Touring with only 26 players requires a tough balancing act from the coach, but should one suffer an injury at training, surely it would be less of an issue to fly in your 4th choice prop rather than your 2nd choice hooker?
Tank Lanning
So the 24-year-old Trevor Nyakane skipped a video session, gave fitness a miss, and then failed to pitch for the Boks’ flight to Buenos Aires – his first ever tour with the national side.
Extraordinary scenes!
Talk about wasting an opportunity! And I find it sad, because I have liked what I have seen from him when playing for the Cheetahs and in those few moments in Green and Gold. Apart from being a good prop, he seems to really enjoy what he does – something we have not always seen from recent Springbok sides, although it was nice to see a few smiles return in the second half at FNB stadium.
Bok coach Heyneke Meyer is 100% correct when he says “Poor discipline, either on or off the field, will not be tolerated” and his tough stance in this situation must be applauded.
“I think Trevor will be back, but he has to learn from this” continued the coach, but it was also interesting to hear him say: “I’ve seen this in past teams that I’ve coached where players have had a problem with indiscipline early in their careers. Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield were two such players, and both went on to become great Springboks.”
Hopefully it is just the over exuberance of youth from Nyakane, and we will see him learn from this and return to the squad at some stage.
It could not have been easy knowing that as the 4th loosehead in the squad, with Gurthro Steenkamp having been brought back from France and placed ahead of him in the pecking order, that he was basically on board as a tackle bag carrier, though.
But as a prominent Currie Cup player Tweeted: “I see it as a privilege just to hold bags for the Boks… Still dumb founded…”
But what Nyakane’s exit from the squad has done, ironically, is allow Heyneke Meyer to do what he should have done in the first place, and pick Lourens Adriaanse as the backup tighthead to Jannie du Plessis. Whether he actually makes it onto the bench ahead of Coenie Oosthuizen remains to be seen, but I suspect that, like me, he will be there for the much hyped steak!
That said, while the Bok scrum definitely seemed less stable with Oosthuizen at tighthead for the last 20 minutes of the game on Saturday, it was not markedly weaker. Argentina were poor, though (so much for my predicted return of the bajada!), having seemingly skipped the need for a live scrum session under the new calls before arriving at FNB! While under pressure on the tighthead side, the Boks still managed to hook a tighthead that lead to a try. But that is one of the joys of the new call – the scrum is now a true multifaceted contest.
The other interesting tweak to the squad is the addition of Marcell Coetzee, who replaces the injured Chiliboy Ralepelle, meaning the Boks travel with just 2 hookers, but 5 props. Only allowed 26 players in the squad, it is a tough balancing act for the coach, but should one suffer an injury at training, surely it would be less of an issue to fly in your 4th choice prop rather than your 2nd choice hooker?
That said, who would that third touring hooker be?
