‘Pressure is bigger than it was before the Lions Test’

By Michael Moynihan

Friday, November 27, 2009

BIGGER THAN the Lions, and bigger than the Tri-Nations decider. That’s how the visiting World Cup champion Springboks are looking at tomorrow’s clash with Ireland in Croke Park, according to assistant coach Gary Gold, who said yesterday that he "had not encountered anything as big as the build-up to Saturday . . . the pressure and expectations are bigger than they were before the first Lions Test in Durban or that final Tri-Nations clash in Hamilton."

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has made sweeping changes to his side following their clash with Italy last week as a result, with six changes and two positional switches.

The ‘Boks have restored captain John Smit to hooker in place of Adriaan Strauss – the World Cup-winning skipper has been lining out at tight head in recent games – while elsewhere in the front row Tendai Mtawarira returns in place of recent Munster signing Wian du Preez, and Ulster’s BJ Botha comes in at tight head prop.

Assistant coach Gold expanded on the reasons behind moving Smit from tight head.

"John has not been moved back to hooker because he failed at prop," Gold said yesterday on his blog at rugbyiq.com. "Far from it, in fact. We have moved him back to hooker because we feel we need BJ Botha’s size at tight head prop and we can then also make use of Bismarck’s unique abilities from the bench – whenever we feel the need to call on him."

Victor Matfield comes in for Andries Bekker in the second row, Schalk Burger is back at wing forward with Danie Rossouw moving from the side of the scrum to number eight.

There is one change to the Bok backline with Wynand Olivier starting at centre instead injured Adi Jacobs, who is injured. Hooker Bismarck du Plessis and Leinster prop CJ van der Linde are on the bench, as is Munster centre Jean de Villiers.

Regarding the Irish team, coach Peter de Villiers agreed with the decision of his Irish counterpart Declan Kidney to start Jonathan Sexton rather than the experienced Ronan O’Gara tomorrow.

"He (Sexton) had a very good start – I would call it a fairy tale start – last week in his international career. Based on that I would also have retained him, he brings a freshness to the team."

Assistant coach Gold agreed with de Villiers, saying the "demotion" of O’Gara was the big talking point of the week, but he didn’t see Sexton’s selection as an Irish weakness.

"To me, Sexton’s selection says a lot… To me it says how highly he is rated because dropping O’Gara could not have been an easy decision. They must have confidence in Sexton and from what I have seen of him, I can see why."

Though South Africa have already lost three games on this tour, captain John Smit dismissed suggestions that the World Champions were tired after a long season.

"Fatigue comes in different forms, but we won’t be using that as an excuse. I don’t think the end of the season really exists. This may be our last game of the season but we’ll be heading into our camps in three weeks’ time, so there’s no real end of the season. It’s just a different.

"Ireland have been good for a number of years. They have good experience and they’re well coached. It’ll be a tough test – as Six Nations champions they’ve proven what they’re worth. They’ve had a pretty good season, as have we, so it should be an exciting day at the office for both teams."

Meanwhile, Leinster back row Sean O’Brien has replaced Denis Leamy on the bench for Ireland’s concluding autumn Test against South Africa.

Leamy has failed to recover from the ankle injury sustained in last Saturday 41-6 victory over Fiji and will miss the international at Croke Park.

O’Brien won his first cap against the Fijians, coming on as a second-half replacement for Leamy.

A statement released yesterday by Ireland read: "Leamy was undergoing rehabilitation throughout the week and while he has progressed well, the injury has not recovered fully to allow him to take his position among the replacements."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, November 27, 2009