Cape Town – Frans Malherbe is one of nine players who will be aiming to make their season debut for the Springboks this week.
The Stormers tighthead prop was included in a 31-man squad that jetted off to Brisbane where South Africa will begin a streamlined Rugby Championship with a showdown against the Wallabies at the Suncorp Stadium this Saturday (kick off, 12.05pm).
The Boks galloped to a 46-10 win against the World XV at Newlands and Jean de Villiers is the only member of that matchday squad who did not make the trip to Australia for the one-week tour.
The veteran centre has remained in Cape Town where he will continue to work his way back to full fitness from a long-term knee injury by turning out for Western Province in their Currie Cup warm-up matches against the Pumas (July 18) and EP Kings (PE, July 25).
Malherbe, Lwazi Mvovo, Lionel Mapoe, Jan Serfontein, Morné Steyn, Rudy Paige, Lood de Jager, Schalk Brits and Heinke van der Merwe did not see time against the World XV but all were on the flight as part of Heyneke Meyer’s plan to try out new combinations.
The Bok coach has just four Tests, three of them in the Rugby Championship, to evaluate his personnel options before South Africa’s World Cup opener against Japan in Brighton on September 19.
“There will definitely be a few changes,” said Meyer. “If this was a normal Rugby Championship, we’d probably keep the same side, but there are only three matches so we have to look at different combinations.”
The Bok coach pinpointed the need to find a back-up for line-out sniper Victor Matfield as his top priority. “Victor has to come through another 11 games (including the World Cup final); that’s the only big question mark I have around the team.
“We keep working with the other guys to jump at five but that’s the only box I’m worried about ticking – people don’t realise what a big influence Victor has. At the World Cup, taking one stolen line-out or one kick off is the difference between winning or losing.
“We really hope Pieter-Steph du Toit (knee injury) will get back to his best, but he’s only played a couple of Tests; Lood hasn’t played a lot, and EbenEtzebeth isn’t really a No5.”
Of the 17 remaining players from the 49-man squad announced in June, Du Toit, Steven Kitshoff, Coenie Oosthuizen, Willem Alberts, Duane Vermeulen, Fourie du Preez and Frans Steyn missed the trip to continue their rehabilitation from injury, while Jaque Fourie is in Japan grinding his way through a stringent conditioning program.
The disappointment of not making the cut this time was compounded for Cornal Hendricks, Elton Jantjies, Faf de Klerk, Franco Mostert, Marcel van der Merwe, Scarra Ntubeni, Siya Kolisi, Zane Kircher and Heinrich Brüssow who will spend the week in Pretoria “training really hard”.
Meyer lauded Heinke van der Merwe’s performances for Stade Francais in Europe this year and the former Lions loosehead prop will be eager to make a lasting impression against the Wallabies. “Australia had a really good Super Rugby campaign with two sides in the last four,” Meyer noted. “They have big ball-carriers and they keep the ball in hand, so we’ll probably have to make 200 tackles.
“They’ll throw the ball around, so you have to play from their mistakes, put them under pressure at the scrum and line-outs and take the game to them.
“They’re always very difficult in Brisbane, but we scored four tries the last time we played there.
“Australia are a world-class team and winning away is difficult. It will be a tough challenge but we are on a mission. We must go and win on Saturday, it’s not a question.”
squad
Forwards Schalk Brits, Schalk Burger, Marcell Coetzee, Lood de Jager, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Eben Etzebeth, Vincent Koch, Francois Louw, Frans Malherbe, Victor Matfield, Teboho ‘Oupa’ Mohoje, Tendai Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Adriaan Strauss, Heinke van der Merwe, Warren Whiteley
Backs: Damian De Allende, Bryan Habana, Jesse Kriel, Patrick Lambie, Willie le Roux, Lionel Mapoe, Lwazi Mvovo, Rudy Paige, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Handré Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Jan Serfontein, Morné Steyn