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Springboks explain keeping Willemse at No10, not promoting Libbok
By Liam Heagney
Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber has explained why he ignored the temptation to give rookie Manie Libbok his first Test career start this weekend in London, South Africa instead opting to retain Damian Willemse as their No10 for the fourth successive European tour match.
With Handre Pollard injured in August during The Rugby Championship defeat to Australia and Elton Jantjies unavailable since he was sent home from Buenos Aires the following month, the Springboks’ retention of full-back/inside centre Willemse as their No10 to take on England means they have selected him as their starting fly-half in six of their seven most recent games.
The only game he missed was the round six match at home to Argentina in Durban due to a concussion suffered the previous week in the away fixture, an injury that resulted in the recall of Frans Steyn to start.
Since coming on tour, though, the Springboks have invested in rookie Libbok, who debuted off the bench near the end of the defeat to France in Marseille before getting a longer run as a replacement versus Italy in Genoa last Saturday.
However, the Springboks have opted not to throw the Stormers’ URC title-winning fly-half in off the deep end by starting him away to England. Their decision was instead to keep Willemse - another Stormers player - at No10 even though he himself is only learning the ropes as a Test fly-half having usually been selected at full-back or centre before Pollard and Jantjies were ruled out.
“Listen, Manie is going from strength to strength in the squad,” said Nienaber when asked why the Springboks had chosen not to give Libbok, a regular club-level fly-half, the opportunity to wear the No10 shirt for the first time at Test level. "He has only been with us for eight weeks and you can see he is taking more ownership in terms of the rugby stuff and onfield, off-field, and we are really excited to see what he can do at Twickenham and the games getting bigger and bigger and bigger and more pressure.
“I don’t know how the ticket sales went but I think there will be a fair amount of people at Twickenham and it will be similar to what we experienced in Marseille. It is good for his development and it’s nice to have him with us.
"Were we tempted? I think Damian is doing well at ten and he is driving the team forward, and again I would say only after five Test matches this year did he start starting at ten. He is also getting experience playing at ten. We know he can do it for us at twelve and at 15, so it is nice to have the two of them.”
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Latest Comments
Excellent points Mz. Because of other commitments I have just watched the game.
Interesting watching it after reading all the news reports especially in the English media. I was expecting to see a game that the ABs were very lucky to win. What I saw was a game that England showed their tactical incompetence and their inability to construct any try scoring opportunities.
They can go on deluding themselves that they were unlucky to lose ( as Borthwick said post match ) but until they stop relying on rush defence and goal kicking to win I feel they're doomed to be ranked 4 or 5 in the world.
Can't wait until the weekend to see how the Wallabies go against them
Though I dare say Walter will be hoping for an England win.
Go to commentsIF SA and NZ win then its 1,2,3 SA/NZ/IRL Otherwise as you were. This is largely irrelevant beyond bragging rights.
As I have pointed out elsewhere the practical use of the Rankings is to determine the seedings bands for the RWC draw. The draw takes place early 2026 and hopefully the rankings will be taken from then.
Important to be in the top 6, the top 12. (and likely the top 4).
This is because there are now 6 groups in the RWC 2027.
If you are in top 6 you are in Seeding Band 1. That means none of the other top 6 will be in your group.
Seeding Band 2 are teams from 7-12, who will have a top 6 team but no other 7-12 team.
After England's defeat by NZ there is clear water between NZ in 3rd, France in 4th and England in 5th. England are desperate for top4, ill come back and explain why later.
Lets look at Seeding Band 1 and 6th place. If you make 6th, no top 6 team is in your group, you are top dog. If you win your group, you won't be facing a top 6 team in your 1/8th final, you will be facing a weaker team. If you fail to make 6th place you WILL have a top 6 team in your group and if you don't win your group you WILL (probably) meet a top 6 in the 1/8 final. That's massive.
Its Argentina holding 6th now. Assuming England hold 5th, then its a 4 horse race for 6th. Argentina, Scotland, Italy and ...Australia. (ranked 6,7,8,9)
Australia play the Lions in NH summer 2025 they are running out of time to get up to 6th for their own RWC. They MUST make a move now. They must beat Wales and they really must beat Scotland to gain points and take points off them. Could they surprise England or Ireland? England may be the better bet but Schmidt knows Ireland so well having masterminded their downfall in France.
Another one to watch is Italy V Argentina. Italy are ambitious and they will want to start pushing the likes of Argentina. If they win this they are still in the hunt. Well worth a watch either way.
Top4: I think the top 6 will be seeded, all the way through from the draw. If thats the case then the top 4 will be seeded to avoid each other until the semi. Good for more certainty around ticket sales etc. That's a possible reason why England want in there. You're not in there you are hitting a top 4 team in a QF. That's an extra 50:50 match you can do without and avoid by being top 4.
Lets look at what Seeding bands might look like with todays rankings:
Seeding Band 1
IRE/SA/NZ/FRA/ENG/ARG
Seeding Band 2
SCO/ITA/AUS/FIJ/WAL/GEO
Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if in top 6
Strongest pool opponent: FIJI
1/8 final opponent GEORGIA
Prognosis: advance to 1/4 and potentially beyond
Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if NOT in top 6
Strongest pool opponent: SOUTH AFRICA
1/8 final opponent NEW ZEALAND
Prognosis: You know the prognosis
I am pretty sure this is not lost on Joe Schmidt?
Keep in mind when enjoying the matches.
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