GAVIN RICH: In-form players in URC give Bok coach a selection headache

The Sharks will have been heartbroken after their last-gasp defeat to the Bulls in their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal but Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber might have drawn some quiet satisfaction from the result.

The kickoff to the series against Wales is now just four weeks away. While the announcement of the squad has been delayed until after the SA involvement in the URC ends, Nienaber and national director of rugby Rassie Erasmus will begin their preparations with a training camp that starts in Pretoria on Monday.

Though it is the Stormers and the Bulls who will be involved in Saturday’s semifinals, it should be the Sharks who will provide the biggest proportion of SA-based players. It will help Nienaber to have the likes of captain Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, front row forwards Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit and a few others in camp.

With Damian Willemse, who was seen as the fullback backup last year, now injured and possibly set to miss the series, the Sharks’ X-factor, fullback Aphelele Fassi, could become a more important player too. Though if Nienaber is looking for an alternative to Willie le Roux, he shouldn’t really be looking beyond the Stormers’ Warrick Gelant.

Gelant was with the Boks at the 2019 World Cup but did not play in the big games. Given his form though, and the ability he has to unlock defences and change the course of the matches he plays him, the former Bulls player could be a catalyst to unlocking the Boks’ attacking game.

Nienaber gave an indication that he was thinking of life after Le Roux when he chose Willemse to wear the No 15 jersey in the first Test of the 2021 November tour against Wales. Unfortunately Willemse was injured early and never got to play again on tour. He was thus denied the experience in the position at international level that drove Nienaber’s selection.

But there shouldn’t be any need to give Gelant extra experience before throwing him into the big Test matches. He is a sublime talent who is at the top of his game and he has all the attacking attributes, and more, that Le Roux has while probably being more reliable in other core aspects of fullback play.

Duane Vermeulen is of course the Bok incumbent at No 8, but with each passing week it is starting to look increasingly more difficult for the claims of Evan Roos to be ignored. Like Gelant, Roos brings a dynamism to his game that sets him apart from his peers.

In that regard, it is going to be interesting to see what Nienaber’s first squad of the year looks like for if there has been one big message to come out of the SA performances in the URC it is that there has been a shift away from the traditional bash and grind that this country was known for in the Super Rugby era.

The Stormers have of course been the standard-bearers this year when it comes to the offload game and if one day all their passes stick, you have to agree with Edinburgh coach Mike Blair that they can beat anyone. But while the Stormers have been a breath of fresh air, so have the Bulls in terms of their willingness to let their offloads and X-factor players do the talking.

The offload game has been the point of difference between the SA and overseas teams for much of the URC season and while no-one would dare suggest to Nienaber that he must move away from the central tenets of a game that works for him, the injection of a bit more attacking ambition could take the Boks to the next level.

We did see the potential for it when the Boks beat the All Blacks in their final Rugby Championship game. Some of their tries were the product of some precocious individual brilliance from the likes of Am.

Talking of Am, it was good to see him back at his best for the Sharks in the quarterfinal. And Mapimpi too. Kolisi also played his best game in a while. Indeed, the Sharks showed glimpses in the Loftus game of just how brilliant they could be if they made better use of the attacking attributes of some of their players. The offloading that led to the Sikhumbuzo Notshe try was as good as any we’ve seen this year and that try, like the one Ruhan Nel scored for the Stormers later, would be in the mix for URC try of the year.

There again, you could say that about several of the tries the SA teams have scored this year. The forwards and the physical game are still tops, but when calls are made for the Boks to be more prepared to attack with ball in hand, the old excuse that they are not used to playing like that is no longer valid. They are. The proof is there every week.