18-07-2005, 06:04 PM
SABC just reported : "Up to 10 changes ! "
Quote:F THEIR final training session of the week was anything to go by, the Springbok side to face Australia in the return match of the Mandela Challenge Plate could feature as many as seven changes to the team that lost comprehensively in Sydney last weekend.
Springbok coach Jake White ran a variety of combinations at the St John’s College rugby fields on Friday, but he kept coming back to an ensemble featuring four changes among the backs (one positional), and three changes in the pack.
The backline had André Pretorius at flyhalf, Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie as the new centre pairing, and Breyton Paulse at right wing.
Changes in the pack had Gurthro Steenkamp at loose-head prop and CJ van der Linde on the right side of the scrum, with Joe van Niekerk slotting into Danie Rossouw’s position at blindside flank.
Asked at an earlier press conference if there would be radical changes to the starting line-up, White said: “There won’t be too many, we’ve got to strike a balance between consistency in
selection and giving other players an opportunity.”
But the Ellis Park match on Saturday represents White’s last chance to experiment with his line-up before the Springboks get to the business-end of their season, the Tri-Nations opener against the Wallabies in Pretoria on July 30.
White said he saw the final Mandela Challenge Cup game as an opportunity to see what other players had to offer. “From a combinations point of view it’s not going to be a trial, we know what we’ve got. We want to see whether we can do better.”
The rugby public will be looking for an improved performance from a possible new-look team after the Boks looked bereft of ideas during their 30-12 defeat by the Wallabies.
White said he was disappointed the team had not met with his expectations. “I thought the team we put on the field would do a lot better than we did, I think we let ourselves down.”
He said the plan had been to kick for field position before launching attacks off the line-outs, but the Wallabies had been smart in kicking the ball down the middle of the field instead of out.
The defensive frailties, which saw an incredible 44 tackles missed, were to blame on both individuals and the system.
“There were times when we slipped into the wrong running lines, but defence is an attitude thing. What can you say when guys miss that many tackles?”
The Bok coach was particularly disheartened at how easily the players slipped into bad habits like forcing 50/50 passes and unnecessary kicks. “It just shows that when the pressure is on you go back to your habits.”
White said the Boks would be concentrating on the areas in which they were poor in Sydney, like holding on to the ball, keeping their structure and being patient with ball in hand.
Possible Starting XV
Percy Montgomery; Breyton Paulse; Jaque Fourie; Jean de
Villiers; Bryan Habana; André
Pretorius; Enrico Januarie; Jacques Cronjé; Joe van Niekerk; Schalk Burger; Victor Matfield; Bakkies Botha; CJ van der Linde; John Smit (captain); Gurthro Steenkamp.