By Lucky Vince Pienaar
Ten changes in the Springboks’ run-on side may indicate a touch of recklessness, or worse, a touch of arrogance, but their mighty bench can always be counted on to come to the rescue.
Not one of the tight five for Saturday’s match can claim to be the best in their position, but it hardly matters given the Australian forwards they have to play against.
Expect the Springbok loose forwards to run wild. Initially, they will have to do the softening-up work on defence, but later on, the Wallabies will be unable to contain their attack.
Morne van den Berg and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu may in time become the Boks’ scrumhalf and flyhalf of choice (and the World Cup is closer than one thinks).
Makazole Mapimpi coming on for Kurt-Lee Arendse is no surprise. And Cheslin Kolbe retaining his position is no surprise either as he didn’t get much of an opportunity last week.
Lukhanyo Am and Jesse Kriel may be the best defensive centre-pairing in the game so there’s no problem there.
Aphelele Fassi will understand how important it is for him to deliver his very best-ever performance. Willie le Roux will certainly not go to the World Cup, but there are many red-hot candidates for the fullback position.
Interestingly, there is no obvious fullback on the bench. When Fassi comes off, will Pollard (not the greatest defender in the game) go on at the back? When Sacha comes off, will Manie Libbok take his place?
There is little to prove for the Springboks this week. The Boks were really good last time out, but they made mistakes. Given that they were almost a new team and playing their lightning-fast game, they did incredibly well. This will again be tested this weekend.
Of course, a player who doesn’t do well against these Wallabies could drop out of the mix altogether.
For Australia, hopefully, Joe Schmidt won’t go crazy with his team. The existing guys need to get back on the horse, no matter how hard they fell off last week. For several reasons, including the future of Wallabies rugby, one hopes they will do much better this time.
The Springboks run-on team: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
Bench: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nché, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Handré Pollard
Australia v South Africa, Saturday 11.45am, Optus Stadium, Perth.
Pictured above: Springboks.
Source: Springboks/X
