There was is a dose of experimentation in the Springbok backline to face New Zealand on Friday in London, but the forward pack is at its beefy best as coach Jacques Nienaber concludes his six-match build-up to the World Cup in France.
The big talking point is the selection of Canan Moodie at outside centre. The motivation is two-pronged: The Boks have vulnerable depth at No 13 following the injury to Lukhanyo Am, but there is also a desire to see the hugely gifted 20-year-old closer to the ball.
Moodie is a rare talent. A natural athlete, he has an instinct for knowing what to do in the trickiest of situations and has the innate ability to make difficult things look easy.
When you consider the surfeit of excellent wings at Nienaber’s disposal, the experiment of playing one of them at No 13 makes perfect sense, but will Moodie be able to hit the ground running?
Nienaber says Moodie is not as unfamiliar with the position as the public might think.
“Playing Canan at outside centre has been in the back of our minds for a long time,” the coach explained.
“Obviously Jesse Kriel can start there and he was in great form there last week against Wales, but we need other options with Lukey (Am) injured.
“We could move Damian de Allende to No 13, with Andre Esterhuizen so solid at 12, but we are very comfortable with giving Canan a crack. He has been running at 13 at training quite a bit and for some time.”
Speaking of Am, Nienaber said that he needs about two weeks to get over his knee injury and then would require another week or so to get ready to play.
Flyhalf Handre Pollard, on the other hand, is “on the edge of being ready to play.”
But the coach reiterated that neither of these players can be slotted into the World Cup squad before France.
“We have submitted our 33 names to World Rugby. We can only replace players who get injured at
the World Cup,” he said.
The pack for Friday’s Twickenham clash is pretty much as good as it gets for the Boks. It is a classy combination and with six more forwards on the bench, there is serious firepower.
“I guess there is a fair amount of change in the backs from last week in Cardiff but if you look at the forwards, there is a lot of continuity. Only Eben Etzebeth and Trevor Nyakane were not involved in Cardiff — 12 of the forwards were in action,” Nienaber said.
It goes without saying that the
All Blacks will be an entirely different proposition to the second-string Wales team of last week.
“The All Blacks will provide a different challenge to Wales, and we believe this group of players is the right mix for this match,” said Nienaber.
“New Zealand play a high-tempo game, and they turn on the intensity from the starting whistle as they showed in Auckland, so it’s vital that we start well this week.
“We took the lessons from that match, and we’ve built good momentum since, so this will be a fantastic test before we enter our Rugby World Cup campaign.
“Our objective since the beginning of the season was to strike a balance between performance and managing player load with only six Test matches to get ready for the World Cup, and we are pleased with the way we have developed in that regard.”
SPRINGBOKS
Starting XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Willie le Roux
@MikeGreenaway67