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South Africa name all four scrum-halves in their squad to play Romania
By Josh Raisey
South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has named all four scrum-halves in his squad to play Romania on Sunday in Bordeaux.
Cobus Reinach is set to start in the No9 jersey with Grant Williams wearing No14, while both Jaden Hendrikse and Faf de Klerk will provide support in a 5-3 split on the bench.
Damian Willemse is the only player to retain a starting berth from the world champions' win against Scotland in the opening match of the World Cup in Marseille. He has shifted from fullback to fly-half though.
Hooker Bongi Nbonambi will captain the side in place of Siya Kolisi, who has dropped out of the matchday squad entirely.
On this unique selection decision, Nienaber said: “People were surprised when we picked four scrumhalves in the squad but we knew they offered us the skills and versatility to provide backline options to manage the challenges that tournament rugby gives you.
“They are all excellent scrumhalves, but Grant and Cobus can play wing and Faf has experience at No 10 – as do Cheslin and Willie. We have the same versatility among our forwards.
“Grant played school rugby on the wing, and he has come on at wing before for us, so we are excited to give him this opportunity to start there and for him to gain international experience in the position.
“Faf is also one of our back up flyhalves in the squad, and the same applies to him, as it will be valuable for him and the team to get some game time in the position.
“We have been rotating and testing players in different positions since last season to put us in the fortunate position to have a group of 33 players in France that are closely matched in terms of their quality of play and skills, and who have been pushing one another for places in the last few months. It has allowed us to select a top-quality team for this match.”
Springbok team to face Romania in Bordeaux:
15 – Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls) – 88 caps, 65 pts (13t)
14 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 6 caps, 0 points
13 – Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls) – 8 caps, 20 pts (4t)
12 – Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins) – 14 caps, 0 pts
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 39 caps, 115 pts (23t)
10 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 34 caps, 41 pts (3t, 4c, 4pg, 2dg)
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 27 caps, 45 pts (9t)
8 – Duane Vermeulen (SA Rugby) – 71 caps, 15 pts (3t)
7 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 34 caps, 30 pts (6t)
6 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 15 caps, 0 points
5 – Marvin Orie (DHL Stormers) – 14 caps, 0 pts
4 – Jean Kleyn (Munster) – 4 caps, 0 pts (Ireland 5 caps)
3 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 46 caps, 0 pts
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 63 caps, 65 points (13t)
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 22 caps, 0 points
Replacements:
16 – Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers) – 7 caps, 0 pts
17 – Steven Kitshoff (Ulster) – 77 caps, 10 points (2t)
18 – Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) – 63 caps, 5 points (1t)
19 – RG Snyman (Munster) – 29 caps, 5 points (1t)
20 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 24 caps, 5 points (1t)
21 – Jaden Hendrikse (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 13 caps, 12 pts (2t, 1c)
22 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles) – 50 caps, 46 points (5t, 3c, 5pg)
23 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 63 caps, 70 points (14t)
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Latest Comments
No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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