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Five omissions as Springboks name 21-man group for NZ
By Ian Cameron
The Springboks have named a 21-man travelling party to New Zealand after easily defeating Australia 43-12 in their Rugby Championship opener.
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It was their third-largest victory over Australia. Out of the 93 matches between the teams, the 31-point margin of victory has only been surpassed twice before (in 2008 and 1997).
Springbok captain Duane Vermeulen was happy with the shift.
“It was a special performance and it’s a special group of guys,” he said. “It’s not just the players, it’s the coaches and the management – everyone – someday it will all come to an end and you know you’ve just got to enjoy every single minute and second of it.
“Australia fetched a big pack and we are still a bit rusty with things we can work on – scrum wise with a couple of free kicks and penalty against us – but later on as we went on in the game we found our feet and we grew really in confidence. That’s some of the things we are happy about, but it’s test match rugby and you’ve got to be on song from the start and you can’t ease into the game.”
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber selected the additional players to join the team already in NZ ahead of their second Rugby Championship match against New Zealand in Auckland.
Injured prop Ox Nche is not included and of those involved in the match day against the Wallabies; Evan Roos, Marvin Orie and Canan Moodie have all been left out of the trip to face the All Blacks.
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Flyhalf Elton Jantjies is also not travelling.
This brings the total number of players in NZ to 35.
Nienaber, SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus and Bok assistant coach Felix Jones all departed for NZ immediately after the final whistle in Pretoria.
“It was always part of our planning that some of the players who ran out in the Test against Australia would travel to New Zealand, and given some impressive performances today, we decided to take a few more players than we originally planned for,” said Erasmus.
“We now have the luxury of having a bunch of fresh of players to work with in New Zealand from Monday, and they’ll be joined by a group who have experienced the physicality of Australia and who can add energy and momentum at training from Tuesday.
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“We’ll analyse the match on our journey to New Zealand and then announce our team to face the All Blacks on Tuesday.”
Additional Springbok players travelling to New Zealand:
Forwards: Thomas du Toit (prop), Pieter-Steph du Toit (loose forward), Deon Fourie (utility forward), Steven Kitshoff (prop), Jean Kleyn (lock), Vincent Koch (prop) Frans Malherbe (prop), Bongi Mbonambi (hooker), Trevor Nyakane (prop), RG Snyman (lock), Marco van Staden (flank), Duane Vermeulen (No 8).
Backs: Lukhanyo Am (centre), Kurt-Lee Arendse (wing), Andre Esterhuizen (centre), Herschel Jantjies (scrumhalf), Willie le Roux (fullback), Manie Libbok (flyhalf),Cobus Reinach (scrumhalf), Damian Willemse (utility back), Grant Williams (scrumhalf).
Unlikely that selections for the game will change much. No doubt those have been firmly penciled in for some time. But having a wider squad to help tune up the match day group could be valuable, and having the wider squad present for the prep sessions has to be good for alignment.