The preliminaries are over and British and Irish Lions head coach Ian McGeechan is on Monday bound to select a number of combinations which he regards as Test ‘probables’ for the match against the Sharks in Durban.
Sport 24 reports the Lions coach is in the fortunate position of being able to consider all the players in the squad, with the exception of flank Martyn Williams.
Riki Flutey, the England and Wasps centre, has recovered from his knee injury and will train with the team on Tuesday – and team doctor James Robson on Sunday said that he will be fit if selected for the Sharks match.
Flutey and replacement Gordon D’Arcy are the only squad members not to have started a match.
Robson on Sunday said it looked as though the London Wasps and England centre could be on his way home after injuring his knee in the opening game against the Royal XV after coming on as a replacement.
“If you went back to 1997, then Riki would have been on his way home. I really thought he was going to be the first player to leave the tour,” said Robson.
“But he has been setting his alarm to wake himself up every two hours in the night to administer cold therapy on his knee. That’s on top of the work he is doing with the physios throughout the day.” Robson said he was very impressed with the ethos of the players and the work they put in to recover from injury.
McGeechan is bound to start fielding some combinations against the Sharks that he has in mind for the first test. There simply is not enough time – or matches – for him to select the entire probable Test squad for a run before the first Test.
The loose forward combination could still be a problem and McGeechan is bound to try another trio after they came off second best against the Free State Cheetahs despite hitting the rucks hard.
Heinrich Brussow, however, won’t be in the Springbok side for the Test matches and without a fetcher to confront his tall forwards, McGeechan will probably not be as concerned as he would otherwise have been.
Meanwhile, the Sharks will field an inexperienced backline with more experience up front where Jacques Botes, Keegan Daniel, Steven Sykes, Johan Muller and Jannie du Plessis are expected to be selected.
In the absence of 10 players who are in the Springbok squad, there will be a number of new and young faces in the backline, and as Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford said on the Sharks website, the match against the Lions is not only an occasion and experience for the players, but also the opportunity to see how the back-up players perform with a view to the Currie Cup which starts on July 10.
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From one of the bloggers on the news24 site:
Blou bulle!!!!6/8/2009 8:31 AM
Die britse leeus is stupid om nie oues soos chabal of michalak te kies nie! ons bul/springbok span gaan hulle rol!
@wpw (Comment 1) :
😆
I’m trying to imagine Chabal with a British/Irish accent… 😛
Looking forward to seeing the new-look, inexperienced Sharks backline…
How’s Waylon doing?
@wpw (Comment 1) : 😯
C’monn – they have Stef and Rory at the back – I hope it is not excuses starting.
@wpw (Comment 1) : ha ha! Love it
@robdylan (Comment 5) : I mean, it’s so typical of that dutchman mindset, isn’t it? Anyone who isn’t a boer must be “Brits”…
@robdylan (Comment 6) :
I hope you are stirring… 😯
@wpw (Comment 7) : not really…
I just heard from one of my collegues at work that Ruan and Frans might play for the Sharks on Wednesday to get some match practice….did anybody else hear anything like that???
@Pokkel (Comment 9) : nope – can’t say I have.
@Pokkel (Comment 9) :
Rory , Ruan, Frans , Stef… sounds like an inexperienced backline to me… 😀
@Pokkel (Comment 9) : i thought that Ruan was only to start training today. Not much news on Frans’ injury though.
@blackshark (Comment 11) :
@Pokkel (Comment 9) : That would be a VERY good idea if they are fit enough. Ruan and Frans need some game time before the test series. I’m worried the Boks are going to be seriously undercooked going into the first test!
only carstens from the Bok squad released to play for the sharks
here is a team as i see it , could be very wrong though
Sharks possible team with Emerging Boks as i see it, obviously noone is 100% sure of who can or cant play from Emerging Bok team as well as the 4 players that dont make it into the top 24 out of the 28 chosen for the main Bok squad
1 Deon Carstens
2 Skipper Badenhorst
3 Jannie du Plessis
4 Steven Sykes
5 Johann Muller
6 Jacques Botes
7 Jean Deysel
8 Keegan Daniel
9 Rory Kockott
10 Monty Dumond
11 Luzuko Vulindlu
12 Riaan Swanepoel
13 Waylon Murray???
14 Chris Jordaan
15 Stefan Terblanche
16 Craig Burden
17 Pat Cilliers
18 Alistair Hargreaves/Albert Van Den Berg
19 Justin Downey / Skoliwe Ndlovu
20 charl McCleod
21 Guy Cronje
22 Trevor Halstead
heres is the sharks vodacom cup team and obviously there are also good players there to choose from
15. Pat Lambie
14. Chris Jordaan
13. Nicholas Jackson
12. Trevor Halstead
11. Lwazi Mvovo
10. Len Olivier
9. Ross Cronje
8. Warren Whiteley
7. Michael Rhodes
6. Justin Downey
5. Nolan Clark
4. Johan Snyman
3. Wiehahn Herbst
2. Skipper Badenhorst (Capt)
1. Patric Cilliers
Replacements:
16. Craig Burden
17. Sabelo Nhlapo
18. Jan Marais
19. Nic Claasen
20. Alex Kock
21. Andrew Borgen
22. Danie Dames