WHEN just winning is not enough, Test match rugby’s coaches can get themselves into an awful spin.
Advancements in game plan and widening the player base by affording game time to those who wouldn’t ordinarily get a look in against more illustrious opponents, presents a tightrope coaches of the more endowed rugby nations have to walk.
And so it falls to Bok coach Heyneke Meyer tomorrow afternoon to tiptoe these issues when his team plays Scotland in this perennially cloudy town of castles and general architectural splendour. Meyer should draw from it in his quest to build a team ready, able and fully equipped to launch an assault on the World Cup in 2015.
Already though, the building blocks seem more or less in place. Even with the enforced and tactical amendments his team still boasts 667 caps, a good 200 more than that of Scotland.
He is trialling a new second row in Bakkies Botha and Flip van der Merwe and front row in Gürthro Steenkamp, Adriaan Strauss and Frans Malherbe but the coach by and large prefers familiarity.
The Scots are particularly proficient at contesting possession on the deck.
In fact, another Scot, Richie Gray, has been credited with the recent advancements the Boks have made in that area.
Scotland: Sean Maitland; Tommy Seymour, Nick de Luca, Duncan Taylor, Sean Lamont; Ruaridh Jackson, Greig Laidlaw (captain); David Denton, John Barclay, Alasdair Strokosch; Jim Hamilton, Richie Gray; Ross Ford, Moray Low, Alasdair Dickinson. Substitutes: Scott Lawson, Ryan Grant, Geoff Cross, Jonny Gray, John Beattie; Chris Cusiter, Duncan Weir, Max Evans.
South Africa: Willie le Roux; JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers (captain), Bryan Habana; Pat Lambie, Fourie du Preez; Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts/Siya Kolisi, Francois Louw; Flip van der Merwe, Bakkies Botha; Frans Malherbe, Adriaan Strauss, Gürthro Steenkamp. Substitutes: Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira, Coenie Oosthuizen, Eben Etzebeth, Marcell Coetzee; Ruan Pienaar, Morne Steyn, JJ Engelbrecht.
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France). Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland). Kick-off: 5pm
Meyer walks a tightrope
Advancements in game plan and widening the player base by affording game time to those who wouldn’t ordinarily get a look in against more illustrious opponents, presents a tightrope coaches of the more endowed rugby nations have to walk.
And so it falls to Bok coach Heyneke Meyer tomorrow afternoon to tiptoe these issues when his team plays Scotland in this perennially cloudy town of castles and general architectural splendour. Meyer should draw from it in his quest to build a team ready, able and fully equipped to launch an assault on the World Cup in 2015.
Already though, the building blocks seem more or less in place. Even with the enforced and tactical amendments his team still boasts 667 caps, a good 200 more than that of Scotland.
He is trialling a new second row in Bakkies Botha and Flip van der Merwe and front row in Gürthro Steenkamp, Adriaan Strauss and Frans Malherbe but the coach by and large prefers familiarity.
The Scots are particularly proficient at contesting possession on the deck.
In fact, another Scot, Richie Gray, has been credited with the recent advancements the Boks have made in that area.
Scotland: Sean Maitland; Tommy Seymour, Nick de Luca, Duncan Taylor, Sean Lamont; Ruaridh Jackson, Greig Laidlaw (captain); David Denton, John Barclay, Alasdair Strokosch; Jim Hamilton, Richie Gray; Ross Ford, Moray Low, Alasdair Dickinson. Substitutes: Scott Lawson, Ryan Grant, Geoff Cross, Jonny Gray, John Beattie; Chris Cusiter, Duncan Weir, Max Evans.
South Africa: Willie le Roux; JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers (captain), Bryan Habana; Pat Lambie, Fourie du Preez; Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts/Siya Kolisi, Francois Louw; Flip van der Merwe, Bakkies Botha; Frans Malherbe, Adriaan Strauss, Gürthro Steenkamp. Substitutes: Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira, Coenie Oosthuizen, Eben Etzebeth, Marcell Coetzee; Ruan Pienaar, Morne Steyn, JJ Engelbrecht.
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France). Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland). Kick-off: 5pm
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