Bold move as Nienaber brings back 7/1 split in Bok team to face Ireland

As profound as the Springboks' decision is to go with a seven/one bench split against Ireland, no-one can say they are shocked.

The Springboks will go into their crunch Rugby World Cup pool B match in Paris on Saturday with just Cobus Reinach covering a number of bases at the back. To be fair, he did show he is capable of keeping players in different positions in the opposition occupied in his last match.

The Boks have been pushing the boundaries of convention the last while and their decision to continue to do so in a match of this magnitude shows real intent. This is after all arguably their most important match since the deciding Test against the British and Irish Lions 2019.

Apart from injured hooker Malcolm Marx, the starting team mirrors the one that ran on against Scotland in Marseille. Lock Eben Etzebeth, to the huge relief of all Bok fans, will start against Ireland in a pack with a familiar look.

At the back, and despite all the wonderful attacking prowess they showed against Romania, the men who played against Scotland remain.

Ireland were perhaps forewarned when the Springboks deployed a similar bench configuration against the All Blacks in their last match before the World Cup, but at the time it was contextualised as the Boks yielding to circumstance. Willie le Roux did himself a mischief then, they said.

The Boks may be without all their forward might with Malcolm Marx no longer part of the World Cup mix, but they will pack a lot of muscle against Ireland at Stade de France.

The argument has often been made over the past seven years or so that the Boks can no longer batter Ireland into submission and that the team from the Emerald Isle have the muscle and the technical proficiency to absorb what the Boks throw at them.

This week's Bok selection suggests — “well, we'll just bring more forwards”.

When their six/two split brought tremors to the rugby world in 2019, there were voices of discontent. Indeed, after they hammered the All Blacks in London those same voices, with a few more joining the chorus, happily loitered on the corner of condemnation and indignation.

What will they say now?

The Bok bench will be a huge talking point. Reinach was rewarded for running riot against Romania and for his general good form of late. He will, however, have to spread himself thin, but Kwagga Smith can also switch to a much different role.

It is that versatility in the Bok camp that will ask questions of Ireland they have not faced before.

“We faced them late last year and we’ve been keeping an eye on their performances this year, so everyone knows what we have to do this weekend,” said head coach Jacques Nienaber.

“We’re fortunate to have a match-fit squad and have been building depth and versatility for a while and believe this is the best combination for this match.

“For many of these players this is their second or third World Cup, so they know what it takes to perform at this level, and we believe this team has the right balance of players to achieve what we would like to achieve in this match.

“We know it’s going to be a grind of a match and we know we need to pitch up physically and mentally. We also need to start with intensity and stay focused until the final whistle.

“This is a huge game for both sides with an eye to progressing out of our pool, so we need to be extremely accurate in all areas of our game.”

Springbok team to face Ireland:

15 — Damian Willemse (Stormers) — 35 caps, 56 pts (4t, 9c, 4pg, 2dg)

14 — Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls) — 11 caps, 60 pts (12t)

13 — Jesse Kriel (Eagles) — 63 caps, 70 pts (14t)

12 — Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) — 74 caps, 50 pts (10t)

11 — Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) — 27 caps, 81 pts (12t, 3c, 5pg)

10 — Manie Libbok (Stormers) — 10 caps, 71 pts (1t, 21c, 8pg)

9 — Faf de Klerk (Eagles) — 51 caps, 50 pts (5t, 5c, 5pg)

8 — Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) — 24 caps, 5 pts (1t)

7 — Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) — 72 caps, 40 pts (8t)

6 — Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92) — 78 caps, 50 pts (10t)

5 — Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) — 68 caps, 15 pts (3t)

4 — Eben Etzebeth (Sharks) — 114 caps, 25 pts (5t)

3 — Frans Malherbe (Stormers) — 65 caps, 5 pts (1t)

2 — Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks) — 64 caps, 65 pts (13t)

1 — Steven Kitshoff (Ulster) — 78 caps, 10 pts (2t)

Replacements:

16 — Deon Fourie (Stormers) — 8 caps, 5 pts (1t)

17 — Ox Nche (Sharks) — 23 caps, 0 pts

18 — Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) — 64 caps, 5 pts (1t)

19 — Jean Kleyn (Munster) — 5 caps, 0 pts (Ireland 5 caps)

20 — RG Snyman (Munster) — 30 caps, 5 pts (1t)

21 — Marco van Staden (Bulls) — 16 caps, 0 pts

22 — Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) — 35 caps, 30 pts (6t)

23 — Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) — 28 caps, 60 pts (12t)

SA Rugby