'Unemotional': Springboks explain latest XV pick, Kolbe's absence
Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber has explained the logic behind his latest team selection, an XV that shows two changes from last Sunday's loss to Australia, just one bench alteration and no place yet for the sidelined Cheslin Kolbe. There was criticism about a number of aspects of South Africa's play in their 28-26 Rugby Championship loss, particularly their scrum and their accuracy off the kicking tee.
The issue with the set-piece was addressed by the inclusion of Trevor Nyakane as their starting loosehead for next Saturday's rematch versus the Wallabies in Brisbane, a decision that resulted in Steven Kitshoff dropping to the bench and Ox Nche, last Sunday's sub, missing out altogether.
Marvin Orie was introduced from outside the matchday 23 to start at lock in place of the concussed Lood de Jager, who needs seven days to come through his return to play protocol. With just six days between the two Australian matches, there was no way he could be considered for selection. Then, with regard to kicking, Nienaber opted against introducing Elton Jantjies or Morne Steyn, the last-gasp Lions series winner, following criticisms of Handre Pollard and his bench back-up Damian Willemse.
Starting with their front row switch, Nienaber explained at his virtually held team announcement media briefing: "Trevor brings nice experience. He played loosehead for us in that Argentina match (last month) but sustained an ankle injury, coming off quite early in the first half. But he is now in full training, has come back into the mix and we all know how Trevor played for at loosehead against the Lions as well.
"In terms of Lood, he sustained a concussion and if everything goes well it normally takes seven days and because it is a six-day turnaround, he will miss it by a day but I'm sure he will be up for selection the All Blacks Test match. Lood has played 50 Test matches and Marvin has only played a handful. We lose experience there, but Marvin has got a lot of Super Rugby caps and he has been in that position, has played with Eben from schoolboy level and they know each other well. We trust him as a player."
Switching to the wait for first-choice Springboks winger Kolbe to be declared fit following his leg injury, Nienaber added: "He ran today [Wednesday] quite well next to the side of the field and kicked and stuff like that. He is not a guy we will rush. We will wait. He hasn't done any team training yet. At the moment he has got the full range and we are happy with his running and the medical team are happy with his gait while he is running and all those things that they look at. We will look at reintroducing him to team training and then it will be a return to play protocol that we normally follow. Currently, he is in the return to training protocol and the moment he finishes that he can start joining us in team training, then his return to play protocol will start.
"Cheslin is an experienced guy, our medical team is experienced so we will take guidance from them. All we can do as coaches is hope he will be available for next week and the week after. We wouldn't have kept him if we didn't think he would be ready in the next two weeks. Projection tells us he will be available for selection within the next two weeks but it is up to his recovery."
With faith being kept in Pollard as the starting No10, Nienaber also resisted the outside clamour for a bench rejig and has stuck by the under-fire Willemse in a six/two forwards/backs split. The utility back, for instance, copped much criticism from Victor Matfield, but he has again been chosen in reserve to Pollard. "We tried to think as unemotionally about team selection as possible," said the Springboks coach. "If we secured the last breakdown where Nic White stole the ball, if we had a better clean-out there and we kicked the ball out and won the game by one point we would be sitting smiling here. We always look at it from an objective viewpoint.
"There is a certain report we go through and out of twelve ticket issues we look at when we do a review, sometimes we get four out of twelve when we had a good 20-point victory but it doesn't mean you played well. And sometimes you lose a match where we tick eleven out of twelve boxes and you don't win the match. So sometimes we play well and lose and sometimes we play poorly and win.
"We try to take as much emotion out of it as possible and we looked at it from an unemotional point of view. Nobody misses goals because they want to, nobody knocks the ball on because they want to, nobody misses a tackle because they want to. If you look at it unemotionally you can say we could have won the Test match and nobody would have said anything, it wouldn't have been a debate.
"There were issues we had to fix and in the kicking game, which is my department as well as defence, I don't think we were on song there. We were off in both those two departments and it is something we have to work hard on to fix going into the next game."
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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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