{"id":11117,"date":"2012-06-05T22:53:35","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T20:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/rugby-england-braced-for-physical-confrontation\/"},"modified":"2012-06-05T22:53:35","modified_gmt":"2012-06-05T20:53:35","slug":"rugby-england-braced-for-physical-confrontation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-england-braced-for-physical-confrontation\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-England braced for physical confrontation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Jason Humphries<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

DURBAN, June 5<\/span> (Reuters) – England are braced for a physical
\nonslaught when they take on South Africa in the first test of a
\nthree-match series, England prop Dan Cole said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa’s new coach Heyneke Meyer has picked a big,
\nphysical squad for Saturday’s test in Durban and Cole, who
\nplayed under Meyer when the latter was coach of English club
\nside Leicester in 2008, said that matching the Springboks’
\nphysicality would be a key factor in deciding the contest.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c”What we have seen of the South African Super Rugby
\nfranchises, and knowing Heyneke Meyer, their game is about the
\nphysical momentum that they can get if they get on the front
\nfoot. Once they are behind you they have deadly finishers like
\n(wing) Bryan Habana,” Cole told reporters.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Cole, a veteran of 28 tests, played down suggestions that
\nthe Springboks, who would only have had five days to prepare for
\nMeyer’s first test in charge of South Africa, would be
\nunder-prepared.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c”The Springboks will play to their strengths which is a
\nphysical game. There is not a lot of deception in their game,
\nlike Australia or New Zealand, and South Africa will take it to
\nyou physically.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c”Physicality is strength of Springbok rugby. I’m sure
\nHeyneke will have a few things up his sleeve but at Leicester we
\nplayed a fairly direct game,” he explained.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Cole has played against the Springboks once
\nbefore, a 27-11 loss at Twickenham in 2010.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the expected Springbok front row of props Tendai
\n\u201c”Beast” Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis and hooker Bismarck du
\nPlessis was a formidable unit that he was looking forward to
\ngetting to grips with.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c”They are a great front row,” Cole said. “They have played
\ntogether a lot and, as a front row, it is good that you know
\neach other inside out and they do.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I played against them at Twickenham in 2010 and it was a
\ntough battle but that’s what we expect and what we go into this
\nweekend prepared for.”\t<\/p>\n

(Editing by Dave Thompson)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jason Humphries DURBAN, June 5 (Reuters) – England are braced for a physical onslaught when they take on South Africa in the first test of a three-match series, England prop Dan Cole said on Tuesday. South Africa’s new coach Heyneke Meyer has picked a big, physical squad for Saturday’s test in Durban and Cole, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-11117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}