Coetzee bulks up for England Test

11 November 2016 - 09:27 By CRAIG RAY London

The Springboks are going to fight brawn with brawn after coach Allister Coetzee picked a monstrous pack to match England at Twickenham tomorrow. Pieter-Steph du Toit, all 2m and 115kg of him, will start at flank, with human battering ram Willem Alberts operating on the other side of the scrum.It's a case of everyone mucking in at the breakdown while the pair make strong target runners."I've selected the best possible team to supply us with possession and go forward. The gain line will be the key battle," Coetzee said."This game can't be played without some form of physicality and without gain-line dominance. You have to earn that and I believe this pack of forwards suits the way we want to play this game."Pieter-Steph runs great lines, so he is suited to that role. Willem is experienced and been to Twickenham before and performed well."Du Toit will also bolster the lineout, and with Lood de Jager starting in the second row, captain and hooker Adriaan Strauss will have many options in the set piece.England coach Eddie Jones knew what was coming when he named his team. He picked a huge back row as well with Tom Wood coming in to play open side.Like the Boks, the English team do n't have a specialist open side - a factor that neither camp seems overly concerned about ."Have South Africa ever picked an open side?" Jones asked with a twinkle in his eye."They give an 'open side' No6 and can't even get the number right. Our No7 is all about the defensive effort. It's all about stopping the opposition getting to the gain line," Jones said.Coetzee also handed a first Test cap to centre François Venter, who will become Springbok No877 and the 45th Bok from Bloemfontein's Grey College."Having worked with François for the past three weeks, I was impressed with his organisational skills and leadership," Coetzee said."He's played a lot of Super rugby with the Bulls and Cheetahs. He understands the defensive role."He has looked comfortable next to Damian de Allende in training."It's also a form of continuity because we only have five or so players carrying over from the Barbarians match, so it was important to keep halfbacks Rudy Paige and Pat Lambie together as well as François," the Springbok coach added.The Boks have not lost to England for a decade but have struggled this year, winning just four of their nine Tests.England have won nine of nine Tests under Jones and are oozing confidence...

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