LAST UPDATE | 21 Sep 2023
IF THE SPRINGBOKS are feeling any pressure ahead of Saturday’s massive World Cup pool clash with Ireland, they’re certainly not showing it.
There was a notably relaxed atmosphere around South Africa’s team hotel this morning, with the defending world champions tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city in a small, neat town to the north of Paris.
Today was a day off for the players, and as some jumped into taxis and trains to spend a few hours in the city, others chilled out with family and friends in the hotel lobby, the driving rain putting a pin in any hopes of getting out on the golf course.
Not everyone had a clear schedule however, with head coach Jacques Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi up for media duty bright and early for a slot still marked ‘team announcement’ by World Rugby.
But of course, today was not team announcement day for South Africa. The Springboks named their matchday 23 on Tuesday and it’s been the talk of the rugby world since, with Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus opting for the controversial 7/1 split on the bench.
And it has been a controversial decision. While some admire the Boks for accepting the risks involved and backing their forwards to make the desired impact, others have criticised the move, be it for how it could shape the game in the future, or what having seven fresh forwards to call on against tired bodies might mean in terms of player safety.
That issue of player safety has proven to be the biggest talking point this week, and when the topic was raised today, Nienaber made his feelings clear.
“I think if there is innovation in any sport it gets reaction, positive or negative,” he said.
“This is obviously unique, it is the first time a team has named seven forwards and one back on the bench so that is why I would say it’s innovation. That will get reaction.
“In terms of player safety, I don’t get that. I know nothing stops anyone else doing it and it will be a sad day, I think, if you’re innovative in the laws of the game and then they would change that.
“It’s not against the laws of the game and I don’t think it has any bearing on player safety at all.”
The 7/1 split prompted another interesting question about whether South Africa are now at the point where they pick their bench before they select the starting 15.
“That’s a tough one,” Nienaber replied. “In our team, because I don’t know other teams, our bench isn’t necessarily what I would call a bench. Sometimes people get an idea that if you are on the bench you are probably not as good as the guy who starts. But like we have said numerous times, with the team and squad we have here that is not necessarily the case.
“So the front row we select to start the game isn’t necessarily what we would say is a better front row than the one sitting on the bench, and that’s where we’re fortunate.
“I won’t say we start with the bench, we select 23. I know it is probably a cliché but that is genuinely how we do it. They are selected for specific reasons. So the guys who start need to do a specific job, and then the guys on the bench should fulfil a specific role when they get onto the field.
“Let’s forget the 7/1 split for a second,” he continued. “You select a team in a specific way with specific players that you think will get you a result on Saturday. If Malcolm (Marx) was here and we felt he could contribute to get that result, he’d get selected.
“So the 7/1 split, for me it’s just team selection. We select 23 players, and Ireland will select their team based on their belief that that team will be good enough to get a result for them on Saturday. That’s what we did.
“We selected a team, it’s maybe a little bit different, but it’s still just basically team selection.”
Nienaber could have been forgiven for wanting to talk about something else, but instead he answered each question thoughtfully.
Clearly, the 7/1 split has been on their minds for some time. Towards the end of the press conference Nienaber detailed how and when South Africa started to really asses their depth, and ensuring they had players with the necessary versatility to facilitate being able to select a a 6/2 or 7/1 bench split.
“The building depth and strength, we would have probably started it in 2020 but unfortunately Covid took that year away from us. Then we focused on pure performance in 2021 because of the British and Irish Lions series and then in 2022, that’s when we had another opportunity so that’s when it started.
“When we played Wales, our first Test match (in 2022), we beat Wales, then we made 18 changes for the second Test match to find answers in players.
“So 2022 was tough on the team. We had to perform and there was a big expectation of performance within our country and obviously our supporters, and that’s a massive thing for our supporters to stick around us when we lost that second Test match, but the answers we got probably put us in the position where we are currently.
“There’s always method to the madness. There’s a long play at stake as well. So probably I would say in 2022, but we spoke about it just after the (2019) World Cup. It was in our strategic conversations in January 2020, but it couldn’t happen in 2020.”
It’s happening now. At a packed Stade de France on Saturday, Nienaber will find out if the risk was worth it.
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