The fear that this year’s Rugby World Cup may be decided by an ill-timed yellow or red card hasn’t escaped the defending champions.
The Springboks will go into the tournament in France not just as the team in their opponent’s crosshairs, but their uncompromising physicality and accompanying high velocity impact make them potential candidates for scrutiny by match officials — whether in an act of malfeasance, or overzealousness.
Law amendments that err on the side of caution when it comes to dangerous play, especially head contact, have stripped the game of much of its primal nature.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is aware of the threat but, instead of toning down, he wants his players to approach the problem head-on — legally, that is. “The only thing we can do is to try to mitigate that risk by making sure we are technically sound,” said Nienaber in relation to the way his team tackles and contests for the high ball.
If you play a confrontational game, you always bring risk. We must make sure our fundamentals are squeaky clean
— Jacques Nienaber, Springbok coach
“If you look at the South African style of play, we are confrontational. Our box kicks are because you pull a team into a contest in the air. Our line speed too, because we try to force turnovers and get transition attacks. If you play a confrontational game you always bring risk. We must make sure our fundamentals are squeaky clean,” assured the coach.
SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus was keen to stress the Boks, compared to their foes in the south, largely play by the book. “We are the best disciplined team in the Rugby Championship, by far. The yellow cards we got were for repeated infringements and the reds happened by accident.”
Apart from amending the way they go into the contact areas, the Boks have been seeking to bring variety to their play.
The Boks have always possessed the ability to grind but they now pose wider threats than at any RWC they’ve attended. “We didn’t have that in 2019,” admits Erasmus.
Though it is not their default setting, the Springboks — on their most recent end-of-year tour — were bolder, if not more audacious with ball in hand. “We did play differently but that is not the way we necessarily want to play in the RWC. But we actually want to make sure we can swing between the two styles when needed,” said Erasmus.
Best 33 players
To play with variety, however, means they need to assemble personnel that can do so.
The fact that RWC squads can now be 33-strong helps smooth that path. Erasmus says they want to select “the best 33 players, who are healthy and can adapt to any game plan”.
The last point pushes them to consider the virtues of players who can cover multiple positions.
More than ever, players with dynamism and who can engineer transition in attack, are likely to crack the nod as the scrap for first-phase ball has lost some prominence.
On average, you might see 15 scrums and as many lineouts in a match, but breakdowns account for much more combat in the scrap for possession.
They may, for instance, select three scrumhalves for the RWC, at the expense of a specialist wing, in the knowledge one is easily replaceable through an overnight flight to Paris.
Dressed to the nines
That puts players like the Sharks’ Grant Williams (9 and wing) and Cobus Reinach (9 and wing), Damian Willemse (10, 12, 15), Cheslin Kolbe (14, 11, 15, 9) among the backs, as well as Franco Mostert (lock and flank), Deon Fourie (flank and hooker), Kwagga Smith (6, 7, 8) and Pieter-Steph du Toit (flank, lock) very much in the frame.
The Boks will of course also rely heavily on players who have done it all before. In flyhalf Handré Pollard, they have a player they see as an insurance policy when games are in the balance. “Handré has done it for us there,” said Erasmus in relation to Pollard’s ice in the veins goal-kicking.
“Manie (Libbok), apart from one (URC) game, has a really good percentage kicking at goal. With Damian (Willemse), because he’s been playing 10, 12 and 15, we will have to have another good goal-kicker with him when he’s the goal-kicker,” said Erasmus.
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