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Nienaber drops heavy selection hints ahead of Rugby Championship
By Jan De Koning
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has a calculated selection strategy for South Africa’s build-up to the World Cup in France.
However, injuries and results could result in a rethink.
Nienaber and South Africa’s Director of Rugby Johan Erasmus have split the six matches into two blocks – three Rugby Championship encounters in July and three ‘warm-up’ matches in August.
“We want to win the Rugby Championship,” he said of the goal for the first block, which would require selection of the strongest team.
Depending on how much momentum they manage to build up in the Rugby Championship, they may opt for more of a ‘mix-and-match’ selection for the warm-up outings.
“We want to win every Test, but there might be some rotational changes throughout the six Tests leading up to the World Cup,” Nienaber said to a question by @rugby365com.
“You want to go into the World Cup with momentum.
“We have a plan for the first three Tests – the Rugby Championship.
“However, depending on injuries and how much squad depth there is in each position, we might rejig the team.”
He said players coming back from injury – the likes of captain Siyamthanda Kolisi (knee surgery) and Jaden Hendrikse (shoulder surgery) – may be given game time in the warm-up matches if their rehabilitation allows it.
“We have a plan set out in how we want to tackle the six Tests,” he said, adding: “But we will be forced to re-evaluate.”
He said they are considering splitting the squads for the first two Tests – Australia in Pretoria on July 8 and New Zealand in Auckland a week later.
“Depending on how many players we have available, we could send 15 guys to New Zealand earlier.
“That will depend on injuries.
“However, it is something we have done in the past and may do again.”
Rugby Championship
Saturday, 8 July – v Australia (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)
Saturday, 15 July – v New Zealand (Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland)
Saturday, 29 July – v Argentina (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)
World Cup warm-up fixture
Saturday, 5 August – v Argentina (Velez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires)
Saturday, 19 August – v Wales (Millennium Stadium, Cardiff)
Friday, 25 August – v New Zealand (Twickenham, London)
World Cup pool fixtures
Sunday, 10 September – v Scotland (Stade Vélodrome, Marseille)
Sunday, 17 September – v Romania (Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux)
Saturday, 23 September – v Ireland (Stade de France, Paris)
Sunday, 1 October – v Tonga (Stade Vélodrome, Marseille)
Weekend of 14/15 October – quarterfinals
Weekend of 21/22 October – semifinals
Saturday, 28 October – Final
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Latest Comments
There's no easy fix here. From a geography standpoint, South Africa is kind of on an island alone in the rugby world, much like Argentina.
They don't have enough talent to have a top tier domestic league of their own, and it won't support the union financially. Best case you could hope for would be the five extant franchises (including Cheetahs) and perhaps a team from Namimbia. Gives you a 6 team league, that's not enough. Plus again, it's just not financially sustainable either.
At the same time, it's not really great for them to be involved in either the European or the Pacific rugby set up. That said, as bad as the travel is, at least Europe makes more sense from a time zone perspective. I still think it's the least bad option. Also has done wonders for the URC.
I don't think though, that it makes very much sense to have 4 teams from the URC excluded from European qualification. Not to mention, being able to compete in the Champions Cup was a big draw for the South African clubs anyway.
So yeah, I don't really see a change that makes more sense than the less than ideal situation that already exists.
Go to commentsMoriaty refused to play for wales also he’s injured, France’s is being coy about wales, North in the dark but Sam David and jerad are you joking their not good enough
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