Ken Borland

South Africa coach Gary Kirsten said on Monday that the decision to visit Switzerland for a team-building exercise before their tour of England was because spirit could prove the difference between the two squads in the Test series between the number one and two ranked sides.

The South Africans left Johannesburg on Monday night and headed for Switzerland, where they will spend four days with explorer and compatriot Mike Horn at his outdoor survival camp.

They will then arrive in England on Friday, playing warm-up matches against Somerset (July 9-10) and Kent (July 13-15) before the first Test starts at the Oval on July 19.

“It’s not an exact science, how much preparation you need, but we’ll have 17 days together as a team before the first Test and we just wanted to cover all our bases.

“We’ll be playing against a very high quality team, so we really need to connect as a unit. The series might well boil down to a couple of crucial moments and we want to make sure that we are up for those,” Kirsten told a news conference at Johannesburg International Airport on Monday.

“We’re joining up with Mike Horn, a South African adventurer of note, and we’re just going to hang out with a guy we respect hugely. I hope it creates some fantastic memories for the squad and team spirit will be very important against a very good side. We like to be creative and think out of the box a bit,” Kirsten said.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith will play his 100th Test at the Oval and will also want to continue his fine form in England, where he has scored 1083 runs in nine tests at an average of 72.20.

But Smith said beating England in the series and reclaiming the number one spot for South Africa on the International Cricket Council rankings were his prime motivations.

“I’m obviously extremely proud to have the opportunity to play 100 Tests for my country and my motivation is the same as it was on my first tour of England. But I hope we win the Test – my 100th is just a side thing – and we don’t need much more motivation than beating England in England. Hopefully this year we can take a step forward to the next level and hang on to the number one ranking, but we’re up against a very good England team,” Smith said.

Smith added that even though most attention had focused on the two teams’ bowlers, the batsmen also had a key role to play.

“I hope our attack dominates, but both sides’ bowlers are highly skilful. Imran Tahir is an asset for us because he allows us something different – an attacking spinner – but the rest of the attack also needs to perform with skill and pace.

“I know it’s more exciting to talk about bowlers hurling the ball down at 150km/h, but the batsmen also have a crucial part to play – we must have runs on the board. I believe we have enough batsmen who have done the job under pressure, they all have good records in England and those who haven’t played Tests there have played a lot of county cricket. As a whole, the top six needs to be really tight,” Smith said.

“We want to become the best in the world, that’s a peg we’ve put in the ground, but it’s not our focus. What we do every day is what’s important and we will prepare as best we can. I can promise that no stone will be left unturned come July 19,” Kirsten said.

Smith said the sense of anticipation for the tour could be felt in South Africa and had rubbed off on the team.

“Just the buzz around shows how much the tour means, we feel how much the tour means to the fans. It’s between the two top teams and the England side have proven themselves over the last couple of years to be very methodical and well-drilled. They won a big series in Australia and we expect them to be well-prepared and battle-hardened.

“We respect them a lot and the cricket will be hard, no one will give an inch,” Smith said.

Lions coach John Mitchell has been suspended with immediate effect due to the complaints of the players, SuperRugby franchise president Kevin de Klerk said on Saturday.

Mitchell, the former coach of the All Blacks and Perth-based SuperRugby team the Western Force, will now face a disciplinary inquiry by the board of the Johannesburg-based franchise.

“John Mitchell has been suspended pending an investigation, after complaints from the players,” De Klerk confirmed to Reuters on Saturday.

“The complaints of the players are quite serious and it’s not just from one or two players, it’s a very substantial number which we cannot take lightly. As the custodians of Gauteng rugby, we are responsible to our staff and the well-being of our players.”

While De Klerk, a former Springbok lock, said he could not elaborate on the complaints due to the sub-judice nature of the investigation, they are believed to revolve around Mitchell’s management style.

The New Zealander has had a simmering relationship with media and sponsors, and local newspapers have reported anonymous players alleging verbal abuse by Mitchell. The 48-year-old has also publicly criticised individual players.

Mitchell joined the Lions in mid-2010 and steered them to the Currie Cup title last year, but their SuperRugby form has been poor with the Lions being South Africa’s worst-performing franchise over the last two years and set to be replaced by the Southern Kings next year.

Assistant coaches Carlos Spencer and Johan Ackermann will now take over the coaching reins as the Lions return to SuperRugby action next weekend.

England captain Chris Robshaw will miss the third and final Test against South Africa on Saturday after he cracked a thumb in the second Test in Johannesburg last weekend, coach Stuart Lancaster confirmed on Monday.

Lancaster said Robshaw took a blow to the thumb in the first Test in Durban and then another blow in the second Test. Scans of the thumb on Monday revealed an undisplaced fracture and the medical advice was that the openside flank should not play in the third Test in Port Elizabeth on Saturday so as to avoid possible surgery.

Hooker Dylan Hartley will take over the captaincy, Lancaster told a news conference in Johannesburg on Monday.

“It’s disappointing to lose our captain and also such an influential player. Last August Chris was not even in the World Cup squad and what he has done since then has just been outstanding. He will now miss just his third game this season which, playing in such an attritional position, is amazing.

“But Dylan has always been part of the leadership group, he’s driven training, he’s the first-choice in his position, respected by the players and captain at Northampton,” Lancaster said.

Robshaw has been a tremendous force at the breakdowns, despite England’s two narrow defeats in the first two Tests, but potential replacements Thomas Waldrom and James Haskell have both produced powerful performances on tour already. Phil Dowson is also expected to return to training this week after a tight hamstring kept him off the replacements’ bench for the second Test.

Lancaster also announced the England team to play a tour match against the SA Northern Barbarians in Potchefstroom on Tuesday, with the most notable selection being that of Lee Dickson at scrumhalf.

The coach said Dickson will use the match to get some crucial game time following the shoulder injury that has forced Test scrumhalf Ben Youngs out of the tour.

Dickson has been on the bench for the first two Tests and will be competing with the experienced, livewire halfback Danny Care for a place in the starting XV for the final Test.

“It’s a useful opportunity for people who need some game time, like Lee Dickson. He’s desperate to play and he was always going to start this game. We’ll probably take him off to protect him at half-time,” Lancaster said.

Lee Dickson’s older brother Karl, who arrived in South Africa on Monday morning as the replacement for Youngs, will then replace him.

The midweek team will once again be led by lock George Robson and shows six changes from the side that beat the SA Southern Barbarians last week, including a start for British and Irish Lions wing Ugo Monye, who has recovered from a hamstring niggle.

“We want to finish with two wins this week, finish on a high. It’s important to finish on a high note,” Robson stated.

Team – 15-Nick Abendanon, 14-Christian Wade, 13-Anthony Allen, 12-Jordan Turner-Hall, 11-Ugo Monye, 10-Charlie Hodgson, 9-Lee Dickson, 8-Ben Morgan, 7-Carl Fearns, 6-Jamie Gibson, 5-George Robson, 4-Graham Kitchener, 3-Paul Doran-Jones, 2-Tom Youngs, 1-Matt Mullan. Replacements: 16-Joe Gray, 17-Rupert Harden, 18-Mouritz Botha, 19-James Haskell, 20-Karl Dickson, 21-David Strettle, 22-Jonny May.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer said England should be proud of their “guts and commitment” after the Springboks withstood a fierce second-half comeback to win the second Test 36-27 and clinch the series at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Springboks used their big ball-carriers to batter England in the first half, stretching their lead to 28-10 early in the second half, before the visitors fought back to within four points at 31-27. It took an inspired try by wing JP Pietersen to seal victory for the South Africans.

“England can be really proud of their performance, especially at altitude. I don’t want to take anything away from them, they always come back. You can’t coach guts and commitment and in the Six Nations you could see England had lots of energy. They’re a young team and they will make mistakes, but they never say die and I knew we would really battle against them,” Meyer told a news conference after the test.

Meyer said part of the Springboks’ second-half fade was due to their set-pieces being disrupted by injuries. Tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis, lock Juandre Kruger and flank Willem Alberts all left the field in the second half.

“The first half was excellent, we played some great bits of rugby, but in the second half we lost momentum because of poor set-pieces.”

England coach Stuart Lancaster said that despite the defeat, the performance showed he had invested in the right players.

“I was delighted with the attitude in the second half, after we were definitely hanging on by our fingernails in the first half, and the fact that frustration was the over-riding emotion afterwards is a good thing. There was some pride mixed in there because of the comeback, but no sense of ‘good job, we almost won’.

“Some areas were better tonight and we can really take some positives out of here and we also learnt more about the players. The scrum began to take control and when we moved the ball, we caused their defences some trouble.

“More experience will give these guys a huge amount, especially a sense of how to manage the game in tense situations,” Lancaster said.

“I guarantee this team has another game left in them and they’ll be eager to have another crack in Port Elizabeth, that’s the good thing about a three-Test series.”

Meyer said the hard-fought win, after seemingly being in firm control, was a good lesson for his team, which is rebuilding after losing the core of two World Cup sides.

“We played really well in the first half, we wanted to up the tempo, but you have to grind out Test rugby, it’s not SuperRugby where you’re just going to score a lot of tries.

“We learnt a lot out there, panic could have set in but Jean de Villiers [captain] did really well. I would rather have this sort of win than 80 minutes of SuperRugby and then the team lose in this sort of situation later on,” the former Bulls coach said.

Pietersen said his match-winning try, after he ended the move he started by bumping off defenders on a mazy run from his own half, was one of the highlights of his 44-Test career.

“It was a golden moment for me, I played some of my best rugby tonight, both on attack and defence,” Pietersen said.

Having scored in the 73rd minute, Pietersen’s work was not done yet as he also had to tackle a rampaging Thomas Waldrom, the 111kg replacement loose forward, into touch close to the tryline in the dying moments.

“Credit to South Africa and to Heyneke Meyer: they’re a pretty formidable team and they’re playing as one unit, you can see how cohesive they are. They run hard at you, narrow you and then they move the ball,” Lancaster said.

England play a tour match against the SA Northern Barbarians in Potchefstroom, 123km from Johannesburg, on Tuesday night before relocating to the south-eastern coastal city of Port Elizabeth for the third and final Test next Saturday.