Boks wary of Scottish tighthead
Euan Murray in action against the Cheetahs at Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein in 2009. Photo by Getty Images.
Morgan Piek – According to Die Burger, Springbok lock Juandré Kruger has warmed his Bok team mates about Scottish prop Euan Murray.
The bulky Scottish tigthead missed his teams match against the highflying World Champions, the All Blacks at the Murrayfield last weekend due to religious reasons last Sunday.
Kruger and Murray are former team mates from the days when the talented Bulls lock plied his trade overseas at the Northampton Saints. Kruger was quotes as saying “I played with Euan for two seasons at Northampton Saints in England. And everyone knows he is one of the top scrummagers in the world.”
Geoff Ross who stood in for Murray last Sunday can in some ways count himself very unlucky to finding himself on the bench this weekend despite having scored a try for Scotland on the stroke of half time.
Euan Murray who has played 47 Test for Scotland toured South Africa in 2009 when he was part of the 2009 British & Irish Lions. Murray didn’t get to play a Test on the epic tour. He is a very experienced campaigner and Springbok loosehead Gurthrö Steenkamp will have his work cutout for him come Saturday afternoon.
Although the Scots were heavily outgunned by the All Blacks, the tartan clad men played an excellent game in the forward department and can be proud of their performance.
The Springboks will be well aware of the fact that two years ago when Scotland had fifty points put on the board against them by the All Blacks they went on to upset the then World Champions the Springboks the following weekend.
The Sprinboks face Scotland this coming Saturday at Murrayfield in the Scottish Capital city Edinburgh. Kick-off is at 16:30 CAT.
The teams are as follows:
Scotland: 15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Sean Lamont, 13. Nick de Luca, 12. Matt Scott, 11. Tim Visser, 10. Greig Laidlaw, 9. Mike Blair, 8. David Denton, 7. Kelly Brown (captain), 6. Alasdair Strokosch, 5. Jim Hamilton, 4. Richie Gray, 3. Euan Murray, 2. Ross Ford, 1. Ryan Grant.
Substitutes: 16. Dougie Hall, 17. Kyle Traynor, 18. Geoff Cross, 19. Alastair Kellock, 20. John Barclay, 21. Henry Pyrgos, 22. Ruaridh Jackson, 23. Peter Murchie.
South Africa: 15. Zane Kirchner, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Jean de Villiers (captain), 11. Francois Hougaard, 10. Pat Lambie, 9. Ruan Pienaar, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Willem Alberts, 6. Francois Louw, 5. Juandré Kruger, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Adriaan Strauss, 1. Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Substitutes: 16. Schalk Brits, 17. Heinke van der Merwe, 18. CJ van der Linde, 19. Flip van der Merwe, 20. Marcell Coetzee, 21. Morné Steyn, 22. Jaco Taute, 23. Lwazi Mvovo.
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