Jacques Nienaber is in the fortunate position of not having many injuries to deal with as he approaches his first big act as Springbok coach by announcing a 45-man squad for the British and Irish Lions series on Saturday, but it will be interesting to see how those he does have will affect his plans.
Apart from the players who have retired — Francois Louw, Tendai Mtawarira and Schalk Brits — most of the players who were part of the group that won the World Cup in Japan in 2019 are in the frame for selection to the group that will be named on Saturday night.
With Handré Pollard now back playing again for his French club after a long injury-induced absence and Eben Etzebeth doing the same, Nienaber has the option of building his plans to beat the Lions around the core of the team that started the World Cup final in Yokohama 19 months ago.
The only missing pieces will be the retired Mtawarira and Lood de Jager. The latter and fellow lock RG Snyman, an important player off the bench in 2019, are in rehabilitation. With Warrick Gelant, who was part of the extended Bok group in Japan, it is touch and go whether they will be ready to face the Lions.
The status of the two locks could have a big impact on how the Boks approach the series. The famous Bomb Squad vibe that was created around Rassie Erasmus’s six/two split between forwards and backs on the bench that had such a big influence on the Bok success at the World Cup didn’t just come about because he thought it would be a good strategy.
The identity of the players mattered. He knew he had four world-class locks available in Etzebeth, De Jager, Franco Mostert and Snyman and the talk at the time was how the players who came onto the field were as good as those they replaced. It didn’t apply to just the locks of course, it counted for the front-row too, but it was mostly about the locks.
Versatile back
That is where the decision came in when Erasmus considered the six/two split — sometimes a six/two split involves the selection of an extra loose-forward, but in the Bok case it was about bringing in an extra lock to give them a new, fresh, physical and formidable tight five for the last part of their games.
It is debatable whether the six/two split will be a long-term Bok plan. You need a versatile back who can cover almost all backline positions to be one of the two backline reserves or it is risky. Had a Bok backline player been injured early in one of the knockout games at the World Cup they might have been in trouble.
In that regard, Nienaber should have felt an important part of his jigsaw fitted into place this past weekend when Frans Steyn, the versatile player who filled the role of backline cover in the 2019 Bomb Squad, played most of the 80 minutes of the Cheetahs’ game against an Invitation team in Bloemfontein. He wasn’t a standout and his team lost but Steyn has shown good form since returning from overseas.
On the evidence of the Bloemfontein game the two-time World Cup winner just needs to play a game or two. And he should get that opportunity in the Bok camp, where there are likely to be some intense contact sessions played out as assimilated matches, and in the two Test matches against Georgia.
With Steyn fit and in form, the Bok plan for the World Cup should certainly be a strong consideration for Nienaber due to the importance of winning the Lions series. Erasmus, now in the role of national director of rugby, said in a Zoom media conference that many of the other goals of a Bok coach would be secondary in this series to the need to win at all costs. It was a strong hint that the home team will adopt the same physical, “we will stop the opposition at all costs” war-like footing of a World Cup.
After not playing for more than a year and a half it is vital to the standing of the Bok brand globally and at home that they win the series, almost as important as winning the World Cup was.
But will the six/two split be repeated if one or both of De Jager and Snyman are unavailable?
SA rugby is well blessed with locks and someone such as JD Schickerling has immense potential, as do some of the young Bulls locks, but they don’t have the international standing and experience that is boasted by the duo who are in doubt for the series.
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