Meyer hopes for Matfield’s fitness
HE WILL not be the panacea but the Springboks will be hoping the return of veteran Victor Matfield will remedy some of their ills when they take on Argentina in Salta on Saturday.
HE WILL not be the panacea but the Springboks will be hoping the return of veteran Victor Matfield will remedy some of their ills when they take on Argentina in Salta on Saturday.
Matfield missed the Test against Argentina at Loftus due to injury, but it is fervently hoped in the Bok camp that he will return to full fitness this week.
The Springboks struggled to assert themselves in the scrums and the lineouts at Loftus but Matfield’s return will certainly address the latter department should he shrug off his knee injury. The Boks had limited line-out options after Willem Alberts withdrew on the eve of the Test due to a hamstring injury. He will not travel to Argentina and his place will go to Lions captain Warren Whiteley.
“Next week one or two guys will be back and we will be better,” said Bok coach Heyneke Meyer, perhaps intimating a return to the starting line-up for Matfield in the place of Lood de Jager and flyhalf Morne Steyn ahead of Handre Pollard, whom he substituted early at Loftus.
“I am very proud of the team,” Meyer said after his team’s 13- 6 win at a soaked Loftus. “We had a 20-year-old at flyhalf and 21-year-old running the line-out. They showed character,” he said of the pair.
Should Matfield not return to fitness Juan Smith may take his place, although the Toulon star also struggled with a tight hamstring last week.
Smith could also be deployed in his favoured position on the side of the scrum as Meyer may have to review his back-row options. In Francois Louw and Marcell Coetzee two days ago, he had players who could play towards the ball, but neither provided him with blockbusting ballcarrying ability nor a banker at the back of the line-out option.
Eben Etzebeth may also get a crack in the starting XV ahead of Bakkies Botha who did not quite assert himself in the manner we know he can at his former home ground.
Despite their woes at scrum time, Meyer gave his pack the thumbs up. “I am not worried. With all due respect, it was very wet. The ground was so slippery. I was surprised there were no reset scrums. Both teams were positive.”
He was, however, left to lament his team’s failure to get a bonus-point win on home soil against the team that is yet to record their maiden win in the Rugby Championship.
“Definitely,” said Meyer when asked if he thought it was an opportunity lost. “There are only six games. At the Highveld and at Loftus we’ve played well before. You have to find the small breaks in every game. We have to play the situation. I know the other guys will also struggle against them (Argentina). They have really improved. What you lose here you have to gain (elsewhere). Maybe we can get five points there.”
Meyer said: “Last year, there were a lot of tries. This year, I think it is going to be a lot more tactical. This is what we didn’t do well last year. You can’t allow other teams to run your race. We want to win every game. If you win all six games you should win the Championship.”
His team will be up against it. They will have to rely on muscle memory to address some of their shortcomings this week.
“It has to be a quick turnaround. We only arrive there on Monday night. We will only have two days of training. We have to regroup,” Meyer said.