
You of all people should not mention cyber bully Thelma
@McAwesome-627:
Blah blah.
Not for one minute do i believe you.
Don’t care who your wife is.
Last thing you want to do on here young one is mention family members as these guys or yourself maybe seem to find it funny to attack them.
About me attacking SA, please show me all the nonsence, i make sure i have facts at least, have you noticed the times Kiwis get attacked in here, get called scums, cheats and wife bashers yet seems strange you have no problem with it…. hence the reasons i believe you are a fake, true Kiwis dont take cr@p like that.
As for Skop, half the time he keeps these dimwits on their toes as a lot live in a fairytale… he sucks up to no one. Maybe you should spend a little more time on here instead of making up things about Skop.
7 Nov 2012, 23:08 pm
@Hurricane-631: I dont care what you believe. If you love skop so much, the two of you can take your foul mouths elsewhere. I personally find him negative and disrespectful.
Show me one time when Ive condoned anyone using racial slander against kiwis on here. I usually ignore trolls and dont take the bait like some idiots on here (ie you). Racial slander from either side is disgusting and the offenders should be banned. Its idiots like you who get suckered into a troll fight and then add fuel to the fire.
And dont call me ‘young one’. You havent got a clue how old I am.
Both You and skop just need to learn some respect. Thats the bottom line.
8 Nov 2012, 00:08 am
@McAwesome-632:
So are you here to teach respect?
IT was you after all calling Skop a twit and sucking up to Kiwis, yet it seems you are doing the same but sucking up to South Africans.
IF you ignore trolls and it seems you believe me to be one, why are you even acknowledging my posts?
IF you think you are too good to be trolled then eat my bait….i wont call you an idiot as name calling shows a weakness or immaturity…. which of those describes you?
8 Nov 2012, 00:26 am
@Hurricane-633:
I called skop an twit after he used some pretty bad language at my wife who made the mistake of posting on here. And to be perfectly frank, its none of your business what I say to him after he uses language like that on my family.
Youre not a troll, you just get baited by trolls.
And dont try and take the moral high ground about name calling either. Read a few posts up and youve called saffas dimwits, youve called me young one and Ive read many a post from you calling people idiots.
Whats your problem with me mate? What have I ever done to you, or are you just one to start trouble on here when you get bored?
8 Nov 2012, 00:37 am
@McAwesome-634:
OH my apologies about the wife, did not know.
I agree at times things get too heated very quickly.
I personally have no problems with you at all.
POint i was trying to get across( although not very well) is about skop and i do like skops postings at times even though he gets full on, he does have points but other on here refuse to even acknowledge as such. Even calling him a racist then it all goes pear shaped.
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