Andries Bekker and Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will have talks today to pave a way for the giant lock to return to the national fold.
Meyer admitted last month that the lock position is a bit of a concern following the injuries to Pieter-Steph du Toit and Lood de Jager, while Flip van der Merwe has made him unavailable for international duty for the foreseeable future because of an alleged contract dispute with SA Rugby.
Victor Matfield, 38, whose form has been up and down so far this season, is still the favourite to wear the No5 jersey at the World Cup in England in September.
However, there seems to be a light at end of the tunnel, as Meyer revealed that he has also spoken to Van der Merwe about making a return to international rugby just before the big bruiser departed with the Bulls on their Australasian tour last month.
The likes of Bekker, who last played Test rugby in 2012, and Van der Merwe will certainly add a lot to the squad in terms of experience, quality and ruggedness. This is especially because Du Toit, the heir apparent to Matfield’s throne, has missed the bulk of the Super Rugby campaign because of a knee injury.
“I had a meeting with Flip and there is a chance that he will be available. I said from the start that I would look at every player that’s available. A guy like Andries will also be in the mix,” Meyer said after the team’s training session at Cape Town Stadium.
“I’m having a one-on-one with Andries tomorrow. There is a good chance he will be available.”
Meyer says he will keep the World Cup door open until the last minute to make sure he has the best 31 players for the job.
But the Bok coach is also looking to beef up his reserves, which is one of the reasons why he has invited over 40 players to the team’s second camp in Cape Town.
“If you look at previous World Cups, you can only go with 31 guys and there will always be injuries. If you look at New Zealand in the last World Cup, it was their fourth flyhalf who actually won the game for them.
“I’m also looking long-term, because it’s sometimes difficult to watch a player on television. You don’t know if he is playing to instructions. Here you can see their skill level.
“I also speak to every player one-on-one. He knows exactly where he stands and what he has to improve on.
“If I look at a guy like Steven Kitshoff, who I think has been brilliant, I told him earlier this year that he needs to improve his ball-handling and he needs to play more with the ball, because that is what we want from a loosehead.
“He went back to the Stormers, he has improved that and he has been world class. So I think there is a benefit in having such a big squad. Now there’s depth in every position, and the guys know that there’s a lot of competition for places.”
The Cape Town Stadium is quite an interesting venue for the Boks’ this week. But nothing is random when it comes to Meyer, because Cape Town’s premier football venue will play an intricate part in the Boks’ preparations for the World Cup.
Three of the Boks’ World Cup matches will be played at traditional football venues.
The grass will be a lot shorter, and Meyer seems to think that the pace of the games will be quicker than it normally is on traditional rugby pitches during that time of the year in the United Kingdom.
But that’s Meyer for you, a man who has also checked the weather patterns for those venues all the way back to 1992. He is leaving no stone unturned.
“I thought initially it was going to be slow, sluggish surfaces, but most of the surfaces are soccer stadiums and the grounds will be hard. Much like the Cape Town Stadium,” he said.
“So we are going to replicate everything we have seen.
“We have also looked at every single trend that has won the World Cup, so we know what it’s going to take to win it. We have gone to unbelievable lengths and now it’s all about getting the players prepared.” - The Star