Lock Marvin Orie hopes to fulfil his long-held ambition of lining up alongside school friend Eben Etzebeth for the Springboks, but concedes he may have to be patient in a squad that are packed with quality second-rowers.
Orie was a substitute in Saturday’s 32-12 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina in Nelson Mandela Bay, replacing Etzebeth for the final 12 minutes to earn a fifth Test cap.
With Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert also in the squad, competition to start is fierce, but the Boks’ punishing schedule to the end of the year, which includes another eight Tests, means injuries and player rotation are likely to see the broader group get their chance.
“This team has done some amazing things over the last couple of years, so the standard to get into the squad is high,” Orie told reporters on Monday. “There are some world-class second-rowers.”
Since school we have said we hope to one day play together for the Boks. We have not yet had the chance to be on the field at the same time together. But you never know, hopefully that will happen.
— Springbok lock, Marvin Orie
Orie took on the role as shadow British & Irish Lions player in training to help the team prepare for that series, but is hoping for more opportunities in the green and gold, hopefully alongside old friend Etzebeth, who with 90 caps is a stalwart of the side. They both attended Tygerberg High School in Parow, Cape Town.
“The role of the guys not playing is to prepare those that are, as best as possible. Some of us know the Lions plays better than our own,” Orie said.
“Since school we have said we hope to one day play together for the Boks. We have not yet had the chance to be on the field at the same time together. But you never know, hopefully that will happen.
“As players we have to always be ready and understand what the team needs and the roles the coaches put you in.”
Argentina put the Bok lineout under pressure at the weekend, but Orie said they are not concerned ahead of the second clash between the sides at the same venue on Saturday.
“We lost a couple of lineouts and after our review we saw that all of them were our own concentration errors, so we don’t think it is much to be concerned about. But obviously Argentina have a good lineout and we respect them,” he said.
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said he was pleased with his much changed side, but they need to work on their continuity after a scrappy encounter.
Nienaber made 10 changes to the team that beat the British & Irish Lions last weekend, bringing in a number of players who had not seen any action in that series, and conceded that lack of game-time led to a high error count from the hosts.
“It was a massive effort from the guys, they were excellent in what we planned to do,” Nienaber told reporters. “We will work on the continuity for next week. They have not played a lot of rugby, so it is important to get game-time and then the continuity will come.”
The Boks still have eight matches scheduled for the international season, and Nienaber said it is vital that he continues to use his expanded squad with difficult trips to Australia and New Zealand, and autumn internationals in Europe to come.
But he also expects Argentina to step up next weekend. “They are proud team and it’s tough to break them down. They are tactically good with very good coaches and they will definitely come back at us,” Nienaber said.
The teams meet at the same venue on Saturday before they head Down Under for the Australasian leg of the competition.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.