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Preview: Springboks v Leicester
Thursday, November 05
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The Springboks kick-off their end-of-year tour against English Premiership club Leicester at Welford Road on Friday night.
Frankly, it is a Springbok team in name alone as the country’s rising stars have been thrown together to gain some valuable experience in the national set-up. Having said that, the so-called “dirt-trackers” make for a formidable line-up with each player on top form.
Springbok veteran Gurthrö Steenkamp adds some valuable experience to the group and his battle with Italy tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni will be explosive. Chiliboy Ralepelle will get some quality game time and will lead South Africa for the second time with World Cup-winner Jannie du Plessis rounding off the front row.
The second row has a nice mix of youth and experience with the seasoned Danie Rossouw pairing up with Andries Bekker. The Boks are sure to use the massive Rossouw as a battering ram to soften up the Leicester forwards. Dewald Potgieter, Davon Raubenheimer and Ashley Johnson form an exciting and well-balanced back row. Potgieter will head the charge for the loose ball, while Johnson will be looking to emulate the performances he produced in Cheetahs colours in the Green and Gold.
Heini Adams and Ruan Pienaar are playing for the “A-team” No 20 jersey so there will be no lack of motivation for either of them to produce the goods on Friday night. Pienaar will also be keen to show Bok coach Peter de Villiers that he has worked on his goal-kicking with an accurate outing in that regard.
The most electrifying duo in the team is undoubtedly the midfield combination of Wynand Olivier and Juan de Jongh. Expect them to both create and finish the majority of try-scoring opportunities. Others that will reap from the centre pairing’s play are wings Jongi Nokwe and Odwa Ndungane as well as fullback Earl Rose.
The controversial Rose will finally get his opportunity to prove his selection in the national side is warranted especially with star Cheetahs winger Lionel Mapoe missing out. With the exception of Heinke van der Merwe and Meyer Bosman, all the replacements will make their debuts in Bok colours. Van der Merwe has been sidelined for most of the year through injury so the big Lions loosehead will be chomping at the bit to plough through an opposing front row.
Fellow powerhouse Jean Deysel will also be out to make the most of his opportunity as he was called up to replace the injured Pierre Spies in the 37-man squad. Deysel is tailor-made for the wet European conditions and it is not a stretch to say that two solid performances against Leicester and Saracens could win him a spot in the Test team.
Leicester coach Richard Cockerill has used the opportunity to rest a couple of players but has still named a competitive line-up that includes six internationals. All Black centre Aaron Mauger will captain the team at pivot with fellow All Black Scott Hamilton starting at fullback. Wallaby winger Lote Tuqiri, who signed with the Tigers recently, will make his Leicester debut off the bench.
The three internationals in the pack are the aforementioned Castrogiovanni and England duo Ben Kay and George Chuter. Castrogiovanni and Kay feature in the run on side, while Chuter will provide cover on the bench.
SARugby.com will bring you live updates of the game as it unfolds.
Key Battle: Aaron Mauger vs. Ruan Pienaar. This battle between two very gifted natural talents should be a cracker. Mauger will be a nice test for Pienaar to see whether his long-term future is in the No 10 jersey.
Prediction: Leicester will provide a stern challenge but the Boks will run away with it in the final quarter. Springboks by 15.
GreatOdds Latest Prices (correct at time of going to press): Unavailable at time of going to press.
South Africa: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Dewald Potgieter, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (captain), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Lucas Amorosino, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Aaron Mauger (captain), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Ben Pienaar, 6 Geoff Parling, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Calum Green, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Tom Armes, 19 Dan Hemingway, 20 James Grindal, 21 Greig Tonks, 22 Lote Tuqiri
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I stnad corrected but isn't earl rose 26 now? If you look at guys like Frans steyn (on his inevitably sooner than planned return) and JP, these guys are younger than rose and ALREADY have plenty test caps between them. Hardly a future prospect. Im not saying his is up, on the contrary, im sure he will pi55 us all off for years to come, but he should have started showing a few more positive signs by now... Which he hasnt. To rant a little more, take Frans, he will be earl's age when he GETS BACK from france.. Hasrdly see him still being a scatter brain at that stage. Rose is still playing like an 18 year old.
Why dont we have a plethora of props and locks over there right now, FFS, will always be a mystery. If there is any place in teh world to test these hard men it is a midweek game in soggy europe.
Still leicester by 2
Ralepelle is captian. haha! don't get me wrong i am happy for the guy considering he is always in the squad and didn't get 1 minute of game time during the tri-nations, but ?
Could be a good battle here.
I dont know mate, if you had seen the this years Currie Cup you will see there is quality across the board, the is no quarter when it come to these players
ive never seen Rugby in SA as healthy as in this years CC
but lets wait and see, it gonna be a Dogfight playing in this condition
Who be the first to score? i say no 6, Dewald Potgieter
Wian du Preez
Tiaan Liebenberg
WP Nel
Danie Rossouw
Andries Bekker
Dewald Potgieter
Jean Deysel
Willem Alberts
Sarel Pretorius
Ruan Pienaar
Lionell Mapoe
Wynand Olivier
Juan de Jongh
Francois Hougaard
Riaan Viljoen
Wikus Blaauw
Adriaan Strauss
Steven Sykes/Jacques Lombaard/Anton van Zyl
Ashley Johnson
Jano Vermaak
Jacques Louis Potgieter
Stefan Terblanche
Terblanche not an emerging bok but he needs a prize for his form and can only be a good influence on the youngsters seeing as the other leaders in the main 22 are touring separately.
As long as he doesn't return to us again.
Those who know you might recommend you anger management.
its a friday and you giving us Sharks fans a bad name, why so serious
You know where the Sharks players sleep when they vs the Cheetahs in Bloem, crazysharksman? Their parents, of course.
So you invited him to one of your house parties I see, crazy...
Once again showing your pathetic excuse of a sense of humor. That joke was old like 3 years ago. Bru lay off with the klippies... Braincells were already scarce with you.
Ed please don’t ban me again cause ive learned my lesson, and i don’t feel like getting another user name all over again
1. I don't drink.
2. I don't live in Pretoria.
But keep telling yourself that - if it makes you happy. See you're having a real bad day.
And clearly my sense of humor is better than anything you have. You just have temper tantrums. Must be because of all the toys you threw out of your cot being thrown back in by your mother.
But thanks for putting it like that. Im sure it was hard for you to express and understand. Now.. Run along...
Go on CSM, catch a wave and skoot on BRU!
With the exception of Pearl Rose and Odwa-this is a fairly decent team.As long you have hair on your head and a mouth in your face you will have a favorite player/players so does everyone and therefor nobody will EVER agree on everything-so lets agree to disagree on some players and wish the guys well.
Just hope Earl breaks a leg in the 1st minute-sorry there you have my least favorite player!!!!!!!I also agree on the front row commens- we need better props-and I dont really like Jannie,
there are better props available!!!!
Also have NH commentators bragging and thinking their team is worth something. Beautiful.
Because that was the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen in my life. Think I might just call in sick for the rest of the year, because I don't know how I'm gonna face these pommies after that.
The best front 3 in SA must be P!ssing them selves laughing as they sat in Bloemfontein watching that ABSOLUTE ABORTION of a scrum.
Disgusting