New face in Bok squad: Jaco Taute
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Four players have been called up to the Springbok squad of 30 for the Rugby Championship Tests against Australia and New Zealand.
The four new faces in the squad who did not tour to Australasia, are the uncapped Golden Lions duo of Jaco Taute (utility back) and Elton Jantjies (fly-half), their experienced provincial team-mate CJ van der Linde (prop) and Coenie Oosthuizen (prop) from the Free State Cheetahs.
"I'd always wanted to include Jaco in the squad but an untimely injury meant we could not select him earlier. Jaco is big, strong, fast and versatile and it will be good to get him involved," said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
"Elton was part of the squad before this season, against England in June and in the first part of The Castle Rugby Championship. He only missed out when we had to cut the numbers of the squad and it's good to have him back.
"CJ, who took part in our training camps earlier in the season, brings a lot of experience to our pack and he is no longer injured. Apart from being the second most experienced prop in Springbok history, after Os du Randt, he is versatile and can play loosehead and tighthead.
"And it's great to have Coenie back with us after he picked up an injury on debut in the first Test against England in June. He is a world class prop and losing him was a big setback."
Meyer added only two scrum-halves had been selected for the Tests, which meant Jano Vermaak misses out. The national selectors felt that Vermaak is familiar with the game plan and can easily be brought back in should his services be required.
The following players, who were part of the squad earlier in the season, were not considered for selection because of injury: JP Pietersen, Bjorn Basson, Pierre Spies, Siya Kolisi, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bismarck du Plessis.
"There were a number of positives we took from the matches in Perth and Dunedin and it is imperative that we build on those," said Meyer.
"The Tests against Australia and New Zealand won't be easy - the All Blacks are unbeaten this year and the Wallabies have done well to win their last two matches, so we will have to be at our best at Loftus Versfeld and Soccer City.
"But I'm happy with the progress we've made on tour and the big challenge will be to now take the next step as we grow as a team."
South Africa squad:
Forwards: Willem Alberts, Andries Bekker, Craig Burden, Pat Cilliers, Marcell Coetzee, Jannie du Plessis, Eben Etzebeth, Juandré Kruger, Tiaan Liebenberg, Francois Louw, Tendai Mtawarira, Jacques Potgieter, Coenie Oosthuizen, Adriaan Strauss, CJ van der Linde, Flip van der Merwe, Duane Vermeulen.
Backs: Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers (captain), Johan Goosen, Bryan Habana, Francois Hougaard, Elton Jantjies, Zane Kirchner, Patrick Lambie, Lwazi Mvovo, Ruan Pienaar, Frans Steyn, Morné Steyn, Jaco Taute.
Comments
Carpelone says...
This is smokescreen. I bet he is going to field M. Steyn and Z. Kirchener AGAIN.
I am on strike, I would never give my XV again until I see some concrete signs of redemption (i.e. M. Steyn and Z. Kirchener as water boys).
Posted 13:56 24th September 2012
garret72 says...
Unfortunately the stubborn Heineke will never take his bias blue bulls selectors cap off and play the obvious talent of Goosen and Lambie.This would add an obvious new infusion of backline skill that we so obviously have lacked for many years now.Bekker has 1 bad game and he decides to drop the tallest lock on the planet that has shown his skills successfully at super rugby and currie cup level for 2 yrs now.Coach Meyer its time to wake up and smell the roses or us south african fans will cry so loud and have you replaced.
Posted 02:18 24th September 2012
scot_rsa says...
These are good signs. Great to see Jantjies is still in HM's mind and Coenie will enhance the power up front, a real impact player even if he may not prove to be the messiah at tighthead. Taute will replace Kirchner no doubt especially if Jantjies and Kolisi come through to please the politicians. Expect HM to "rest" the out of form Bulls players on the EOYT, he's blooding the likes of Taute, Goosen and Coenie for that. Unlike PdV who toured with a bunch of new unfamiliar players who have since sunk. It is slow but it is change.
Posted 21:21 23rd September 2012
rolf says...
i take from this, that Meyer has again decided not to select GIO APLON and HEINRICH BR?SSOW.
this is highly frustrating as i had - even in the improved NZ-game - the ompression that their specific skillset was missing in the boks squad.
Also: whats wrong with Joe Pietersen? To me he looks better than Zane Kirchner.
Posted 16:07 23rd September 2012
letsgoboks says...
Nice - Taute has seriously proven himself.
Posted 12:54 23rd September 2012
melkdave says...
Agree they are good additions to the squad ,and that MS JdV and ZK and Potigier need to be dropped.Sooner or later HM is going to come to the same conclusion,the sad thing is him being stubborn ,is/will cost the bokke games.they should reaaly win.
Posted 11:15 23rd September 2012
spliffed says...
It seems we have the same situation here with JDV as we had with John Smit. PDV kept him on the field and kept Bismarck out of the team because he refused to drop an out of form captain. Grow a pair HM and realise JDV as captain was a mistake.
Posted 09:35 23rd September 2012
boksmashoffice says...
Great news with the additions to the squad. However HM did not bite the bullet and send some players back to their provinces to play Currie Cup rugby. I am not anti bulls, but the issue is with the bulls guys, They are just not up to the standard. Zane Kirschner, Morne and Jacques Potgieter should be playing for the blue bulls. Again I feel sorry for Morne. The man brought us glory v the lions. Again he is a class guy and should be allowed to play out his time with the Bulls. He is not going to make the next world cup. So why have him there when we have potentially 2 of the best young 10's in the game. I would like to see Burden play ahead of Tiaan Liebenberg. In the last 2 matches he bottled the throw ins, Our banker of set piece ball seems to have gone now. We need tro get that back. Is Victor not a line out consultant to the Boks? If he is maybe we need to withold his pay untill lineout is working smoothly. We will not be a great team if we do not have a solid set piece. We have some great young players coming through. They have to be developed by HM or they will pack their bags and head to Europe to play which I guess is fair. Maybe Zane Jacque need to head to Europe or Japan. I am sure they are nice guys but they are not Boks.
Posted 09:17 23rd September 2012
FISH says...
heyneke is an utter clown potgieter?? seriously?? with jaco there he should drop zane and start lambie and move jaco to the bench, morne is STILL being considered? what a joke, goosen to start with jantjies on the bench drop the bulls'
shitty players
Posted 07:55 23rd September 2012
bloemboy says...
Why bring Taute in if he has kept Kirchner in the squad and refuses to use Lambie. We effectively have 4 Flyhalves there with Morne, Goosen and Jantjies while we overload 15 as well. this squad has all the signs of a Coach that cant get his ideas together. Potgieter is an absolute passenger while Brussouw is crying for a game.
Players that should have been there from the start are drafted late such as de Jongh, Flo and Burden while players that should never have been in the squad are proving it and slowly being dropped, such as Greyling, Vermaak, Potgieter, Steyn, Kirchner..... O wait, I got carried away there... Interesting though that the last 5 are all from Pretoria though.
Posted 06:03 23rd September 2012
JayStarr says...
Very glad to finally see Taute there! I hope they play him at 15 and don't move him around. He can be the Boks' answer to Dagg and Beale if they nurture him right.
From this squad I think the best team to take Australia on with would be:
1- Beast 2- Adriaan Strauss 3- Jannie du Plessis 4- Eben Etzebeth 5- Andries Bekker 6- Francois Louw 7- Willem Alberts 8- Duanne Vermeulen 9- Ruan Pienaar 10- Johan Goosen 11- Francois Hougaard 12- Francois Steyn 13- JdV 14- Bryan Habana 15- Patrick Lambie
16- Coenie Oosthuizen 17- Pat Cilliers 18- Tiaan Liebenberg 19- Juandre Kruger 19- Marcel Coetzee 20 - Elton Jantjies 21- Juan de Jongh 22- Jaco Taute
I would actually like to see Hougaard play at 9 if Goosen is at 10, but the experience of Pienaar would probably be better for his debut. They can always move Hougaard there later. I think the two of them would make a good attacking halfback combination. The threat of Goosen would take some attention off Hougaard - something which Morné Steyn never did.
I would also prefer to see Juan de Jongh play outside F Steyn to take advantage of the gaps he creates, but JdV is the captain, so that is not likely to happen. However, I would like to see the final quarter with
9- Hougaard 10- Goosen 12- F Steyn 13 - De Jongh.
With Coenie and Marcell on the field by then there should be more mobile go-forward for these guys to feed off. Maybe Taute can then join the mix too, but I think Lambie will probably be one of the most creative players on the field anyway, so maybe Taute can come in at wing...
Imagine having Hougaard, Goosen, F Steyn, De Jongh, Habana, Lambie and Taute all on the field at the same time behind a pack that is going forward... on the highveld...
oh lord jesus it's a fIIRreee..!
Posted 03:52 23rd September 2012
Rugbyphile says...
Most SA fans are saying the same things -JdeV Morne-and Kirchner to go---Meyer is too stubborn to change ---if Morne regains his kicking ability SA could still win the next 2 tests and Meyer will feel vindicated--but he will be wrong as the best team will not be on the park. Is it a coincidence that Morne has started kicking like a duck since Percy was removed as kicking coach? Btw am reading Victor Matfield's book at the moment--a good read but without the authors even understanding what they are saying it becomes clear why SA have struggled in the professional era relative to their potential. Pouty adolescents driven by ego and juvenile moodswings---and the administration and selectors riddled with political and tribal issues.
Posted 01:56 23rd September 2012
philipjfry says...
Baby steps. I wouldn't wipe my a**hole with some of these players, but HM could potentially pick a pretty decent 22.
Posted 01:27 23rd September 2012
rugbyforever says...
Whilst we have Ricardo Loubscher in charge of the back-line don't expect to see any changes. He should be dumped together with Kirchner, M Steyn and JDV plus Potgieter amongst the forwards.
Posted 23:13 22nd September 2012
Maxgzy says...
Brilliant news! Now all we have to do is 'deal with' ZK and Morne.
I rate this is the team...
1. Beast
2. Strauss
3. Coenie
4.Alberts
5. Bekker
6. Flo
7. Coetzee
8.Vermeulen
9. Pienaar
10. Goosen
11. Habana
12. Steyn
13. De Jongh
14. Hougaard
15. Taute
16. du Plessis 17. Liebenberg 18. Kruger 19. Van der Merwe 20. de Villiers 21. Lambie 22. Mvovo
Eben is banned and Jean doesn't deserve his place in the starting line up right now, so I'd make Coetzee captain. He's young but Wales did it and that seemed to work...
Posted 21:55 22nd September 2012
Zandberg says...
Idiot Heyneke. What is Jaques Potgieter still doing there in place of Heinrich Brüssow?? And Morne Steyn and Zane Kirchner?? Jean de Villiers unfit to be captain as too old/has-been and unable to lead by example. I predict Heyneke will choose the same starting line-up as before (he wouldn't dare leaving out Bulls at Loftus match) and SA will get thumped again.
Posted 21:47 22nd September 2012