White sticks by Pretorius

Bok coach Jake White is not about to discard Andre Pretorius just yet, despite his woeful performance against Tonga last weekend.

The out-of-practice Bok flyhalf will be included on the bench against the USA as cover for first-choice Butch James.

“We have to keep him involved and keep reinforcing the belief that he is capable of winning us matches,” said White.

“He has done it in the past.

“He knows it didn’t go well against Tonga, but we are not going to discard him now. As a coaching staff we’ve backed him in the past and we’ll continue to do so.

The hapless Pretorius was replaced by Ruan Pienaar at flyhalf for the final twenty minutes of the Tongan match.

White had been trying to play him into a bit of confidence, but after missing four penalties, not finding touch with his kicks and failing to set his backline alight, the Bok coach had no choice but to sub Pretorius.

White however, believes the player can bounce back from his Tongan debacle.

“He has the ability to fight back. We’ve seen it in the past and it was never more evident than in London last year when he struggled in the final 20 minutes of the first Test against England, but produced a very good performance to help win us the second Test.

“He has shown previously that he is a big game player, having kicked the last minute penalty to beat the All Blacks in Rustenburg, while the four drop goals against England was also a special achievement.”

Francois Steyn and Ruan Pienaar are both back-up flyhalf options but White will back Pretorius’s experience over youthful exuberance if Butch James needs replacing.

“Frans is just an incredible talent, but it would be a big ask to play him at 10 in the playoffs and we’d be sacrificing the thrust he gives us at inside centre, while Ruan has the makings of an exceptional 10 in the future.

“We’ve given him some exposure there, but if it came to deciding between the three of them I’d back the experience of Andre,” concluded White.