Duane Vermeulen ‘unlikely’, Frans Steyn ‘possible’ to face All Blacks

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has warned that his team were expecting an epic battle against the All Blacks when the sides meet in back-to-back Tests in the home leg of the Rugby Championship starting next weekend.

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The arch-rivals will kick off their campaigns in the southern hemisphere showpiece at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday, 6 August, and will follow this up with another Test at Ellis Park in Johannesburg a week later on Saturday, 13 August.

This will be followed by two Tests against Australia in Adelaide and Sydney respectively before closing off the series with Tests against Argentina in Buenos Aires and Durban, respectively.

‘All Blacks are under pressure’ – Jacques Nienaber

“New Zealand will pose a different challenge to Wales,” said Nienaber.

“Their skill-set is based around a lot of continuity and moving the ball around, but they also don’t shy away from the set pieces.

“New Zealand will be desperate. They are under pressure just as we are, but we can only control our desperation and things from our side, so our focus is on our game.”

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Nienaber said the team were delighted to be in Mpumalanga where they will face the All Blacks for the first time ever next week: “It is the first time I am here with the Springboks, and it is great to see the support for the team and to experience the fantastic hospitality. So, it’s special to play this side of the country.”

Zoning in on the Springboks’ game after they returned to the training field on Monday in Hazyview following a short break after the Wales series, Nienaber said: “Our goal is to improve as a team and get better at we what we want to do.

“When we faced Wales, we hadn’t played together as a team for a while, so that served as a marker for where we are.

“We obviously want to control things in our game and fix a few areas. We had a review of the Wales series and did a reality check on Monday on where we need to improve.

“Without getting into detail, there were areas where we showed good growth and there are other areas where we need to fix things.”

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Meanwhile, the two new players in Nienaber’s 41-man Rugby Championship squad are Duane Vermeulen (No 8) and Frans Steyn (utility back), who were ruled out of the Wales series with knee and hamstring injuries, respectively, and Nienaber said while they were both on the mend, a decision on their availability for the Tests against the All Blacks will be made next week.

“Duane and Frans both come off injuries, so we now have a chance for our medical team to assess them,” said Nienaber.

“In terms of where they are, the main thing is that they must handle the load this week and next week and then as coaches we will make a decision on whether we can select them for the Tests.

“Duane is still in the return to play stage of his rehabilitation cycle, and he hasn’t had a training session with us this week.

“Frans, meanwhile, trained with the Cheetahs last week and he has been training with us this week, so we’ll see how they cope and make a decision on their availability from there.”

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