Stick backs inexperienced Springboks to step up against Scotland
· Citizen
A largely inexperienced Springbok team have the full backing of the coaching staff to go out and beat a strong Scotland side in their Nations Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday (kick-off 5:40pm), according to assistant coach Mzwandile Stick.
Although the match 23 features a number of double World Cup winners, in captain Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jesse Kriel, Handré Pollard and Damian Willemse, it also has 13 players with 10 caps or less in it.
Visit amunra.qpon for more information.
Speaking at Friday’s captain’s press conference, Stick stated he and the other coaches were firmly behind the players that have been selected, and said that they fully deserved to be in the side and had earned the chance to show what they can do.
“We always want to build squad depth. But gone are the days that people will say, ‘oh this is the B team’. We don’t have that anymore. We are all just one team,” explained Stick.
“All of them have performed well for their franchises and deserve to be rewarded. It’s a matter of believing in every player in the squad, and when the opportunity presents itself, Rassie [Erasmus] is not shy to give players the chance.
“When you look at the team sheet it might look like an inexperienced team. But if you look up front, we’ve got a guy like Wilco (Louw) who is probably one of the best tightheads (in the world).
“Then we’ve got a guy like (loosehead prop) Boan Venter, who understands Scotland very well and knows many of those players because he was playing there for Edinburgh.
“So we have done a bit of calculating with some selections. A lot of these youngsters are excited, and I hope we can give the people of Pretoria a good show.”
Dangerous Scotland
Zoning in on Scotland, Stick explained that the Scots would be looking to take the Boks ‘to the dance floor’ with the amount of skilful attacking players they have, and that they would have to be prepared for a dangerous running game.
“They have a very skilful backline. Looking at the makeup of their pack, they have big, physical loosies that focus on gaining momentum for that backline,” said Stick.
“They are a major danger, and I know this well because Gregor Townsend was my flyhalf (at the Sharks). He was one of my teammates in Durban. He enjoys beautiful, champagne rugby. They call it ‘the dance floor’. They like to go to the dance floor by moving the ball into the wider channels, and they have the skilful players to do it.
“Finn Russell is back, and (captain) Sione Tuipulotu is one of the best centres in the world. The danger is also in their back three, Kyle Steyn is South African-born and knows us very well, and Kyle Rowe is a lethal attacker because of his Sevens background. Scotland will try to keep the ball in play and run us off our feet out wide.”