Continuity key for Meyer
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer says he will largely stick with the side that lost to Australia for Saturday’s clash with the All Blacks.
After tweaking his side for the Test in Perth, the Springbok mentor said that continuity would be key this week as they prepare for the daunting challenge of facing the unbeaten All Blacks on home soil.
Meyer said that despite going down 26-19 to the Wallabies last weekend, the chances his charges created was promising and demanded for faith to be put in the selected players.
“I can tell you now the team won't change that much,” Meyer said at a media conference in Auckland on Monday.
“If you really look at the video and take the emotion out we had three or four chances where we could have scored.
“We had a three on one that we skipped away and we had one with Lwazi [Mvovo] where we had a two on one where we ran out of space where we just should have straightened.
“That’s the things we need to work on. We create enough opportunities but we don’t finish those. All credit to Australia as well, their scrum defence was awesome.
“So it’s more a question of coaching those guys and put them in situations to create the right outcome. You only get that by coaching, not just by selecting a different team for every single game.”
Meyer added that they would stick with their much-maligned tactical-kicking game that served them well for the first 60 minutes of the match against Australia.
“You need to create opportunities against New Zealand but you’re not going to outplay them at their own game in New Zealand," said Meyer.
“You have to be clever, you have to be tactically astute and then obviously take every single chance you have and be very disciplined.”
By Quintin van Jaarsveld
