Wallabies George Smith and Clyde Rathbone will return to the ACT Brumbies starting team for this weekend’s Super Rugby qualifier against South Africa’s Central Cheetahs, the club said Friday.
The players are making an unlikely finals appearance in Canberra on Sunday after Rathbone came out of retirement this year and Smith was loaned by his Japanese club Suntory Sungoliath.
Making way for winger Rathbone is Joe Tomane, who played for the Wallabies against the British and Irish Lions this month, while Colby Faingaa also goes to the bench with flanker Smith taking the number seven jersey.
Scrum-half Nic White also returns to the starting side for the first time since injuring his shoulder with Ian Prior returning to the bench.
“Bringing two guys like Clyde and George into our starting side will give us experience when we need it. Those two guys have both won championships at Canberra Stadium and it’s exciting to have them involved,” coach Jake White said.
“The Cheetahs are a side which has made huge improvements over the last two seasons and it’s a credit to them that they are now a competition threat.”
It will be the Brumbies first finals match since they won the Super Rugby title in 2004. – AFP
Australia's Mike Harris, left, scores a try as Springbok Andries Bekker, center, attempts a tackle
Coach Heyneke Meyer says South Africa must become more clinical finishers if they hope to beat New Zealand in Soweto next weekend.
The Springboks and the All Blacks square up at the 90,000-capacity Soccer City stadium where late tries by flanker Richie McCaw and full-back Israel Dagg saw the visitors snatch a 29-22 victory two years ago.
South Africa will enter the final-round Rugby Championship clash with their confidence boosted by a five-try 31-8 victory over Australia at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria Saturday.
Right wing Bryan Habana scored three tries and full-back Zane Kirchner and flanker Francois Louw one each as a fired-up Springbok pack set the platform for a convincing first success against the Wallabies in six attempts.
But Meyer was not getting carried away after the Springboks ended a dismal run in which a lucky draw away to Argentina was followed by losses in Australia and New Zealand.
“We have high standards and should have scored three more tries against the Wallabies,” said the coach who transformed the Northern Bulls into southern hemisphere provincial juggernauts and also worked with the Leicester Tigers.
“It is great to come home and win and we have not beaten Australia for some time, but we have to start taking those opportunities,” he told a Loftus media conference.
“While we want to score tries again next week, we are aware of the challenge of playing the world champions. New Zealand are a very settled side and a number of players have been part of their defensive system for ages.
“They are the world champions and one of the reasons for that is their defence. It is going to be really difficult to create and score against them,” stressed Meyer.
“We will need to be more patient with ball in hand and more tactically astute. If we get scoring chances, we will need to make them count. We are hoping that all South Africans get behind us.”
There is cause for Springbok optimism as they could have beaten New Zealand in Dunedin this month instead of losing 21-11 had seven kicks at goals not been fluffed, and endless possession squandered through mindless field kicking.
That defeat led Meyer to drop long-time fly-half Morne Steyn and 20-year-old replacement Johan Goosen recovered from a couple of early missed penalty attempts in his first Test start to regularly bring the backline into play.
Centre Jaco Taute also did well on debut after Francois Steyn withdrew with an ankle injury and flank Francois Louw from English club Bath was the pick of a Springbok pack that impressed in the set piece and loose exchanges.
[ad 1]
Australia lost so many players to injury — centre Adam Ashley-Cooper was the most serious with concussion — that they ran out of replacements and played the last eight minutes a man short.
Full-back Berrick Barnes, centre Pat McCabe and prop Benn Robinson were other first half casualties and No 8 Radike Samo quit during the second half with wrist and shoulder problems.
“We are going to have to bring some players across from Australia which will be challenging because we have already delved so deep into our resources and there are a couple who will not have visas organised,” said coach Robbie Deans.
Australia face Argentina at the Estadio Gigante de Arroyito in Rosario eight hours after the Springboks and All Blacks come face to face in a potential Championship highlight. – AFP
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
