Vunipola replacing Marler is tactical –
THERE will no easing into the World T20 for the South African women’s team in India.
Mignon du Preez’s team run straight into the powerful Australia side, the three-time defending champions, today in Nagpur.
The Aussies have been the dominant force in the women’s game for a while now and they will certainly expect to beat the Proteas.
However, the South Africans have been improving in the shortest format, judging by their performances against England and the West Indies recently.
Coach Hilton Moreeng certainly thinks his team can provide an early upset. “Every game in the World Cup is a big game. We will take them all one match at a time.
“Our preparation going into the match against Australia has been thorough and in a T20 game, anything can happen; it will boil down to the team who applies their basics the best winning the game,” Moreeng said.
SA’s preparations in India have not gone as smoothly as Moreeng would have hoped, especially after his team had defeated the higher-ranked West Indies 2-1 before departure. The side has suffered two warm-up match defeats, by nine wickets against the TNCA City Juniors and by seven wickets against England in Chennai.
“I think, as a team, we have definitely shown signs of improvement,” Moreeng said. “There is always room to do better, but I think that overall, the skills execution has been much better. It’s just disappointing that the results of the warm-up games went that way, but we can’t look too much into that because we know we are a better side than that. The batters have had a bit of time in the middle and a lot of time in the nets, so I feel that we are well prepared for the game.” – Zaahier Adams PROP Mako Vunipola will replace Joe Marler as England seek a grand-slam victory over France tomorrow but coach Eddie Jones said the switch, one of two changes for Paris, was entirely to do with on-pitch issues.
Scrumhalf Danny Care again swops Six Nations places with Ben Youngs, who drops to the bench, while Vunipola continues his on-off battle with Marler for the starting loosehead slot.
Marler was named among the replacements having been cleared on two counts following a citing for the use of his elbow and complaints after he referred to Wales player Samson Lee as “Gypsy Boy” during last week’s Twickenham victory.
On Wednesday there was a series of statements on the issue from Lee, the Welsh Rugby Union and national coach Warren Gatland who then chose to deliver another, apologising for his use of the word “banter” in his first.
The Six Nations disciplinary commit- tee finally announced on Wednesday night that no action would be taken and Jones was crystal clear yesterday when asked if Marler had been dropped because of the incident.
“Not at all, it suits the way we want to play at the weekend,” the Australian told reporters.
“I repeat what I said on Monday. I spoke to Joe and said it was inappropriate,” said Jones before declining to become involved in a debate over whether the “Gypsy Boy” phrase should be considered racist.
“If you look at the statements put out by Wales yesterday maybe they don’t know if they are Arthur or Martha. One time yesterday they didn’t (think it was racist) ,and now they do.
“We just let it run its process, we’re not interested in saying what’s right or wrong, that’s why we have these committees,” said Jones. “A grand slam is more interesting than something that happened seven days ago and has been discussed.” – Reuters