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Nienaber explains why Lood de Jager has missed out again

Lood de Jager of the Springboks looks on during The Rugby Championship match between the Australia Wallabies and South Africa Springboks at Allianz Stadium on September 03, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber insists former Sale Sharks lock Lood de Jager remains a key member of the squad despite missing Saturday’s Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

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De Jager, whose career has been hampered by repeated shoulder issues, was far from his best against New Zealand in Auckland on 15 July and was due to return against the Pumas. However, he misses out and Nienaber has been quick to reveal it is illness not poor form that has sidelined the line-out specialist who is short of match practice.

Marvin Orie starts alongside Jean Kleyn at lock against the Pumas in the final game before the World Cup squad is named on August 8 which means de Jager will be relying on past form and the fact he helped win the trophy in 2019 to ensure he is on the plane to France.

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Nienaber said: “Lood was supposed to start, but he’s a little bit chesty. The doctor said it wasn’t going to be worth it and Marvin came with us in the event something like this happened.

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Argentina
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“It would have been nice to give Lood a run because he last played against New Zealand and it would’ve been nice to give him a run. There’s no injury, so he’s just sick, so we feel it’s a little bit of a risk and that’s why Marvin is starting.”

The head coach is also still working out his back row options and for this match he has opted for Deon Fourie at openside flank and Franco Mostert at blindside flank. He explained: “What Deon gave us when he came off the bench in the Australia game was intensity and the stuff that he brought to the Stormers.

“If Deon also brings what he brought at the end-of-year tour, we’ll also be happy, which is why we select him so that we can see the Deon Fourie we see week in and week out.

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“We know Franco only played one game against New Zealand … we know our forwards didn’t do us any favours in the first 20 minutes.

“There are numerous reasons behind that start, but when Franco stepped in at number seven, he showed he could operate there. He’s been good for us there.”

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Comments

2 Comments
J
Jimmy 547 days ago

Mostert is way off form, now a liability

Z
Zacharey 547 days ago

this is sooooooooooo suprising

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R
RedWarrior 14 minutes ago
Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss

The English defense was excellent in the first half. This is considering Ireland's attack has improved significantly since the Autumn with former Leinster attack coach Goodman. Ireland were beaten by NZ in the Autumn, are behind SA and arguably behind France so de facto 4th in order (rankings take time to catch up) As Eddie Jones said Ireland are still in that elite group so England's domination in the first half is noteworthy.

I believe they have spent the time since the Autumn largely on defence. On broken play they were relying on Smiths instint along with some jiggery pokery. For Smiths early line break a Twindaloo blocked Baird which left the gap for smith. It looked like he did Aki, but Baird was a little late arriving and clever play by Tom Curry allowed the gap for Smith. Earls line break was Smith spotting Baird coming out and beating him with a beautiful pass to Earl.

We saw the rehearsed plays for a couple of Ireland's tries. The Aki try was just identifying that England tended to hide Smith on the wing creating a vulnerability which Ireland exploited with one of Akis great finishes.

Although Ireland were relaxing at the end the two English tries were good enough quality and we may see more of it next week (Scotland will also have taken note).

Although on the easier side of the draw Borthwick almost took England to a RWC final.

But in common with the top4 you need to have firepower to get those tries in big games. Can Borthwick manage that? I don't think so.

Next week even if England have a great first half again, you would be looking at France converting 3 of those Irish chances and pushing on after the break.

Can Borthwick develop a plan to beat France in the next few years. If the answer is no England need to find someone who can.

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