‘Oupa’ may have Bok inside lane
NELSPRUIT: Tired and somewhat irritated about talk of the Springboks adopting the Lions Super Rugby game plan, Springbok coach Allister Coetzee played open cards with how he wants his team to play in the upcoming Rugby Championship. Win, win and win. That is all Coetzee is expecting from his team and it is the game plan they hope to unleash against Argentina at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday (kickoff 5.05pm).
However, Coetzee’s charges will have to do it without talisman Duane Vermeulen and probably Francois Hougaard, who have both been hit by injury.
Vermeulen was withdrawn from the squad over the weekend, while a cloud hangs over the fitness of Hougaard who suffered a knee injury while on duty for the Blitzboks at the Rio Olympics, where they won the bronze medal.
Scrumhalf Hougaard was rushed for a scan yesterday upon the team’s arrival in Nelspruit, as he had complained of discomfort in his knee. But Coetzee stated that he wouldn’t be calling on reinforcements just yet with Faf de Klerk and Rudy Paige deemed sufficient for Saturday’s encounter against the Pumas.
But bothering Coetzee was not the injury crisis unfolding before his eyes on the eve of the toughest test yet of his fledgling tenure as Springbok coach; instead it has been all the talk about the Springboks adopting a game plan similar to that which saw the Lions make it to the Super Rugby final.
“There is nothing that anyone brings back that is different to what we have here. We are sitting with players with certain skill-sets and no one stifles any players skills-set in the Springbok set-up,” Coetzee said.
“I still expect the Sevens players to bring the flair and breakdown skills and the decision-making to the party. I still expect the Lions players and their style... to have that here, nobody stifles that here. Our main thing is, there should be balance and that is the focus at Test match level. What the Lions have experienced in the final, it helps us and it helps the players to grow.
“There is no plan A, plan B or plan C. If I must have those plans then I must have a different line-up for them. The big plan is, the balance, the pressure with the kicking game, the pressure with the set-piece and the pressure at the breakdown and good decision-making. And obviously win, win, win. That’s what this game is ... no need to over-complicate things.”
In and among the revelations that Coetzee offered yesterday, Warren Whiteley has all but been confirmed as the man to take over the No 8 jersey from Vermeulen, even though Coetzee remains hopeful that Vermeulen will return in time to face the Wallabies and All Blacks in the last two matches of the competition.
But one piece of the puzzle missing from Coetzee’s game plan relates to who will wear the No 7 jersey – Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje or devastating runner Sikhumbuzo Notshe?
Mohoje seems to have the inside lane at making a return to the national team after a two-year hiatus, which was dogged by injury and a loss of form with Notshe favoured as the man to act as cover for Mohoje and Whiteley off the bench.
Any talk of Francois Louw or Jaco Kriel being shifted to blindside flank was put to bed by Coetzee yesterday as he emphasised that both players are suited to the No 6 jersey.
“The way I have painted the picture, our two opensiders are obviously Francois Louw and Jaco Kriel. Our two No 8s we have in the team are Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Warren Whiteley. That’s why Oupa Mohoje is in the squad as a blindside flanker and I can have Pieter-Steph du Toit covering as a blindside flanker too,” Coetzee said.
A winning game plan against Argentina will certainly end any talk of the Springboks playing like the Lions, and instead will get the country talking about how all domestic teams must play winning rugby, like the Springboks.