Jacques Nienaber, the coach of South Africa, chose to combine scrum-half Cobus Reinach and fly-half Manie Libbok for the quarter-final of the 2023 World Cup against France on Sunday, leaving the hinge Faf De Klerk-Handré Pollard on the bench.
Another notable change in the team which will face the Blues at the Stade de France, the position of N.8 will be occupied by veteran Duane Vermeulen, 37, preferred to Jasper Wiese, starter during the group matches against Scotland and Ireland and who is not on the list of substitutes.
“At the hinge, we felt that Cobus (Reinach) and Manie (Libbok) were the players who gave us the best opportunities compared to what France will offer us,” Nienaber explained on Friday. “In 8, we think Duane is also the one we will need. The selection depended on the opponent.”
These choices, that of the hinge in particular, lift the veil on the strategy that South Africa will use at the start of the match.
A dose of unpredictability
While we thought that with the arrival of knockout matches, Springbok rugby director Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber would rely on the physical challenge, occupation and aggressive defense, an old recipe for success for South African rugby, the duo has once again surprised.
By establishing Libbok, although contested for its repeated failures in penalty shootouts since the start of the tournament, they maintain against France, their desire displayed since the start of the competition not to reduce their game only to physical challenge, adding a dose of unpredictability and a guarantee of creativity as well, assuming greater risk-taking.
“If we look at the minutes compiled by Handré Pollard over the year, that’s only one match,” Nienaber further justified. “He’s coming back from injury, very slowly. If he hadn’t been injured, it might have been different because he’s a high-quality player.”
“Manie is our 10 who is in good shape at the moment. We only lost one match with him as a starter this year (against Ireland during the World Cup, 13-8). The team’s form and performances are better when he is there,” added the 50-year-old former Munster assistant coach.
Bench with five forwards
Finally, the Erasmus-Nienaber duo also took everyone on the wrong foot in the composition of their sidelines, abandoning their famous “7 forwards for 1 single back” and the assurance of a “Bomb squad” in progress match, for a much more classic and balanced 5+3. In addition to De Klerk and Pollard, the experienced Willie Le Roux, also the 2019 world champion at full-back, is on the bench in the middle of “only” five forwards.
“People look at our bench because we often play with combinations,” Nienaber defended. “For our part, we analyze the opponent and we react accordingly: it could be 7-1, 6-2… There, we felt that the best was a 5-3. Whatever the selection, it “There are risks. 5-3 is the least risky. It seemed to us to be the best distribution to face France.”
Besides Jasper Wiese who went from starter to out of the group, among the replacements are neither the center Lukhanyo Am, recalled to compensate for the withdrawal of winger Makazole Mapimpi, nor Trevor Nyakane the pillar of Racing, pushed out by Vincent Koch, a former of the French Stadium.
“Since the adventure began in 2020, the goal has been to win the World Cup. Why would we participate otherwise? We prepared as best we could for that. With the configuration of the table, we knew it would be France or New Zealand in the quarter. In any case, it was going to be difficult” underlined Nienaber.
South Africa team line-up against France:
Willemse – Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Kolbe – (o) Libbok, (m) Reinach – Du Toit, Vermeulen, Kolisi (cap.) – Mostert, Etzebeth – Malherbe, Mbonambi, Kitshoff
Substitutes: Fourie, Nche, Koch, Snyman, Smith, De Klerk, Pollard, Le Roux