No lock selection problems for Coetzee
SPRINGBOK coach Allister Coetzee and his England counterpart, Eddie Jones, probably have the least worries when it comes to selecting locks.
They have that one grizzled veteran around whom they can rotate youngsters.
Pieter-Steph du Toit and Lood de Jager are not exactly youngsters, even though De Jager is a baby-faced assassin the rugby world came to know about after his 2015 Rugby World Cup exploits.
Coetzee has not been the type to fix what is not broken but Du Toit’s powerful Perth performance, coupled with De Jager’s useful second half cameo, ensured the Bok pack never took their foot off the pedal.
With New Zealand set to welcome back lineout maestro Sam Whitelock for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against South Africa at the North Harbour Stadium in Albany, there is a strong possibility De Jager may worm his way into the starting 15.
This is no slight on Du Toit, as Bulls players have proved in the green and the gold this season – they are far better players than their Super Rugby form suggested.
An example was the tight marking on centres Jan Serfontein and Jesse Kriel by the Australian loose-forwards.
However, the duo still found a way to have an influence on proceedings.
It leads to whether there is wisdom in breaking up the functional Eben Etzebeth/Du Toit combination that works at the Stormers, but the same applied with the Etzebeth/Franco Mostert pairing that functioned well in the first five tests of the season.
It is the strength in depth at lock that allows Coetzee to make this kind of decision, especially with the fact that De Jager offers more physicality and mobility.
Dominating New Zealand at the contact point is just one of the building blocks needed to find a way to win in the Land of the Long White Cloud.
The All Blacks have been dominated at set-pieces, but they have still found other ways to win.
The Boks will want their share of fortune, but will also want to make sure they earn their win, if they get that far.
How SA’s locks fare will be crucial to this, as their lineout domination stalled any momentum the Australians tried to gain in Perth on Saturday.