adminCARDIFF. — The recall of Patrick Lambie as a fullback and the return to the fold and the starting team of JP Pietersen and Jaque Fourie means the Springboks will take the field against Wales at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow with the same back-line that sounded off the Peter de Villiers era as national coach.
From No 9 to No 15, the Bok team is exactly the same one that dominated for most of the way but ultimately lost a controversial World Cup quarter-final against Australia in Wellington in 2011.
Lambie had run with the Boks in the last line of defence in training in Cardiff this week but his selection at fullback is nonetheless a surprise if you consider that he hasn’t started there this season.
However, he has done well in several cameo appearances in that position as a replacement at international level, and coach Heyneke Meyer is effectively choosing him in the position that most people expected to see him in at the start of last year, when Meyer went for Zane Kirchner instead.
Choosing Lambie at fullback means the bench also has the perfect blend to it, with Willie le Roux in as a super-sub after being demoted from the starting team, and thus in the role that Meyer envisaged for him when he selected the Griquas star for the opening test match of the year against Italy in Durban in June.
JJ Engelbrecht, dropped to make place for the return of Fourie, is also able to continue his education at international level by playing off the bench, where presumably he can cover both centre and wing if he is needed to. — SuperSport.com.
Online Reporter