Wet-weather wellies for SA No.9s
South Africa will have no concerns if wet-weather specialist Ruan Pienaar is ruled out of their one-off Test against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
Pienaar, who plays for Irish province Ulster and is familiar with the Northern Hemisphere conditions, appears unlikely to be declared fit in time for the Springboks' opening match of their year-end tour.
However, Bok assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher feels Francois Hougaard and Cobus Reinach have the skills to cope with the testing conditions.
Long-term predictions suggest a strong chance of rain and the temperature dropping well into single digits.
"The conditions will play a big part," Loubscher told a media scrum at the team's training base in Dublin on Monday.
He added that a key focus this week is definitely on "game management".
While a call on Pienaar's availability will only be made later in the week, it seems he will miss the Dublin outing and is in a race against time to be fit to face England at Twickenham a week later.
"Both have great skills," Loubscher said, when asked if Hougaard and Reinach will be bale to adapt to the local conditions.
"If you go back to the Rugby Championship, we played a few games in the wet," he said, adding: "I don't think it would be a problem for them.
"From my point of view it is a great opportunity for them to show what they can do."
Meanwhile Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts said the decision to withdraw the Bok from the latter stages of the Currie Cup competition was a wide moved that could pay big dividends on the tour.
"It was great the have the guys out of [withdrawn from] the Currie Cup competition," Roberts said.
"We worked really hard for the last two weeks. That week in Stellenbosch we were able to work on fitness and top up on fitness.
"As the season goes on, and we are at the end of a very long season, the fitness levels very often drop.
"I am quite happy where the guys are at this stage."
He said he was hopeful the improved conditioning will result in improved performances in the matches.
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