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Wounded Springboks make two changes for their Wallabies rematch

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Jacques Nienaber has reacted to the Springboks’ last-gasp Rugby Championship defeat to Australia last Sunday on the Gold Coast by making two changes to his starting team for this Saturday’s rematch versus the Wallabies in Brisbane. Sealed by a clock-in-the-red penalty kick from Quade Cooper, the defeat was a sickening blow for South Africa in what was their first away match since their World Cup final win over England in Japan in November 2019.

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However, rather than ring across the board changes to his selection, Nienaber has limited himself to just two alterations, Marvin Orie taking over at lock from the concussed Lood de Jager, and Trevor Nyakane getting picked at loosehead prop with Steven Kitshoff dropping to the replacements.

Nyakane, who boasts 48 Test caps, and Orie last ran out for the Springboks in last month’s second Championship clash against Argentina in Port Elizabeth, and elsewhere Nienaber has again opted for a six/two split of forwards and backs on the bench. Back rowers Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith and Jasper Wiese are chosen as subs along with front-rowers Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch, with Herschel Jantjies and Damian Willemse continuing to provide cover in the backline.

Video Spacer

Last Sunday’s match-winner Quade Cooper reflects his performance versus the Springboks

Video Spacer

Last Sunday’s match-winner Quade Cooper reflects his performance versus the Springboks

“This is an experienced group of players who knows what it takes to deliver under pressure and we all know what we need to do to bounce back from last week’s defeat,” said Nienaber, who resisted the possibility of leaving out Handre Pollard or sub Willemse after their unconvincing effort last weekend. There is also no return for winger Cheslin Kolbe as he is still on the injured list.

“Trevor is a Rugby World Cup-winning prop and his experience, as well as Steven’s experience off the bench, will be valuable against the Wallabies, who place a big emphasis on the scrums, much like we do. Marvin has also been in our system for a while. He has been working hard at training, and this will be another great opportunity for him.

“We identified the areas in which we need to be more effective this week, and we have been working hard at training to rectify the mistakes we made, so the key for us will be to be as competitive as possible in every contest during the match so that we can lay a good foundation to attack from and to use our point-scoring chances.”

Nienaber is expecting another quality performance from the Wallabies. “Australia were desperate to win last week, and it showed in the way they played,” said the Springboks coach, for whom this is his first Rugby Championship as head coach. “There is no doubt the result would have given them confidence, so we are expecting to them deliver a similarly driven performance this week. That said, we created sufficient opportunities to win last week but we didn’t capitalise on them.”

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SPRINGBOKS (vs Australia, Saturday)
15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 67 caps, 60 pts (12t)
14 – Sbu Nkosi (Cell C Sharks) – 13 caps, 40 pts (8t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 20 caps, 20 pts (4t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Munster) – 52 caps, 30 pts (6t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 19 caps, 80 pts (16t)
10 – Handré Pollard (vice-captain, Montpellier) – 54 caps, 532 pts (6t, 83c, 108p, 4d)
9 – Faf de Klerk (Sale Sharks) – 33 caps, 25 pts (5t)
8 – Duane Vermeulen (Vodacom Bulls) – 55 caps, 15 pts (3t)
7 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 45 caps, 5pts (1t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 57 caps, 30 pts (6t)
5 –Marvin Orie (DHL Stormers) – 6 caps, 0 pts
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Toulon) – 91 caps, 15 pts (3t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 44 caps, 5 pts (1t)
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (DHL Stormers) – 42 caps, 45 pts (9t)
1 – Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls) – 48 caps, 5pts (1t)
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 40 caps, 45 pts (9t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 53 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Vincent Koch (Saracens) – 25 caps, 0 pts
19 – Marco van Staden (Leicester Tigers) – 7 caps, 0 pts
20 – Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo) – 13 caps, 5 pts (1t)
21 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 6 caps, 0 pts
22 – Herschel Jantjies (DHL Stormers) – 15 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 13 caps, 5pts (1t)

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J
JW 41 minutes ago
Let's be real about these All Blacks

I didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.


What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.


Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.


There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..

Whilst these All Blacks aren’t blowing teams off the park like during the 2010s, they are nuggety and resourceful and don’t wilt. They are prepared to win the hard way, accumulating points by any means necessary.

and..

The other top sides in the world struggled to put them away. France and South Africa both could have well been defeated on home soil.

I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍

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