Eastbourne – Not a great deal should be read into the composition of the Springbok starting line-up for Saturday’s match against Japan, and no player is guaranteed a spot for the quarter-finals, including captain Jean de Villiers, coach Heyneke Meyer revealed at yesterday’s team announcement.
Meyer said that De Villiers has to play his way into form to keep out one of Damian de Allende or Jesse Kriel, the young pair that set the Rugby Championship alight when De Villiers was on the sidelines injured. This week it is De Allende that sits out, with De Villiers moving to 12, a position he is better suited to, in a backline that is otherwise unchanged from the one that played against the Pumas in Argentina in the Boks’ last pre-World Cup match.
That means Zane Kirchner is again preferred to Willie le Roux at fullback, and the latter drops out of the match 23 altogether, and Patrick Lambie has got the nod ahead of Rugby Championship favourite Handré Pollard.
Regarding De Villiers, Meyer was frank in his answer to a question as to whether De Allende was set for bit part in the World Cup drama sure to unfold.
“Nobody is out of the reckoning and this team playing on Saturday is going to evolve as we find our best combinations for the quarter-finals, even if sounds arrogant that we already think we are there, but you have to plan that way,” Meyer said.
“We have only three centres here although JP Pietersen can play 13 and Handré can play, but Damian’s best position is 12 and so is Jean’s. Damian can play 13 alongside Jean but Damian can be really effective in the wet over here in the way he can physically get you over the advantage line.”
Meyer is intimating that the No12 spot could well come down to a straight shoot-out between De Allende and De Villiers, although he did add that De Villiers’ leadership and inspiration would always be taken in consideration (providing he is also playing very good rugby).
“Everyone is starting at nil, each player has to have his chance, and Jean knows he does not have much time to get into form,” Meyer says. “His leadership on and off the field is brilliant but if necessary we have other players that can lead the team, such as Victor (Matfield). At the end of the day, the best players will start. This week we are starting with Jean but Damian is going to get his chance.”
The coach said that his World Cup selection had been a balancing act between getting game time for those on the comeback trail and keeping enough continuity from the last Test to ensure adequate respect is shown to Japan, and so that momentum can be established.
Back from injury are tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis and openside flank Francois Louw, and the inclusion of the latter is part of the reason that No8 Duane Vermeulen has been given another week off, even though he is champing at the bit to get going.
“With Francois back, we did want to not reintroduce a second guy that has not played for a long time,” Meyer said. “Duane can make his comeback next week (against Samoa) and it will do him no harm to have an extra week off from full contact. Similarly, we will give Fourie du Preez ten to 20 minutes off the bench as part of the plan for him, and it also made sense to keep Ruan and Pat together as a combination.
“Fourie is a world class player when he is in form, and in training we can see that he getting there. But we are not going to just put guys in (on reputation) that have not played for a long time. Fourie can be the best scrumhalf in the world and could become the main guy in our campaign, but for now he must play off the bench.”
Meyer said that there would be a fair amount of mixing and matching over the next four Pool games.
“We are not taking anything for granted but we have to take every step possible to make sure that we have things right for the play-offs. We feel this is the right team for this match. Next week we start again and work out what is best for Samoa,” the coach said.