Rugby-Injury-plagued Boks use Championship as testing ground

By Nick Said CAPE TOWN, July 14 (Reuters) - This year's Rugby Championship holds extra significance for injury-plagued South Africa as coach Heyneke Meyer scrambles to test his available combinations just two months out from the World Cup. When Meyer took over the Springboks at the start of 2012 he would have expected to use this tournament for fine-tuning of his game-plan, but instead will seek cover for injured first team regulars in the coming weeks. With experienced campaigners Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Frans Steyn, Fourie du Preez and Jacque Fourie in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup in England, Meyer is still looking at his options across a number of positions. There is also uncertainty over the availability of captain Jean de Villiers after a knee reconstruction that saw him miss the entire 2015 Super Rugby season, though he came through an unscathed 20 minutes in the 46-10 victory over a World XV last Saturday. He is likely to only feature in the latter stages of the Championship having been sent to his province for game-time at a lower intensity. Meyer showed his hand to some degree in the World XV win, where obvious rustiness was mixed in with some sparkling attacking play. Gone of the days of the Boks just bashing it up at numbers 12 and 13 with the centre combination of Damian de Allende and rookie Jesse Kriel, who played fullback for the Bulls in Super Rugby, one to watch in the Championship if allowed to flourish with both exciting runners. With mercurial fullback Willie le Roux and experienced wing Bryan Habana added to that mix they look a side set to play a much more ball-in-hand style of rugby. The exciting Handre Pollard was selected at flyhalf against the World XV but is likely to be replaced by the more experienced and more consistent kicker Pat Lambie for the start of the Championship. Morne Steyn is still part of the squad, though he has not played since the loss to Australia in Perth last year as the team moves away from a kicking and territory based game. The front row looks settled with Bismark du Plessis and Adriaan Strauss set to continue to alternate at hooker, while Victor Matfield and Eben Etzebeth are certainties in the second row if fit. The injuries to Vermeulen and Alberts have knocked out two of Meyer's most physical loose forwards, with specialist Warren Whiteley and Schalk Burger likely to play number eight, while Marcell Coetzee adds muscle and Francois Louw some guile on the side of the scrum. (Editing by Greg Stutchbury)