Guildford - Sentiment and emotions aside, the Springboks will be going out to finish their Rugby World Cup and year according to Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer ahead of their third fourth place play-off against Argentina.
Meyer selected his strongest available team and it sees two changes from the team that narrowly lost 20-18 against the All Blacks in the semi-final.
Victor Matfield returns to the starting line-up to lead the team in his last Test after a glittering career that has spanned 14 years and has seen him become the most capped Springbok with 126 appearances.
The 38-year-old Matfield replaces Fourie du Preez as captain, who too has apparently played his last Test in the semi-final, who has been ruled out because of a head injury sustained in Saturday’s loss against the All Blacks.
Matfield has replaced the evergreen Lood de Jager at number five lock with De Jager dropping to the bench.
Du Preez has been suffering from headaches and blurred vision and his place at scrumhalf will be taken by Ruan Pienaar with Rudy Paige starting from the bench at the very same Olympic Stadium where he made his debut three weeks ago.
An emotional Meyer said that his team will need to play without the sentiment of this being the last Test for certain stalwarts in the team and ensure that they put up a performance worthy of a team that should have been in the final.
“Victor has been awesome player not always get the credit. People always look at the failures applaud him for coming back he will go down as one of true greats. Fourie came back and they’ve been stalwarts. We don’t want to focus on that, we must go out there and have a great performance. It is not about individuals, there is still one more job to do and play like the best team in the world,” Meyer said.
Meyer believes that Argentina cannot be taken lightly and have proven to be worthy adversaries not only with their spirited performance at the World Cup but in also having beaten the Springboks in South Africa during the Rugby Championship.
“I don’t think people respect them (Argentina) enough. They are a really tough side and if you are not at your best it will be difficult day. The team has now played together for some time and we need continuity. We want to go out there and put in one last big performance,” Meyer added.
With there still being plenty of uncertainty around Meyer’s future as Springbok coach, Meyer said he had been tempted to make wholesale changes to his team but sanity prevailed and he had no option but to go with his strongest team in their final game of the tournament.
One of Meyer’s failings at the World Cup has been his conservative nature in team selections with too much trust and loyalty towards his chosen players while the likes of Siya Kolisi, Morne Steyn, Lwazi Mvovo, Zane Kirchner and Schalk Brits have had to carry tackle bags even though they were deemed good enough to be part of the squad.
Meyer cited the short time he had to prepare the team for the Argentina game as the main reason but the former Bulls coach could also have retreated into his shell into doing what he knows best in a last ditch effort to save his job.
“The temptation was there to have fresh guys. Playing for third and fourth place is never good enough, we want to compete and win and only the best is good enough. When put jersey on, even if it is a friendly, representing your country is the ultimate. It’s a lot of guys end to their careers and it was a short turn around to make wholesale changes and it won’t be right thing. I got to think about team and we need to go out and win,” said Meyer.
Springbok team: Willie Le Roux, JP Pietersen, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Bryan Habana, Handre Pollard, Ruan Pienaar, Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger, Francois Louw, Victor Matfield (captain), Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira. Repalcements: Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane, Jannie du Plessis, Lood de Jager, Willem Alberts, Rudy Paige, Pat Lambie, Jan Serfontein.
IOL