BOKS’ FLYHALF POSER
BACK-UP: POLLARD AND UNTRIED BOSCH IN THE FRAME
The mystery over who would act as Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies’ back-up in this weekend’s Rugby Championship opener against Argentina in the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, remains unanswered.
Bok backline coach Franco Smith said yesterday that Jantjies, Curwin Bosch and Handre Pollard have all been excellent in training this week.
“I think we’ll have to wait for the team announcement to make sure nobody is disappointed or too excited,” said Smith yesterday, adding that he believes Bosch has what it takes to make it at the highest level.
“Everybody trained well, we have a lot of plans and we are working to better the skill levels of every player and also in the flyhalf role,” he said.
While Frans Steyn has been sent back to France for conditioning reasons, Bosch is believed to be part of the squad to soak up the culture and Pollard is still on a rehabilitation programme.
“Both Handre and Curwin have really stepped up this week and I’m really impressed with the detail work and how they adapted,” said Smith.
“And of course it’s slightly different in a Test match and the margin of error is much less, so we trimmed it down. They are quite new to the system, giving them freedom to develop among these guys.”
Smith said they have put the system in place and said what’s nice is if somebody comes into the fold, it’s the players coaching each other, rather than all the info just coming from them.
“So we have created the system where they slot in, which makes it easy for Elton to explain and easy for them to contribute, making important decisions and to play in a certain way.
“And taking pressure on themselves, so I’m excited to say the backline players and the flyhalves are all contributing well and looking in fine form.”
Meanwhile, it remains a mystery why prop Ruan Dreyer was initially left out because his wife is in the last stages of her pregnancy, but then he was called up when Frans Malherbe was ruled out with a neck injury.