Pietersen boost for Boks
21 Nov 2012
JP Pietersen has been named to start for the Springboks despite having to undergo a late fitness test, while Elton Jantjies has been included on the bench.
Pietersen was initially expected to miss the clash against England at Twickenham, but his groin injury has responded well to treatment, although he will have to prove he is completely recovered on Friday before he is cleared. Prop Gurthro Steenkamp also struggled with a leg ailment at the beginning of the week, but will start.
‘It’s great to be able to field an unchanged team,’ said Bok coach Heyneke Meyer. ‘We’ve been able to show some consistency in selection on this tour and that is a good thing.
‘The players have worked extremely hard on the training field and it wasn’t easy to select the match 23 for each of the three Tests, but I’m happy that we managed to stick to combinations.’
Jantjies is included on the bench for the first time on this tour, replacing Morné Steyn. The injury to reserve prop CJ van der Linde also sees Pat Cilliers promoted to the match 23.
‘The plan was always to give Elton a run on the tour,’ said Meyer. ‘He’s shown earlier in the season that he can play Test rugby. It’s also good for his development as a player to experience the conditions here and to play in front of a big crowd like Twickenham.’
Meyer said the demands of a long season were obvious when looking at the team.
‘It’s been a long season, with most of the guys carrying knocks and not able to train. The challenge is to get up for it mentally first and foremost and then bring the physicality,’ he said.
‘I am worried. I can see that mentally it’s been a long season. Having said that, I know this team and they’re warriors who want to win for their country and the guys next to them.’
The English media has demanded an elevated level of physicality from what they deemed a poor showing in their defeat against Australia. Meyer said he was braced for an immense challenge in that regard.
‘As a South African looking back, I didn’t think England teams were particularly tough. My coaching stint in Leicester, working with guys like Lewis Moody and Martin Corry, who are probably the toughest guys I’ve coached, changed that perception completely,’ he said.
‘Our guys know that they had the edge in South Africa physically because it was at the end of the northern hemisphere season. Now we’re here at the end of ours and they are fresh and we need to toughen up. Maybe in a sense they underestimated the Wallabies, but they will be up for South Africa.’
Springboks – 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.
Subs: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Pat Cilliers, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Elton Jantjies, 22 Jaco Taute, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.
329 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 [7] Show All
22 Nov 2012, 13:50 pm
Heavens Game seems to like being owned.
Some guys are just like that. Submissive types.
22 Nov 2012, 13:53 pm
Chrissakes, this farken blog excuse for WP propaganda truly has gone to the farken dogs…
Look at these farken squirts, piepiejojjas and mofgatte pretending they are social consciences and heavenforbid know what the fck the game of rugby is actually about inhabiting this godforsken part of the blogosphere…
An oestrogen orgy of monumental proportions… Amateur quacks abound, along with their 1st year DSV IVs…
22 Nov 2012, 14:07 pm
@McAwesome-299: He won’t. He thinks of himself as a one-man entertainment centre. Well, he got the clown part right. Pity about the rest.
22 Nov 2012, 15:05 pm
@Kaizan-278: Excellent post! Poppa does not post in a spirit of good banter, he is a sh1tstirrer.
22 Nov 2012, 15:10 pm
@mamma_lou-285: NO WAYS!
22 Nov 2012, 15:11 pm
Guys – does anyone know what time the Bok bus will arrive at Twickers?
22 Nov 2012, 15:33 pm
Why is this such good news for the Bokke the guy has scored 15 odd tries in nearly 50 tests, Savea 10 from 7 tests. JPP is not a game breaker.
22 Nov 2012, 15:35 pm
There’s a good chance Savea will catch JPP this weekend and score 5.
22 Nov 2012, 16:04 pm
@NZINCHINA-307: in SA wing play is not about tries; but about “chases”…
22 Nov 2012, 16:09 pm
@NZINCHINA-307: jpp with good ball in hand is more than a game breaker he is a menace…go watch super rugby this year where he evrn made the Reunion team of the year or ask the Poms if he didn’t break any games in june… jpp at the end of an All Black backline would be IRB player of the Year candidate 1st up.
22 Nov 2012, 16:11 pm
JP’s not all that. Good form this year, but 15 tries in 50 tests hardly makes him a game breaker overall. Savea any day of the week.
22 Nov 2012, 16:14 pm
@McAwesome-311:
The only reason JPP only has 15 tries is because of the idiotic gameplans he’s been made to suffer.
22 Nov 2012, 16:18 pm
@NZINCHINA-307:
Very good question which us Saffas need to consider in honest fashion.
JPP, for one, has been guilty in the past of not looking for work.
But more fundamentally, stats like that shows the inability of the Boks to score five pointers.
22 Nov 2012, 16:22 pm
oh please…savea is powerful yes but profits from being at the end of good all black backline moves…it’s notlike he scythes through defences with great feet & fends…he finishes well…
22 Nov 2012, 16:43 pm
Habana played under the same game plan as JP and he racked up nearly 50 tries in 80 tests.
Savea is a very good winger. Great finisher. We need him to improve his kicking game and become more reliable under the high ball, but hes a great finisher and being a great finisher is the primary function of a winger… Traditionally JP has not been a good finisher. Stats are stats.
22 Nov 2012, 16:52 pm
@McAwesome-315: you can be belligerent all you like with the stats.. jpp has topped super rugby try standings before so his finishing is not even vaguely in question, bark up another tree.
22 Nov 2012, 16:54 pm
@bokfan1-305:
born and bred in the western cape
22 Nov 2012, 16:56 pm
@McAwesome-315: habana the intercept “king” who has been getting exploited for jumping the line since 2008…how many of the 50 has he nullified through his halfcocked attempts at intercepts?
i’ll help you….1 at soccet city this year
22 Nov 2012, 17:06 pm
Easy Transie, your teapot is boiling over. When the boks start winning competitions and scoring more tries then you can start comparing your backs to ours. Unfortunately JP doesnt have much of a case with only 15 tries in 50 odd tests
22 Nov 2012, 17:22 pm
@McAwesome-319: deliberately missing the point and clutching on all black results as a crutch…very original
22 Nov 2012, 17:25 pm
This McAwesome seems to have strayed far from his local Sheepdip…
Out of his depth amongst anything without curlies or a standard response of “Baa-a-ah”…
Farken sheepshaggers
22 Nov 2012, 17:30 pm
Transie I like you. Youre a passionate Saffa with good rugby knowledge and strong in your opinions. Its always good debating with you even when our opinions differ. You are a fellow rugby fan.
Heavens Game, youre just a racist twat.
22 Nov 2012, 20:00 pm
Actually feel sorry for our pal HG…
Most of his buddies went over the dark side and now he’s here all by himself,constantly outnumbered, always outgunned.
However,you gotta love the man’s resillience…he’s like that piece of **** clinging to the inside of the toilet bowl,no matter how many times you flush the loo,it just wont go away.
Respect….NOT
22 Nov 2012, 21:02 pm
I know Heavens Game personally. He is as much an imbecile outside the domains of this website as he is inside.
22 Nov 2012, 21:19 pm
@the authority-324:
. That’s not nice to say,bud.I think he is just messing around here….and unfortunately you get people losing their cool at his shenanigans.My personal opinion off course.Your blogging style is sometimes very similar to HG. 
22 Nov 2012, 21:28 pm
@wnbb-325:
lol
At one stage i thought it was Authority was HG
23 Nov 2012, 05:54 am
Tranny, JPP is a good winger but he’ll never go down as one of the greats as he just doesn’t score enough tries.
23 Nov 2012, 14:18 pm
@the authority-324:
You know me personally…?
Are you sure?
You are the authority…
In other words a bullshitting fantasist…
23 Nov 2012, 15:39 pm
@Heavens Game-328: And you’re a racist git.
Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 [7] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.