So will Adriaanse play?

In from the cold ahead of Herbst, Tank Lanning, in his eNCA.com column, asks if Meyer will actually play Adriaanse ahead of Coenie on the bench, even when squads of 23 allow for specialists?

A week can be a long time in South African rugby, but it was quite incredible to see the changes in just the last few days …

Robert Ebersohn, Ryan Kankowski and Wiehahn Herbst were axed from the Bok squad on Sunday night, from left field Lourens Adriaanse was instilled as the backup tighthead prop to Jannie du Plessis, Kankowski was then drafted into the Blitzbok squad for the Sevens World Cup later this month, Ebersohn was then brought back into the Bok squad because of injuries to the centres, Lionel Mapoe was ruled out for the season due to a shoulder injury, and then Chean Roux was added to the Bok management as the Performance Analyst.

That is a pretty damn action packed few days, with the most significant of those moves being the Adriaanse/Herbst swap, and the addition of Roux to the Bok management team.

Look, no matter how it gets fudged, and it will be quite fun to see how these double headers pan out, but the bottom line is that Scotland (sans their Lions players), Samoa (especially after their Ellis Park fiasco)and Italy are second rate opposition for the Boks. They would struggle against our Super Rugby sides, so it does not really matter what combination Heyneke Meyer puts out.

But coming soon to Nelson Mandela sports day near you, as long as you do not live in Bloemfontein, is the Rugby Championship against the Aussies, Argies and Kiwis. So this is a perfect opportunity to look at combinations, build some squad depth, and basically warm up for the real deal.

So why use Morne Steyn, Bryan Habana, Juandre Kruger and Zane Kirchner, all of whom leave for overseas commitments after Super Rugby, at all?

Yes, I know SARU and Meyer are now into selecting overseas based players, so these guys are not lost to the Bok cause for good, but they are not available for the Rugby Championship, so why use them in the build up?

It’s a perfect opportunity to give the likes of Willie le Roux, Gio Aplon, Pat Lambie and Pieter Steph de Toit an extended run in Green and Gold, building both depth and confidence.

But back to that favourite topic of mine, the crucial number 3 jersey. During the Cheetahs vs Bulls game I actually Tweeted about how Adriaanse had come on as a player, from being an OK Varsity Cup prop (he played for Maties in 2011) to a tighthead dominating Dean Greyling, so he is certainly showing some good form. But how does Herbst go from challenging Jannie du Plessis for a start in both the Sharks and Bok side (deservedly so, in my book), to working on his handicap at San Lameer? It is a strange selection.

With squads of 23 now going into battle, it does mean you can have both a specialist loosehead and a tighthead on the bench, hence losing the requirement for a prop who can play both sides. And with there being only 2 tightheads in the squad, Adriaanse should be named in the 23, going from nowhere to the match day Bok squad. But we have all seen Meyer’s love for Coenie Oosthuizen, and given his belief that the bullocking Free Stater can play both sides, I would not be surprised to see both he and Trevor Nyakane on the bench instead of the tighthead specialist.

And in a really exciting move, it is great to see former Varsity Cup-winning Maties head coach and current member of SARU’s High Performance Mobi-unit, Chean Roux, added to the Bok Management. He will oversee the Springboks’ match analysis and the measuring of performances on the training field.

Together with the Mobi-unit, headed by Rassie Erasmus, Roux has been doing the analysis of the Aus and Kiwi Super Rugby teams each week, handing over detailed reports to our franchises playing overseas opposition that week.

This is exactly how Jake White started his coaching career …