Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said the changes were all part of the plan to rotate players in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup.
“I said last week that we will make changes, but it’s also important to keep some form of momentum. Saturday’s match is going to be massive in the context of our season and we have to ensure we tick the right boxes. Although we’ve also opted to keep continuity in the starting team, there will most likely be changes for every match this season as we keep one eye on the World Cup.”
We’re expecting a massive contest for the ball on the ground on Saturday, July 18, and with Schalk there next to Francois Louw, Marcell Coetzee and Bismarck du Plessis, we have a lot of players who are very good at the breakdowns,” said Meyer.
“Warren Whiteley played very well last weekend, but he knows exactly where he stands and will play again for the Boks this season. For this match though, we decided to go with this specific loose trio. It will be good to see what Heinke, Frans, Lood and Lwazi can do from the bench.”
“Lood is back from injury and our plan has always been to bring him back in one of our first three internationals of the season. We have decided to go for Lwazi, not only because his play for the Cell C Sharks in the Vodacom Super Rugby was superb but also because Lwazi is great under the high ball and knows his way to the try-line.”
“Trevor Nyakane and Vincent Koch performed very well off the bench against the World XV last weekend, but as we have a lot of depth at prop, I’ve decided to give opportunities to Heinke and Frans to stake their claims, especially as both of them have been in excellent form thus far this season. Heinke was the in-form loosehead prop in the French Top 14 and Frans anchored a brilliant DHL Stormers scrum this season.”
Meyer is under no illusions about the enormity of the task at hand in Brisbane. The Springboks’ recent record in Australia is not the best. The Boks only beat the Wallabies, two years ago at Suncorp Stadium, when they won by 38-12. This was the men in green and gold’s biggest away victory yet.
“If we’re not at our best, it will be a long day at the office,” said Meyer. “But we played some brilliant rugby last weekend against the World XV in Cape Town and the challenge this weekend is to build on that and improve in the areas we lacked.
“Our basics have to be spot-on and it will also be a great test for our defensive systems against a Wallaby side that can rip any team to shreds when they have the ball in hand.”
