Div to go with gut feeling to select his Elephants side
Wily EP Elephants coach Peter de Villiers will listen to his gut feeling before naming his starting line-up to face the Bulls at Loftus on February 28 (3pm kick-off ).
Appointed to one of the hottest jobs in SA rugby, De Villiers is counting down the hours until his team face SA’S double winning champions in their opening Preparation Series clash.
Because of Covid-19 issues, De Villiers will not have an opportunity to play a friendly game to run the rule over his charges.
Asked if he was close to naming his starting lineup, De Villiers said: “There is always places in doubt and always fear in a coach’s mind
“I think I am close in my mind, but I am leaving the door open for the one incident of excitement that always arises.
“From now on it’s listening to my gut and seeing what is going on. If my gut says do this I will do it,” he said.
“The focus this week is mainly getting synergy between backs and forwards — knowing each other and where to go.
“We have not played a game for two years, so that will count against us. But we will see how we can get around that.”
EP’S coach said an announcement on who would captain the team would be made next week
“We did decide on a captain, but I do not want to elaborate on that. We will make the appointment next week.”
De Villiers is busy plotting a way to humble SA’S double champions in their own back yard.
“It is like school,” he said. “You prepare your pupils for the endof-year exams and there is a lot of stuff they do forget.
“But there is also a lot of stuff they bring to the exams that will help them.
“Hopefully there will be a hell of a lot of innovation from the players so we can cover and counter whatever is dished out on the day from the Bulls .”
The coach said it was difficult to tell where the strength of the EP team lay.
“It is a tough question because I have not seen them play in a match. We took a bunch of boys and we will release them next Saturday against the Bulls as a bunch of men.
“You will never be able to get around not playing warm-up matches,” De Villiers said.
“That is the one thing that everyone has to deal with.
“So the pace of the game will not be that high and match fitness will show at the end of the game.
“I believe that everyone has the same challenges because of the break that they had and the short turnaround.”
EP have yet to release a list of their contracted players for the tournament.
“The reason we did not release a list of contracted players is that some of the squad did not return their documents because they are still busy with their lawyers.
“So I am still waiting for them to return their contracts.”