Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli’s decision to go for brawn in his tight five for Saturday’s crunch Vodacom Tri-Nations rugby clash against the New Zealand All Blacks could come back to haunt him.
All the talk in the build up to the Test at Durban’s King’s Park Stadium has been about the physicality of the encounter and Straeuli illustrated that when he included strongmen Willie Meyer and AJ Venter to stem the black tide up front.
However, in including the latter, Straeuli omitted lineout kingpin Victor Matfield, which could see the visitors dominate the throw-ins, thereby securing quality ball for their potent backline.
And All Black coach John Mitchell will be meeting Irish referee Dave McHugh to discuss how the game will be officiated.
“Rudolf has met the referee, so it is normal. I will chat with him either this (Friday) evening or tomorrow (Saturday) morning,” he told a press conference on Friday.
While the All Blacks’ backs have not fired on all cylinders this season due mainly to the poor weather that has dogged all their Tests, they could unleash a wave of attacking forays on Saturday against which the Boks might struggle to defend.
South Africa has been guilty of conceding too many penalties and letting the opposition in for soft tries in their two previous Tri-Nations encounters.
“We have been working hard on bringing down our penalty count and the fact that soft tries have cost us in both Tri-Nations Tests,” said Bok skipper Corne Krige.
The All Blacks were stunned when a last minute Matthew Burke penalty retained the Bledisloe Cup for the Wallabies last weekend and are going all out to secure the Tri Nations for the first time since 1999.
“We’ve put the Bledisloe Cup loss behind us and are concentrating on our next task — winning Saturday’s Test and hopefully with it the Tri-Nations,” said All Black captain Reuben Thorne.
Saturday’s Test has been billed as the most important Test for both teams so far this season and the tight fives were expected to fight a ferocious battle for supremacy.
The 52 000 seater King’s Park Stadium could be in for an added treat as both teams chase an all-important bonus point (for four tries) in the race for the Tri-Nations title.
New Zealand has been hampered by poor weather throughout their international season and their players are itching to play on a hard surface.
“There is no doubt that if the weather holds we will play a more expansive brand of rugby,” said New Zealand assistant coach Robbie Deans.
For the All Blacks, the return of Jonah Lomu could be a telling factor when he is introduced late in the game. Lomu has yet to score a try against the Springboks.
Fullback Leon MacDonald will start his first Test since New Zealand downed Ireland on June 20, replacing the out-of-sorts Christian Cullen. MacDonald adds stability as a reliable goal kicker behind Durban-born flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens and is known for his attacking ability coming into the Kiwi backline.
While the Tri-Nations looks like a two-horse race between New Zealand and Australia, South Africa could still win the competition if they secure bonus point wins over the next two weekends.
Also, they have a habit of winning at least one of their home Tri-Nations Tests and they could just put one over the old enemy on Saturday.
The game kicks off at 3.05pm.
The teams for Saturday’s Vodacom Tri-Nations Test:
Springboks:
15 Werner Greeff (WP), 14 Breyton Paulse (WP), 13 Marius Joubert (WP), 12 De Wet Barry (WP), 11 Dean Hall (Lions), 10 Andre Pretorius (Lions), 9 Neil de Kock (WP); 8 Bob Skinstad (WP), 7 Joe van Niekerk (Lions), 6 Corne Krige (WP, captain), 5 AJ Venter (Sharks), 4 Jannes Labuschagne (Lions), 3 Willie Meyer (Lions), 2 James Dalton (Falcons), 1 Lawrence Sephaka (Lions).
Reserves: 16 Ollie Le Roux (Sharks), 17 Faan Rautenbach (WP), 18 Victor Matfield (Bulls), 19 Hendro Scholtz (Lions), 20 Johannes Conradie (WP), 21 Adrian Jacobs (Falcons), 22 Brent Russell (Lions).
All Blacks:
15 Leon MacDonald (Canterbury), 14 Doug Howlett (Auckland), 13 Tana Umaga (Wellington), 12 Aaron Mauger (Canterbury), 11 Caleb Ralph (Canterbury), 10 Andrew Mehrtens (Canterbury), 9 Justin Marshall (Canterbury); 8 Scott Robertson (Canterbury), 7 Richard McCaw (Canterbury), 6 Reuben Thorne (Canterbury, captain), 5 Simon Maling (Otago), 4 Chris Jack (Canterbury), 3 Greg Somerville (Canterbury), 2 Tom Willis (Otago), 1 Dave Hewett (Canterbury).
Reserves: 16 Mark Hammett (Canterbury) or Andrew Hore (Taranaki), 17 Joe McDonnell (Otago) or Kees Meeuws (Auckland), 18 Marty Holah (Waikato), 19 Sam Broomhall (Canterbury), 20 Byron Kelleher (Otago), 21 Daryl gibson (Canterbury), 22 Jonah Lomu (Wellington).
Referee: Dave McHugh (Ireland).
Linesmen: Chris White (England) and A Rolland (Ireland).