Enter the Lions’ den
THE Springbok players are just 80 minutes of game time away from the first Test against the Lions — 160 for a few that might be given game time for SA A against the same team — and they will be the first to admit they are far from battle-ready.
That is the negative after the Boks’ solid workout against the rugged Georgians, and the pressure is on them to hit the ground running in the return Test against the Europeans in Johannesburg on Friday evening.
There was an acceptable half an hour of adjustment at Loftus Versfeld before some oil eased into the machinery
SOCCER and six good tries to zero were rattled up, but now Siya Kolisi’s men have to ratchet up their performance significantly if they are to engender confidence of winning that first Test.
Twenty months are a long time between drinks for the Boks, and they will know after this game that they are in a race against time, a race they can win given they were missing some key players on Friday night, while some other vital cogs ran smoothly, notably Pieter-steph du Toit, who continues to get better each time he plays since his comeback.
The World Player of the Year was out for over a year with a leg injury, and returned to the game in the recent
Rainbow Cup. With the inspirational Du Toit firing on all cylinders, the Boks have a pillar in the pack they can work around.
Handre Pollard also showed his pedigree by delivering a much-improved performance after also having missed a year of rugby and having been restricted to a few comeback cameos for Montpellier.
Pollard’s World Cup partner, Faf de Klerk, will return this week after being among a bunch of overseas-based players that returned to the country just a little too late to be considered for selection.
Among that number are locks RG Snyman and Lood de Jager — both desperately need game time — and Damian de Allende, with the latter sure to make a big difference at inside centre.
Veteran Frans Steyn did a solid job there against Georgia, but he is slow and will revert to bomb squad duty from the bench, where he covers most back-line positions.
The Boks were also missing their first-choice 13, and we will see De Allende and Lukhanyo Am reunited this Friday, which should make a significant difference.
There are also two stars of the World Cup final to be restored on the wings in Cheslin Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi, with respect to Aphelele
Fassi and his stunning debut last week.
At No 8, Kwagga Smith enjoyed an enterprising run and it will be interesting to see if he is retained for the second outing, or if Dan du Plessis is given a chance to show he should be Duane Vermeulen’s replacement.
Coach Jacques Nienaber summed up the state of affairs neatly: “You can only practice against yourself so many times, but tonight the hits were real, and no one held back.
“We needed that, and had to adapt, and the way we did was pleasing. Next week we have to improve in every aspect, but the performance was probably expected after 20 months away from Test rugby,” Nienaber said.