Johannesburg – There was a time when Schalk Burger thought his rugby career was over, yet on Saturday the former IRB Player-of-the-Year will be leading the Springboks out against the All Blacks in a Rugby Championship encounter at Ellis Park.
As a result of World Cup concerns, both teams will field rather experimental line-ups in a match that again highlight’s Burger’s fairytale return to the game in 2014 after he suffered multiple injury setbacks, as well as life-threatening bacterial meningitis. He will become only the 55th player to captain South Africa in what can be considered the Boks’ ultimate pre-2015 World Cup contest.
There is also a long-overdue return for forgotten flank Heinrich Brüssow, who last wore the ‘Green-and-Gold’ in 2011. For him the road back into the national team was also ridden with injury and for a while he fell out of favour with Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer who felt the Free State fetcher was “too small” to compete at Test level.
Meyer’s views have changed significantly since he first took charge of the team and there is no better example to be found than in the evolution of the team’s attacking mindset which has been in evidence of late.
Brüssow, like Burger, never stopped dreaming and will use this opportunity against the world’s top-ranked side to ensure that he is part of the World Cup squad when it departs for England on September 11.
With Burger again covering eighthman in the absence of Duane Vermeulen, it means that South Africa will in effect have three specialist flankers to counter inherent loose trio threat of Richie McCaw, Liam Messam and kingpin Kieran Read.
Meyer was quick to point out that the breakdown area will be one of the key areas where the Test could be won or lost. He said that his players would want to deny the visitors a supply of quick ball.
He also had concerns about his inexperienced centre pairing showing sufficient accuracy on defence against formidable Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith.
However, one of the most worrying aspects from a Springbok perspective is Meyer’s concern about the fitness levels of the team ahead of the World Cup which starts in 50 days’ time.
“We need to improve our fitness levels, I’ve never been happy with it,” he said in the build-up to the match.
It is rather baffling state of affairs since Meyer and his coaching staff had been working closely with the franchises since the start of the year to ensure that the players were part of a national conditioning program designed to attain desired fitness levels by the time they joined the Bok squad.
Meyer pointed out that the All Blacks win a high ratio of their matches in the final 20-minutes and said nothing less than 80 minutes of concentration from the Boks would suffice against such an experienced outfit.
Another item on the Bok mentor’s list of concerns is the team’s accuracy with the boot.
“Our kicking game is nowhere near where it should be,” Meyer said referring to the efforts of halfbacks Handre Pollard and Ruan Pienaar.
Pienaar showed against Australia last week that he has somewhat improved that facet of his game but the same cannot be said of 21-year-old Pollard.
Pollard has, however, played some of his best rugby against New Zealand and the same will be expected from him on Saturday.
While he is a force to be reckoned with on attack, his goal kicking this season has not been up to scratch and at Test level (he was reminded against Australia last week) one missed kick tends to impact on both the result and the state of play.
Pollard’s opposite number will be Highlanders’ star Lima Sopoaga who will be making his Test debut after a splendid 2015 Super Rugby season.
Lock James Broadhurst (27 years) joins Sopoaga (24) as the other new face in the All Blacks run-on team.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen echoed Meyer’s sentiments that this hit-out would be used to gauge where his men are as they prepare to defend their world crown. He said he was well aware of the threat poses by a bruised Bok outfit.
“The Springboks will be desperate after their loss last week and we will have to better that desperation with our own urgency, intensity and accuracy in the execution of our game and skill-sets,” Hansen said. - ANA