Birmingham – There was no more embarrassed South African on Saturday night in Brighton than former World Cup winning captain Francois Pienaar, who has said changes need to be made to a Springbok team that looked like it had not respected their opponents.
Pienaar, writing a column in an English newspaper, said it was “decision time” for coach Heyneke Meyer in vital positions.
“I have always said that nine, 10, 12 would be crucial,” Pienaar said. “There must be consistency in selection now in those positions for the rest of the World Cup and they must play all the way through without there being premeditated changes in the second half.”
At nine, Fourie du Preez will come in for Ruan Pienaar, Meyer has to pick one of Patrick Lambie, Handré Pollard or Morné Steyn at 10, and the big call is to bring in Damian de Allende at 12 for struggling captain Jean de Villiers.
“Here is the problem,” Pienaar said. “We knew a lot of our big players were coming back from injury, the captain had a horrendous knee injury and then broke his jaw in his comeback. I thought Jean and others could play their way back into form ...
“It is a great team on paper, but you don’t play on paper and you can’t win if you are not on form.
“Our form going into the World Cup was the worst we have ever had.”
Pienaar said the Boks typically would bounce back with aggression on Saturday (against Samoa) but he says this is no longer good enough in the modern game.
“In 1991 you could beat Japan with sheer physicality but in 2015 you have to be smart and skilful and you have to execute.”
The Boks did none of those things against Japan, and Pienaar says it “hurts a lot”. - The Star