Sport

RUGBY

Boks build depth while winning as Nienaber shuffles the troops again

Boks build depth while winning as Nienaber shuffles the troops again
The Boks have won four of the five Tests they’ve played in 2021. (Photo: David Rogers / Getty Images)

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber made six changes to his backline for the second time in the space of a week for the second Test against Argentina, and 11 changes in all, underlining the Boks’ growing depth.

Sustained excellence in rugby cannot be achieved with only 15, or even 23 high-quality players any longer. The confrontational nature of rugby, which has become a collision sport in the modern era, means that only teams with supreme depth will sustain prolonged brilliance. 

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is only five Tests into his tenure, although he has been with the squad since 2018, and his personal mandate is to build depth while winning. 

So far, so good. The Boks have won four of the five Tests they’ve played in 2021, after missing the entire 2020 season due to Covid-19 restrictions. This has included a 2-1 series victory over the British & Irish Lions and a winning start to the Rugby Championship. 

Over the course of the five Tests, Nienaber has used 37 different players while still maintaining an 80% winning ratio. And in Saturday’s sixth Test under his guidance, the Bok coach has introduced tighthead Thomas du Toit as the 38th different player used this season. If lock Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg comes on for his debut, he will be the 39th.

In addition, World Cup winners, No 8 Duane Vermeulen and lock RG Snyman have yet to play this season and will feature on the Rugby Championship away leg.

Captain Siya Kolisi, fellow loose forward Kwagga Smith, hooker Malcolm Marx and utility back Damian Willemse will be the only three ever-present players when they take the field against the Pumas on Saturday. Only Kolisi has started every match. 

Lock Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg is set for a Test debut off the bench and Marvin Orie makes his first Test start in the second row in place of the rested Eben Etzebeth. Lock Lood de Jager will earn his 50th cap – the fourth player in a row after Kolisi, Steven Kitshoff and Damian de Allende in four weeks to reach the milestone.  

What all this says is that Nienaber is succeeding in his objective, to widen the Bok talent pool while maintaining supremely high standards expected of a team that carries the world champions’ tag. 

While blooding new players Nienaber’s Boks have not only carried on winning, but also winning little battles within the game. 

Despite constantly changing personnel – there were 10 changes from the third Lions test to last week’s Rugby Championship openers and another 11 changes for this coming weekend’s game – the Boks have only conceded two tries. 

The defence remains rock solid, which is a testament to coaching, but also to the players’ professionalism and desire to be better. 

Lukhanyo Am is the Boks’ backline defensive captain, who alongside midfield partner in crime De Allende, has been instrumental in smothering or breaking up every attacking move in their vicinity. And when they haven’t played, Jesse Kriel has led the backline defence with equal brilliance. 

The Boks have also only lost a handful of lineouts despite using three different hookers, three different lock pairings and seven different jumpers in five Tests. 

The scrum has been dominant despite a constantly changing pack, while the lauded aerial kicking game has been accurate regardless of whether it’s Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach, Herschel Jantjies, Handre Pollard, Elton Jantjies or Morne Steyn launching the kicks. 

There is also massive versatility in the group. Props Trevor Nyakane and Thomas du Toit can play either loosehead or tighthead, lock Franco Mostert is excellent as a blindside flank and the injured Pieter-Steph du Toit is almost as good a lock as he is a flank. 

Wing Cheslin Kolbe is comfortable at fullback and can play flyhalf in an emergency. Pollard is a useful inside centre, Frans Steyn and Damian Willemse cover every backline position barring scrumhalf, and fullback Willie le Roux often slots into flyhalf in second or third phase. Aphelele Fassi is a brilliant Test wing who has played almost all his provincial rugby at fullback. 

Kwagga Smith is both an openside and No 8, Jasper Wiese operates at blindside flank and No 8 while Rynhardt Elstadt and Dan and Jean-Luc du Preez can all play lock and flank. 

This squad mirrors Nienaber’s meticulous personality in that nothing is left to chance. Every eventuality is covered. 

Steady upward trajectory

They are unlikely to win every game, but it does feel like the current Springbok generation is improving the more they play together and are growing as individuals and units within the team. It’s going to take an excellent side, performing optimally to beat the Boks in the coming weeks and months. 

The language from the camp is another clue to the mindset. There is never more than a nod to victories. Talk almost instantly turns to the next challenge, the need to improve and the desire to win matches and titles between World Cups. 

Rhetoric is one thing though, and it’s something that watchers of the Boks have heard before, yet this time it feels different. This team backs up the talk with evidence that it is improving and maturing. 

Their consistency is affirmation of their continual growth. Unlike Covid-19 waves, there are no peaks and troughs for this Bok team, just a steady, upward trajectory. 

Since the painful first year of Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus’ tenure in 2018, when the Boks lost seven out of 14 matches in an effort to grow depth and a game plan quickly, the results have been staggeringly good.

Since 2019, the year they won the World Cup and Rugby Championship for the first time in a decade, the Boks have played 17 Tests, won 14, lost two and drawn one. It’s an 82% winning ratio. 

And when it comes to “knockout games” the Boks are 8-0 since 2019. 

After losing the opening game of RWC 2019 they were in a position where one more loss would end their campaign. They won six in a row to win the Webb Ellis Cup. 

Despite missing 20 months of action due to Covid, the Boks did it again. After they lost the first Test of the Lions series, they had to win the next two. They did and became the first team since Australia in 2001 to come from 1-0 down against the Lions to claim the series spoils. 

These facts can easily be overlooked by commentators fixated on their style of play rather than their results. Professional sport is all about winning and the Boks are evolving into serial winners. 

Backline boost for Pumas

Argentina posed surprisingly mild resistance last week as they were easily dispatched 32-12. The Pumas will no doubt be better for the outing for the second meeting in Gqeberha on Saturday, which is why Nienaber has recalled so many big-name players. 

Am and De Allende are comfortably the best centre pairing in the world right now and will operate in the midfield. Pollard and Kolbe, who rank close to the best in their positions at Test level, are back. 

The world-class pair of Le Roux and wing Makazole Mapimpi and the quietly effective Reinach at scrumhalf, were also recalled. It’s a backline with no obvious weaknesses. 

The pack picked for Saturday’s meeting at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is slightly less imposing without the mighty Etzebeth in the second row. He has been rested, giving Orie a chance to grab Nienaber’s attention, especially with Snyman close to returning. 

Du Toit’s first start since RWC 2019, when he played loosehead against Canada, could be seen as a slight gamble, but despite his recent lack of Test rugby, he is a seasoned campaigner now.

Nyakane starts at loosehead with the excellent Malcolm Marx starting at hooker for the first time this season. Mostert reprises the role of flank, which he played beautifully in the deciding third Test against the Lions, alongside Kolisi and Wiese in the back row. 

Outcomes in sport are never guaranteed. But based on Nienaber’s clear selection plan around growth and sustained excellence, rather than weekly results, another strong performance from the world champions is a guarantee. That’s all anyone can ask.  DM

South Africa:

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Marvin Orie, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Trevor Nyakane

Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Nicolaas van Rensburg, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Dan du Preez, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 Damian Willemse. 

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

  • James McQueQue says:

    One feels sorry for coaches at the bottom of the player experience cycle. Straeuli and Coetzee had the uneviable jobs of rebuilding only for the successors to get the rewards. Coetzee didn’t even have all his best players available. I suppose that’s how coaching works.

  • Martin Oosthuizen says:

    It sounds as if we have already beaten the All Blacks.
    Hier kom ‘n ding !

  • Gerrie Pretorius Pretorius says:

    Where is Johan Goosen? (I am not a Bulls supporter, but know a good flyhalf when I see one)

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