2012 England tour to SA

[PaarlBok]

Fixtures , times, venues finalised
SARugby

England will play midweek tour matches in Kimberley and Potchefstroom during their three Test series against the Springboks in June, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Monday.
The series is a return to “traditional-style” touring which will see an England midweek team play matches on the platteland as well as Tests in Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.
England will meet a SA Barbarians South team in an afternoon match in Kimberley on Wednesday, June 13 and six days later play a SA Barbarians North team in an evening kick off in Potchefstroom.
“I think all rugby fans will be excited by the idea of having England on tour in South Africa for five matches over three weeks,” said Jurie Roux, CEO of SARU.
“South Africa has not hosted a three-Test tour against a single nation since the visit of New Zealand in 1996, so this will be a special occasion for all of us. The Rugby Football Union has also agreed to two midweek matches, which gives us the opportunity to take international rugby away from the major metropolitan centres.
“It also presents a chance for players outside of the Springbok and Vodacom Super Rugby camps to demonstrate their ability against top-flight international opposition.”
Roux said that the teams would be selected from the players of the eight Absa Currie Cup First Division teams. The coaches will be appointed in due course.
The England series takes place during a Vodacom Super Rugby shutdown across the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand host Ireland in three Tests and Wales are on tour in Australia at the same time.
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “This will be a massive and exciting challenge for us. England have never had a three-Test series in South Africa and, with two midweek games against opponents who will be desperate to impress, these five games gives us a great opportunity for a wider group of players to put their hat in the ring and gain international experience.
“We were pleased with the progress we made in the RBS 6 Nations and this tour is another important step on the journey towards 2015.”
England arrive in South Africa on May 31. The full fixture schedule is:
· Saturday, 9 June: South Africa v England (1st Test), Mr Price King’s Park, Durban (kick off 17h00)
· Wednesday, 13 June: SA Barbarians South v England, GWK Park, Kimberley (kick off 14h30)
· Saturday, 16 June: South Africa v England (2nd Test), Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg (kick off 17h00)
· Tuesday, 19 June: SA Barbarians North v England, Profert Olen Park, Potchefstroom (kick off 19h10)
· Saturday, 23 June: South Africa v England (3rd Test), Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth (kick off 17h00)

Bring on the Poms.

 

[Blue]

Croft, Wood and Lawes out. Those are huge losses.

Danny Care will be good for at least 20 minutes of playing against 14 Poms.

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has revealed he will be without six of his squad for the upcoming three-Test series in South Africa due to injury.

Leicester blindside flanker Tom Croft's absence is a major blow as he will miss up to six months after being told he needs surgery on a neck injury.

Northampton second-row Courtney Lawes and flanker Tom Wood, Gloucester winger Charlie Sharples and Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson and hooker Rob Webber also miss out with injury.

The loss of Simpson means there is a likely return for Danny Care, who was dropped for the Six Nations after a series of off-field indiscretions.

 

[Blue]

Meanwhile we have a crisis at 3 and I hope CJ Stander has a huge couple of weeks.

 

[qwerty51]

You guys should smash the Poms, you're the one team they struggle against (apart from the ABs).

 

[PaarlBok]

Meanwhile we have a crisis at 3 and I hope CJ Stander has a huge couple of weeks.

Dunno about Stander but the Stormers Kolisi and Carr looks pretty good, can even move Etsebet in. All depend on the Brutes Stormers trial match at Loftus a week before the first test. I am not worried about scrumming, we are in good hands with Pietie de Villiers.
Rugby365

Pieter won't upset the applecart

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:42

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South Africa's new scrum guru, former French prop Pieter de Villiers, is under no illusion as to the enormity of the task awaiting him - despite the quality of the talent at his disposal.
The South African-born French international, who played in two World Cups and 68 Tests for his adopted country, told this website in an exclusive interview that he would have very limited time to spend working with the national team on his aspect of the set pieces.
For that reason alone he won't "upset the applecart" and that any changes would be introduced gradually.
In an era when analysing the opposition's scrum has become as much part of the game as studying your rivals' attack and defence De Villiers said his input will be part of a much bigger picture to be painted by Springbok head coach Heyneke Meyer.
He admitted that you certainly look at the opposition, try and pick out strong points and weak points.
However, the starting point is to ensure that on your own scrum you "build a proper base" and to not change things every week.
"You want to build a model where all player feel comfortable, where all players feel they can build the best speed, the best explosivity, the best body positions... without changing things around every week," De Villiers told this website.
"Then again, on the opposition scrum you have to look at where potential weaknesses and strong points are in order to maybe go target that.
"Once again there is a very fine line in not upsetting the applecart by trying to change too many things week-in and week-out, rather than building a solid base of different things over a longer-term."
The veteran scrum consultant said aspects such as speed and strong core strength were important when it came to building a powerful scrum.
"Those are the things that lie a bit deeper under the scrum performance, but they are very important and they are also more long-term qualities you work on.
"Working on a very strong scrum core takes time. Working on consistent explosivity at scrum time takes time. That often also requires individual work. Things need to build over time and players need to feel comfortable in their roles as well.
"Every player has physiological ways of doing things... they may be taller, shorter, bigger, smaller, explosive or less explosive. You always want to use every player's best qualities, which requires different approaches."
Given that it takes time to build solid all-round scrum and that he will have very limited time to work with the Bok pack before the opening Test against England in Durban on June 9, he said he could not afford to make wholesale changes.
"It will be a tough task," De Villiers said of the three-match series against the English.
"It is well known that at international level you have very little time to work with players and myself as a scrummaging advisor will have even less time to work with the players.
"It is very important for [head coach] Heyneke [Meyer] to get his structures in place - the defensive structures, the attacking structures, the kick-chase structures.
"Looking at the scrum, I will have hopefully an hour with them [before the first Test], but that is something I have to accept and that is why it is important to sometimes work with players outside of that [Bok] context.
"However, the Boks have had one of the strongest scrums during the World Cup.
"The first step would be to not upset the applecart and just make sure we get back to where they were [at the World Cup], get the cohesion between the players back to where it was during the World Cup.
"[We must] get that platform solid and from there where do we need to tweak, where can we improve and that will come with time."
De Villiers admitted that it would be tough finding that balance between establishing a dominant scrum in the short-term, against England, while also to work long-term and build to become the best in the world.
"Everyone knows that every Test is important for every country and that is why the mix between day-in-and-day-out results and long-term growth is a tricky one, but it is an important one.
"However, I have all confidence in Heyneke to get that [the balance] right.
"We are blessed with a lot of quality players coming through in South Africa at the moment.
"South African players are at a very motivated stage - we didn't do as well as we wanted to at the World Cup, so the hunger is there.
"There is a new coaching set-up there as well, a lot of players want to prove that they deserve to be in that Springbok set-up.
"Another motivating factor is that some of our Super Rugby teams are doing very, very well.
"There are a lot of positive factors for South Africa."
He was quick to warn that England, who finished second in the Six Nations championship, would be a tough test for the Boks.
"We will come up against an English side that is also growing, that is also playing with a lot of confidence, also had the guts to throw in younger players. That is a team that gels.
"It will be a solid test, as it is always a solid test against England.
"The English will have a good scrum, they pride themselves on their scrummaging in the northern hemisphere.
"They will be very solid in that department, so it will be an excellent starting point - it will be tough, but we are looking forward to that."

 

[Blue]

Jannie du Plessis looks spent and we have nothing else at 3. Great coach or no coach.

Those two players are not yet physical enough. Stander is a lot more physical in a typical blindside sense. I love what I see in carr but he looks too small at this stage.

If Stander has a big tour he could be the answer.

 

[Ruggo]

10 is the interesting spot for mine. Morne will start but their are some really good young up and commers over there to stake a claim for the backup spot.

 

[Bardon]

Croft, Wood and Lawes out. Those are huge losses.

Danny Care will be good for at least 20 minutes of playing against 14 Poms.

Lawes is fast turning into a what could have been player. He spends more time injured than playing these days and that can't be good for his development.

Since Smith turned England down Mike Catt will has accepted the role of England backs coach for the short term. It's looking more and more like an uphill struggle for England on this tour.

 

[PaarlBok]

I just hope England dont with draw their top players due to conditioning excuse. The tours have dirt tracker games to develope young players. We were waiting for years for the old time tours, we dont want to see them get degraded and want to see the top stars playing in the test.

 

[Blue]

Looks like Jean de Villers has the inside track to Captain against the Poms. Happy enough with that.

 

[PaarlBok]

Oh Sorry Boet. I watch SABC sport news last night and they interviewed heyneke.
1. He wont use overseas players in the first test. According to him he is only able to practise them from the monday before a test..
2. He mentioned Jean captaincy but he also like Meisiekind current form and look like Meisiekind/JdJ will slot in 13 with Jean in 12.

My geus the Bokline vs the Poms will look like:
Lambie, JPP, Meisiekind, JdV, Habana, M Steyn, Hougaard.

 

[Ruggo]

Don't use overseas players at all. You have enough quallity talent within SA.

 

[Blue]

Frans Steyn will surely play 12?

The Beast looked good in his return for the Sharks and showed that he is a much better option than any of the LH props we have been discussing.

 

[ChargerWA]

I just hope England dont with draw their top players due to conditioning excuse. The tours have dirt tracker games to develope young players. We were waiting for years for the old time tours, we dont want to see them get degraded and want to see the top stars playing in the test.

Oh the irony.....

 

[Blue]

Oh the irony.....

 

[PaarlBok]

Englands touring squad

Backs

Anthony Allen (Leicester), Chris Ashton (Northampton), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester), Ben Foden (Northampton), Alex Goode (Saracens), Charlie Hodgson (Saracens), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), George Lowe (Harlequins), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), David Strettle (Saracens), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester), Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Christian Wade (Wasps), Ben Youngs (Leicester)
Forwards
Mouritz Botha (Saracens), Dan Cole (Leicester), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Paul Doran-Jones (Northampton), Phil Dowson (Northampton), Carl Fearns (Bath), Joe Gray (Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), James Haskell (Highlanders/NZL), Tom Johnson (Exeter), Graham Kitchener (Leicester) Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Lee Mears (Bath), Ben Morgan (Scarlets/WAL), Matt Mullan (Worcester), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais/FRA), Geoff Parling (Leicester), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), George Robson (Harlequins), Matt Stevens (Saracens), Thomas Waldrom (Leicester), Tom Youngs (Leicester)

 

[Bardon]

Pretty much a full strength squad when you take injuries into account.

 

[qwerty51]

Why did they announce now and not after the Aviva Premiership final? I would've thought that would make more sense..

 

[Lee Grant]

It's hard to know who missed out without a forensic examination though I know a few folks like Lawes, Croft and Wood are crocked. It's good that they are playing a couple of non-tests so they can have a dirt tracker side and some of the young blokes can get a run or maybe two.

dobduff (what's happened to dobbie?) will be happy that his mate ''JJ' Joseph is in the team. He's an attacking player as is zippy-dee-do-dah winger Christian Wade, the little winger who seemed to be scoring tries all the time in the IRB U/20 tournament last year.

I hope that Cipriani didn't rush back to England to be chosen as he didn't do enough in Super Rugby. Talking of which: Haskell was maybe fortunate that Hardy was injured playing for the Highlanders otherwise he would have been on the bench most of the season and the Poms wouldn't have been able to have a look at how he is travelling.

I see that Ben Youngs' brother Tom is in the team which is a bit surprising as he is only 3rd string hooker at Leicester IIRR. Talking of Ben: his rival Danny Care has been given another chance. He should do well as long as they keep him away from cars and the booze.

I think the Poms missed a trick in not picking specialist 7. Steffon Armitage. I know that he is a bowling ball of a player but he would have brought something different to the squad and their platoon of notter backrowers. He is bloody strong over the the ball on the floor and has been hard to stop playing for Toulon, as his recent try against Toulouse will attest.

As Bardon mentioned on the Not Set Pieces thread: Joe Marler a 21 y,o, LHP from Quins has been picked. I don't think that the RSA is ready for him. If you want to have a look at some of the hairdos he has had, have a look here:

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/community/threads/rugby-not-set-pieces.7409/page-22

But who missed out who is fit? Easter ... who else?
.

 

[qwerty51]

I don't think Armitage would be released by Toulon