Heyneke Meyer worried about injuries – Rugby News Update
Heyneke Meyer, the head coach of South Africa, was ecstatic at winning the second test to clinch the series against the visiting England team but he was disappointed with the number of injuries he had to deal with in the aftermath of the game.
England is currently on tour in the southern hemisphere to play a three-match test series against the Springboks, while playing two other midweeks games while on tour. South Africa has won the first two test matches and will be hoping for a clean sweep next
week when they play the last of the three games, but Meyer’s will have to do that without having a number of important players.
Speaking about the injuries, he said, "Injuries are part of rugby so I don't want to complain about it, but the one England try was scored when Juandre was down, and the other one was the result of an overthrow at a lineout," and further added, "England
worked hard to come back at us but some of the points we gave away were unnecessary.”
"Lambie went off injured and it was the second time in the space of a week that we have lost a fullback. Frans Steyn can play fullback but he hasn't done so for a while and it required a bit of an adjustment."
South Africa got off to the best possible start at Johannesburg, with Meyer’s team scoring a try in the second minute. This was followed by another try by BW du Plessis, and the subsequent conversion by Steyn gave the Springboks a 12 – 0 lead by the 7th
minute.
The Springboks were dominant in the first half, and took a healthy 25 – 10 lead into the second while England’s defence had no answer for the rampant South African forward line.
England was a changed team in the second half though, and rallied to get back into the game. They cut the deficit to 31 – 27 by the 64th minute but they had kept it till too late and South Africa ran comfortable winners in the end.
The final test is nicely poised with England wanting a consolation win, while Meyer’s will hope that his team can inflict a clean sweep.
Tags: