Young rugby guns shine
[caption id="attachment_38491" align="alignright" width="405"] STAYING POWER: Lood de Jager scores in the game against Scotland on Saturday. Picture: MIKE HOLMES[/caption]
HEYNEKE Meyer's Springboks have managed to make it a full- house of victories in their four matches played in the June international window period.
The coach will be largely pleased but there remain areas of concern he will need to look at as he continues to build for next year's World Cup.
Victor Matfield and Schalk Burger returned to the Bok set-up after two years. They managed to gel and almost pick up where they left off with other trusted old hands in Meyer's squad.
The coach used Saturday's match against Scotland, the last of the four games played in the last month, to blood some young guns. Five new caps and 13 changes to the squad that narrowly beat Wales 31-30 a week before and the result was pleasing.
Meyer is pleased with what his charges have achieved in the four consecutive victories against the World XV, Wales (twice) and the Scots.
He admitted to having been impressed with the team's attacking game and defensive effort in the 55-6 win over Scotland, but most importantly it is the growing depth in the side that puts a smile on the coach's face ahead of next year's World Cup.
Meyer will have the Rugby Championship, which starts in August, and a year-end tour to further bed his test combinations before heading to England to attempt to regain the crown the Boks won in 1995 and 2007.
"I'm very proud of these boys. I've really been blessed this whole [past] month," Meyer said.
Some individual performances by players who were given a chance to prove themselves particularly impressed the coach.
"There were a lot of guys who took their chances. I thought Marcell (Coetzee) played very well. Schalk (Burger), Duane (Vermeulen), the older guys all did well. Lood (De Jager) really played well.
"There are a lot of guys who put their hands up and I'm really proud of them," he said.
Leading up to the June tests there was a concern over the lock positions. Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit – who are considered the natural replacements for Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield – faced injuries. Matfield had not played international rugby since 2011 and there were no experienced options to fill in the gaps.
Flip van der Merwe was also injured during the incoming tour. However, the coach is now content with the talent at his disposal in the lock position after De Jager proved himself and Stephan Lewies also received his first cap in only his first Super Rugby season.
"The one thing we are proud of is that we said that in the three years [2012 to 2014] we want to win all of our incoming tour games, and this is the last one before the World Cup, so we ticked all the boxes there," Meyer said.
"With Flip and Eben out, and some other locks, we were suddenly really in trouble but luckily Lood came through. At No5 Victor is back to playing his best."
It's not all rosy for Meyer, however. The coach is concerned about depth at halfback in South Africa.
Veteran Fourie du Preez came off early against Scotland with an ankle injury which has left the coach in a state of worry.
"I'm very worried about Fourie. I still believe he's the best scrumhalf in the world. You could see when he played, Handre [Pollard] was brilliant next to him. I spoke to the doc and he had a big concern there [about Du Preez]. I just hope he'll be ready for the Rugby Championship.
"Fourie is so mature and gives the backline more stature, especially with a youngster on his [out]side. I just hope he'll be fine."
He made a comparison between half-backs and loose-forwards in the country. "We need to work hard on our No9s and No10s. The loose-forwards I think are brilliant, even guys who are not in the squad.
"We need No9s and No10s coming through. Johan Goosen has been injured, Pollard is a shining diamond and it's up to him now, but I think he is good enough to play for his country for a long time." - Chumani Bambani
