Hoping for clean sweep
Pressure on Boks to beat England at iconic venue
THE SERIES victory over England may already be in the bag, but the Springboks will be going all out to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in the final Test against the tourists at Newlands tomorrow. The Boks won the Tests in Johannesburg and Bloemfontein with stirring fightbacks after going behind early on in both contests.
When it comes to keeping the fans happy, flank-cum-lock Pieter-Steph du Toit, perhaps unsurprisingly, said that the pressure was still on to win the third Test against Eddie Jones’s team. But it’s pressure the towering forward reckons will have a galvanising effect.
“It’s a fine line. We must be careful of being too happy, especially in South Africa,” Du Toit said.
“I think the public have forgotten about the series win; when we walk in the (shopping) mall they just ask ‘are you going to win again?’ And it’s good because we know we have to perform again.”
While the Boks will be focused on the scoreline tomorrow, and on avoiding yet another first-quarter false start, they will also be mindful that the match could well be the last time a Test is played at the famous ground. There have been strong reports recently suggesting that this could be the last Test at the venue before Western Province rugby moves to Cape Town Stadium.
It’s not a move that some of the Stormers players are too keen on.
After the Springbok team announcement at Cape Town Stadium yesterday, Du Toit and Steven Kitshoff spoke about their fond Newlands memories, which started out with dreams of running out at the iconic venue.
Kitshoff has one method of dealing with the moment – he plans to just embrace everything the stadium has to offer.
“Growing up, it’s always been a dream come true to play at Newlands,” Kitshoff said yesterday.
“It’s going to be a bit heartbreaking if it’s the last international. I think the boys must just embrace the moment and enjoy it as much as we can. It goes by so fast.
“We just have to embrace the fans, embrace the moment and just give it our all.”
Du Toit – who has been a stand-out performer for the Stormers this season – shared his teammate’s sentiments.
“It will be quite disappointing if it’s the last Test at Newlands,” he said.
“It’s always a great atmosphere there and it has so much history.
“It will be disappointing, but it will be an honour as well to be part of that.”
‘IT’S GOING TO BE A BIT HEARTBREAKING IF IT’S THE LAST INTERNATIONAL AT NEWLANDS’
SPRINGBOK coach Rassie Erasmus says his players are going to have to prove themselves in testing conditions in the last Test against England if they want to be in the World Cup squad.
Earlier this week, Erasmus also spoke about his desire to build depth in key positions, and getting a proper look at his options is the first step.
It’s a step Erasmus has taken for their series-concluding match against England, as the Boks coach has made five changes to the team that beat Eddie Jones’ team in Bloemfontein.
Flyhalf Elton Jantjies, centres Andre Esterhuizen and Jesse Kriel and fullback Warrick Gelant will get their first starts in the series, while Handre Pollard and Willie le Roux move to the bench and scrumhalf Embrose Papier will offer back-up to Faf de Klerk.
Up front, Chiliboy Ralepelle will also get a run-on chance at hooker, while 37-yearold Schalk Brits will make his first Springbok appearance since the 2015 World Cup.
“I hope it’s not a big disruption,” Erasmus said about the changes.
“There’s four changes in the backline, and if you look at 10, 12 and 13 it’s actually the team that started against Wales. So there shouldn’t be a lack of understanding there.”
“It’s definitely a bit of a risk, but we have to see how they handle the pressure.”
On the backline shuffle, Erasmus added that Gelant’s inexperience gave Le Roux the nod in an already-inexperienced back three, and added that he’s looking forward to seeing how the attack-savvy Bulls back goes in what is expected to be a wet evening in Cape Town.
Gelant has been a consistent performer for the Bulls this season, and his positional play and both boots have been massive.
And while the conditions are a concern for Erasmus, Gelant has shown that he just might be able to “swim” (as Erasmus put it during the press conference), and a fine example of that was his big game against the Sharks at a wet Kings Park earlier this season. “Warrick is a guy who has consistently knocked on the door, I guess what Willie had on him was just experience if you consider S’bu and Aphiwe both only have two caps. The wingers have now got a little bit more experience, and Jesse brings 31 caps to the mix.”
“We all know what Warrick can do with ball in hand, his clearance kicking is excellent, off the left and right foot. If it’s wet, we’ll learn a lot about him, if it’s dry, we’ll have typical Warrick Gelant play. If he doesn’t do well we’ll fix it after the game.”
With the series won and rugby’s biggest spectacle approaching, Erasmus’ decision to get a better look at some of his options is a sensible one.
The SA Director of Rugby is also looking forward to pacy No 9 Papier’s contributions.
A number or players have put their hands up in this year’s Super Rugby competition, and Papier is no different.
The 21-year-old’s promise on attack has highlighted him as one to watch, especially in a position that has been as puzzling as scrumhalf for the Boks in recent years.
“I’m very excited about Embrose, he’s lightning fast...probably one of the fastest guys in the team, and that’s including Aphiwe and Sbu.”
“At his age he has some work-ons in terms of his passing and his box-kicking, but he’s a natural attacker and he tackles really well and he understands the defensive system.”
With Erasmus having had a look at Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am in the first two Tests, he explained that the depth at inside centre is promising. “We’re privileged to have two players like that (De Allende and Esterhuizen) and a few others. There’s still a guy like Rohan at the Lions, Pollard can also play 12, and then there’s Patrick Lambie, Damian Willemse and Frans Steyn who can play 10 and 12.
“So we have to find the solution at 10,12 and 15 going forward. So I think Andre and Damian are fighting really hard to be in the World Cup squad.”
“The weather at this stage looks dry, but we might get some rain in the World Cup and if they want to make the World Cup squad they must prove that they can handle wet weather, crowd noise, different referees and a lot of other factors.”
On his calls in the pack, Erasmus said: “I think Steven Kitshoff is definitely close to a start, he’s definitely not second best. I think he and Beast are really going toe to toe, and I think Thomas is growing into a starting tighthead and the way we’re integrating him into the squad is working well.”
TEAMS
SPRINGBOKS: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 S’bu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Jean-Luc du Preez, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Embrose Papier 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Willie le Roux
ENGLAND: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Owen Farrell (captain), 11 Mike Brown, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler. Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Sam Simmonds, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Denny Solomona