Pollard set to replace Jantjies
It takes one to know one.
We can look at all the rugby players we like and make the inevitable assumptions, but noone knows a first five-eighth quite like his opposite.
It remains to be seen who South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus eventually names at No 10 to meet New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday, although he’s given a strong indication. Elton Jantjies started against Australia last Saturday, with modest results, and it sounds as if he won’t be asked to do the same in Wellington.
‘‘This weekend we’ll probably go with Handre [Pollard] again,’’ Erasmus said yesterday.
‘‘We might give Elton the last 20 minutes or so, otherwise we’ll go to the World Cup with one flyhalf we trust.’’
Jantjies has his admirers but, from this distance, often appears erratic and prone to go missing when it matters. But why take a layman’s word for it, when you’ve got All Blacks first five-eighth Beauden Barrett.
‘‘Elton’s a very skilful player. Left-footer, varies his depth. Sometimes he’s deep, sometimes he’s flat at the line,’’ Barrett said yesterday.
And then there’s Pollard. ‘‘Handre, typically he likes to run with the ball, flat at the line. He’s quite a good ball carrier. I’m not sure who they’ll play, both are very good options.’’
Barrett, having sat out last weekend’s win over Argentina, seems certain to start at 10 for New Zealand on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Brodie Retallick’s shoulder injury means Barrett’s brother Scott is likely to start at lock.
The Springboks are better served at lock than first fiveeighth and Scott Barrett was able to shed a bit of light on the visitors’ semi-regular starting second-rowers Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert.
‘‘Eben, he’s been out for a while and I’m sure he’s looking to play some positive rugby. He’s a massive mountain of a man and he’s a big, hard South African,’’ Scott Barrett said.
‘‘Franco, he’s got a huge engine on him. A good lineout forward and he’s been a big driver for the Lions in the Super Rugby in the last three years, so a good leader there and they’re both quality players.’’
The last time these teams met, in Cape Town in October, Etzebeth started with Lood de Jager, before Mostert replaced the latter for the last 25 minutes. It was an extraordinary match in which the All Blacks were pushed to their absolute limit, eventually winning 25-24.
Beauden Barrett failed a Head Injury Assessment and sat out the team’s next test, against Australia a fortnight later, which they lost 23-18. In normal circumstances they should have beaten the Wallabies, but Cape Town took too much out of them.
‘‘That was probably one of the most physical tests that I’ve been involved in,’’ Scott Barrett said.
‘‘Any game against the Springboks is going to be physical, for sure. They want to dominate you physically up front and some of the backs are big ball carriers, so we have to prepare for a huge physical battle [this week].’’
Scott Barrett was among New Zealand’s better players in last week’s 46-24 win over Argentina, which has acted as reasonable preparation for the Springboks.
‘‘Both teams, they’re pretty direct. They run hard and straight and have got some big men who want to get over the gainline and get good ball for their drivers like [Nicolas] Sanchez and this week, whether it’s Elton Jantjies or Handre Pollard, so they’ll be looking for the same direct route.’’
Happy memories aren’t always helpful ones.
It’s natural that the All Blacks look back upon last September’s 57-0 win over South Africa with fondness. After a fairly ferocious opening salvo from the Springboks, New Zealand ran in a series of superb counter-attacking tries to go into halftime 31-0 up.
Hardly a pass hit the deck, as the pace, skill and vision of the All Blacks left their old foes for dead.
Rieko Ioane went in from a deft Aaron Smith kick, a Beauden Barrett flick pass put Nehe Milner-Skudder over, before Barrett cross-kicked for brother Scott to score. By the time Brodie Retallick rumbled over, from a counter-attack that featured Damian McKenzie, Beauden Barrett, Ioane and Dane Coles, Albany’s QBE Stadium was going mental.
‘‘I remember the excitement of big Brodie’s try and how we all felt after that and what it meant to see him go [all] the way,’’ Beauden Barrett said yesterday.
‘‘But I remember the week itself. It’s probably the best week’s prep we’ve had for a long time and there was that genuine edge around it.
‘‘We knew we were in for a big battle and it was a big battle. I remember the first half, although we were up by heaps on the scoreboard, we felt we had to work for everything and it didn’t come easily.
‘‘Yeah, there was a lot of positives in that game.’’
Few that are too helpful now, though.
Barrett was asked directly for his memories of that game and gave them. Quite well too. But as much as he and the team know that the 57-0 win is way in the past – and potentially an aberration – it would be hard for them not to think back to how much fun they had and how good some of their rugby was.
And when you do that, it’s only human nature to forget the bad bits and the tough slog. To think you can rattle points on like that all the time.
With the teams to now reconvene at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium on Saturday, it will be fascinating to see how clinical New Zealand can be. Whether they can actually prepare in the genuine, bone-deep way head coach Steve Hansen regularly refers to.
After all, the margins between an amazing night at the office, and a rather more disappointing one, are quite fine.
‘‘It’s just about taking our opportunities. It’s as simple as that,’’ Barrett said.
‘‘We know that we have to turn up with the right mentality. We know that they’ll be coming every time we play them, so we just have to be ready to take our opportunities because in test matches you don’t get that many and we know how desperate they will be this week so we have to not just match them, but be hungrier than them.’’
‘‘I remember the excitement of big Brodie’s try and how we all felt after that and what it meant to see him go [all] the way.’’ Beauden Barrett