By Brenden Nel.
The Springboks confirmed that former World Player of the year Pieter-Steph du Toit is fit and ready for selection for this weekend’s second Castle Lager Incoming Tours test against Wales in Bloemfontein.
Du Toit is one of several expected changes as the Boks look to give some of their extended members of their squad a run and a vastly different team selection is expected from the one which beat Wales 32-29 in Pretoria on Saturday.
Handre Pollard is expected to return to the 10 jersey while there may be chances for the likes of Evan Roos, Marcell Coetzee and Andre Esterhuizen as the Boks look to continue to build on their depth ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup.
While there were several issues with the kicking game and with the execution in the first half on Saturday when the Boks were 18-3 down at halftime, only to rally with 29 second half points to win the game, the coaching side has been hard at work in Bloemfontein trying to ensure the first half doesn’t happen again.
And while the pressure is there to win the second test, the Boks will know they need to blood some of their extended squad members, with coach Jacques Nienaber already confirming they want to use all 42 in the three test series.
This will mean there will be several changes to the squad and a new-look loose trio this weekend, while a player like Roos is likely to make his debut as well.
Assistant coach Deon Davids said on Monday that despite the win, no changes have been made to the team’s mission of giving the squad a run and they would move forward with their plans despite some “work ons” that they have identified.
“We were quite open in terms of that, that we have a larger group and we have in mind, looking towards the future and the World Cup, as well as winning every test match – that will always be the main goal. We have a plan for each and every player in the squad,” Davids said.
“This being a series, we look at how we can execute the plan, how we can build on getting the experience and depth in the squad while also getting a good result for the weekend.”
Davids also confirmed there were no injury concerns in the side at the moment as well.
But he did say that while they did not get the reward from their setpiece, they have identified several areas of play that were necessary to improve ahead of the second test.
One of these was the tactical kicking game, which was woeful on Saturday.
“Overall test rugby is always about playing in the right areas of the field and making sure you have a good kicking game to get out of your own half. At times we were not up to the standard we would have liked it to be and that is something we need to work on,” he said.
“In terms of setpiece, Wales were very effective in terms of stopping us in the first half, but you don’t always get the setpiece reward at the start of the game, not that you can’t but it is always something that if you do correctly, it will pay off at the end of the game.
“This is what happened with us this weekend. In saying that we know there are definitely areas we can improve on from a technical and tactical point of view and also in terms of the standards that the team and players set for themselves.
“They will know this is a good foundation and a start for our season but if we want to be consistent and we want to excel at our game, we need to improve in those areas”.
The Boks will name their side on Tuesday for the second test.