Training ground injury sees Springboks parachute rookie into XV

Jacques Nienaber’s Springboks have been forced into making a change to the starting XV to face the All Blacks next Saturday, replacing Bongi Mbonambi with rookie Joseph Dweba less than 24 hours after originally naming their team for the round two Rugby Championship match in Johannesburg.

South Africa had initially announced a team showing five alterations following their 26-10 win over New Zealand last weekend in Mbombela. It included the benching of round one man of the match Malcolm Marx and the promotion into the starting lineup of Mbonambi, a replacement last Saturday.

However, a training ground injury has now resulted in Mbonambi being scratched from the team with the twice-capped Dweba getting parachuted in to start – with Marx still providing the bench cover. 

A Springboks statement read: “Hooker Joseph Dweba will start Saturday’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park following the withdrawal of Bongi Mbonambi as a precautionary measure after taking a knock to his knee at training on Tuesday afternoon.

“Dweba, who started both Tests he has played to date – against Wales in Bloemfontein in July and Argentina in Nelson Mandela Bay last year – will pack down alongside his former Toyota Cheetahs teammate Ox Nche, with whom he progressed through SA Rugby’s national development pathway, which included featuring together for the Junior Springboks and SA Schools team.

“The experienced Frans Malherbe, who earns his 50th Test cap this weekend, will pack down on the other side of the front row. Mbonambi will go for scans to his knee, but with limited training time left before Saturday’s Test with one field session scheduled for Wednesday and the captains run on Friday, and an important three-match tour to Australia and Argentina ahead as well as the year-end tour, the coaches opted to withdraw Mbonambi for this clash.”

“We have an important Castle Lager Rugby Championship tour coming up and a year-end tour later this year, so we don’t want to take any risks with Bongi,” said Nienaber. “Joseph has been working hard at training and he has been waiting patiently for his chance and we feel that it doesn’t get better than facing the All Blacks, who are one of the best teams in the world. 

“We have a big squad and a large part of the logic around that decision was to ensure that all the players are familiar with our structures and systems and to expose them to Test rugby to build our squad depth with an eye on next year’s Rugby World Cup, so this will be a fantastic opportunity for Joseph.

“Joseph and Ox come a long way together. They have played close to 100 first-class games together and know each other well on and off the field having played together since school level at HTS Louis Botha. They progressed through the SA Rugby junior rugby ranks together before forming a strong combination at the Toyota Cheetahs in the Carling Currie Cup and Guinness PRO14 competitions and we believe their familiarity will give us the best chance in this match.”

It was Tuesday morning when Nienaber originally named a starting XV that saw Jesse Kriel and Jaden Hendrikse replace the suspended Kurt-Lee Ardense and the concussed Faf de Klerk. Three rotational changes saw Duane Vermeulen at No8 for Jasper Wiese, Mbonambi at hooker for Marx and Nche at loosehead for Trevor Nyakane. 

Revised Springboks team (vs All Blacks, Saturday)
15 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 19 caps, 12 pts (1t, 2c, 1p)
14 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 52 caps, 60 pts (12t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 29 caps, 25 pts (5t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 61 caps, 35 pts (7t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 28 caps, 100 pts (20t)
10 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 63 caps, 649 pts (7t, 88c, 141p, 5d)
9 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) – 5 caps, 5 pts (1t)
8 – Duane Vermeulen (Ulster) – 61 caps, 15 pts (3t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 61 caps, 25 pts (5t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 66 caps, 35 pts (7t)
5 – Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 59 caps, 25 pts (5t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Cell C Sharks) – 101 caps, 15 pts (3t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 49 caps, 5pts (1t)
2 – Joseph Dweba (DHL Stormers) – 2 caps, 0 pts
1 – Ox Nche (Cell C Sharks) – 10 caps, 0pts

Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 50 caps, 55 pts (11t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 62 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Vincent Koch (Wasps) 35 caps, 0 pts
19 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 54 caps, 5pts (1t)
20 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 14 caps, 0 pts
21 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 22 caps, 5 pts (1t)
22 – Hershel Jantjies (DHL Stormers) – 22 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 75 caps, 65 pts (13t)