Elton can play both games, says Whiteley

Warren Whiteley has backed his Lions teammate and flyhalf Elton Jantjies to spark the Boks’ in the must-win second Test against Ireland.

Cape Town - Warren Whiteley has backed his Lions teammate and flyhalf Elton Jantjies to spark the Springboks in the must-win second Test against Ireland at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Jantjies will start the second Test after Pat Lambie was on Sunday ruled out for one week after suffering concussion in Saturday night’s shock 26-20 defeat to Ireland at Newlands in the first match of the three-Test series.

It is understoood that SA Rugby hasn’t had any contact with the flyhalves who are playing their rugby overseas. Johan Goosen and veteran Morné Steyn are currently still on club duty in France, which means that Sharks No 10 Garth April could find himself on the bench for this Saturday’s clash.

Jantjies came on in the 24th minute of the first Test after Lambie was knocked out cold after a collision with SA-born Irish flanker CJ Stander, who received a red card for the incident.

The Lions pivot created Lwazi Mvovo’s try with a lovely little inside ball that was executed under a lot of pressure. He also showed some great touches on attack, although his teammates were too lateral with the ball in hand, as they struggled to breakdown the 14 men of Ireland.

Coach Allister Coetzee seemed to indicate that he actually wanted Jantjies, or one of the other kickers in the team, scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and fullback Willie le Roux, to turn the Irish with little kicks in behind their flat defence. The Boks rarely varied their play, and as a result they were a bit predictable.

“We were a bit naïve tactically. Our plan was to put the ball in behind them but after Pat went off we didn’t do it again. After they were down to 14 men they gave us space out wide and we didn’t also didn’t take advantage,” Coetzee said Saturday after the match.

Jantjies is renowned as a wonderful attacking player, but he has showed in Super Rugby that he has the ability to dictate with the boot, while he also has a great range of attacking kicks. That’s why his Super Rugby captain believes that he can help the Boks level the series on a ground he calls home.

“Elton can play both games, he is a tactically intelligent player,” Whiteley said on Sunday just before the Boks left for Johannesburg.

“He is someone that attacks the line flat and you could see that last night when he was asking questions of the defence. But he can also put the ball in behind. We have seen that in numerous times in Super Rugby with his cross kicks and his little kicks in behind.

“Tactically he is a very smart player. Pat is obviously a massive loss, because he is an extremely talented player.”

But for Jantjies to be effective he needs his outside backs to run straight so that the speedsters out wide can get some space to strut their stuff. Many Bok players were guilty of drifting across the field before offloading in the first Test. That made it easy for the Irish to defend, as the Boks couldn’t make their numerical advantage count.

“We definitely created opportunities, there was a lot of opportunities to score. We probably just ran across the field too much and we didn’t straighten well enough,” Whiteley said.

“I know that we will get that right, and we will definitely be working on it, because there was space, but we didn’t make proper use of it.”

The defeat was a terrible start to Coetzee’s tenure, as he became only the second Springbok coach to lose his first Test in charge of the Boks. It was also Ireland’s first ever win on South African soil.

But this weekend, at the spiritual home of South African rugby, he gets another crack at this passionate, and skilful Ireland side.

“Very disappointed in both the performance and the result. It is hurting … it’s not the ideal start,” Coetzee said. “As a collective we take full responsibility … we have disappointed ourselves. I have to give credit to the Irish. I think with 14 men they were outstanding.

“We were poor… there are no excuses. We’ve got to fix it and come back into this series. We accept full responsibility for our performance tonight.”

Cape Times