It was not even 9am on day 53 of the World Cup and the sleepy village of Presles, South Africa’s base to the north of Paris, had been shaken awake by two of the biggest stories of the tournament landing within 90 seconds of each other. First, World Rugby confirmed that Bongi Mbonambi would face no charges after Tom Curry’s allegations of racist abuse. Then, South Africa named their team for the World Cup final.
The Springboks had promoted Faf de Klerk and Handre Pollard to start against the All Blacks, which was always the likely decision given they had come on to steady the ship in the semi-final. But with the stakes at their highest, South Africa have taken a gamble with their bench.
Jacques Nienaber, the head coach, had once again named seven forwards, reprising the tactic South Africa first used at Twickenham in August for their record win against the All Blacks and again in the pool stage defeat by Ireland.
The one back selected among the replacements was Willie Le Roux, leaving the Springboks with no specialist back-up scrum half. If De Klerk is unable to play 80 minutes on Saturday night, Cheslin Kolbe, the wing, and then Kwagga Smith, the versatile No 8, have been lined up to step in as an emergency half back. In the World Cup final. South Africa included four specialist scrum halves in their 33-man squad but only one in the matchday 23 to face the All Blacks. Bold.
Vincent Koch, a key member of the scrum that turned the game against England in the semi-final, was not considered for selection because he had been unable to train on Monday. There was no place in the squad for Cobus Reinach or Manie Libbok, South Africa’s starting half backs last weekend. Libbok was hooked half an hour into the game and it will have been little consolation to him that the third announcement of a busy morning confirmed his nomination for World Rugby’s breakthrough player of the year award. Damian Willemse, the full back, will cover Pollard at fly half. Ruthless.
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Siya Kolisi, the captain, said the culture of the Springboks team demanded each player sacrifice his own feelings for the greater good and that he goes through the same process every time he is replaced early in a match.
“When we win, South Africa wins. It doesn’t say this guy started or this guy kicked the winning penalty. When they write the name on the trophy they say South Africa,” Kolisi said.
“When they pick the team they don’t just announce it, they explain to us all the situation. We make peace with it. Everybody has a role to play. Manie really wants to play. He was disappointed but he became Richie Mo’unga [the All Blacks fly half] in training and gave us the best pictures we could get. That’s just how we see it as a team, it’s far bigger than us.”
Nienebar said the selection conversation had lasted “hours and hours” with every possible combination considered before they settled on the starting XV and the most high-risk bench named in a World Cup final. It is not hard to imagine New Zealand targeting De Klerk for some treatment.
The justification sounded thin; not enough to warrant the risk of heading into a World Cup final with only one scrum half. “You always mitigate risk by prepping other people,” Nienaber said. “It will be Cheslin [covering de Klerk]. He played sweeper in sevens which is the equivalent to scrum half. He has always been a guy who, if we got a yellow card, would be the stand in half back, not just this week but for a couple of weeks.” Smith also has a background in sevens and he too has been training at scrum half.
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“You select a team that you think can get a result,” Nienaber added. “The 23 we selected for a reason, and the reason is we think they can deliver and win us a back-to-back World Cup. How did the other guys take it? We explain to the whole squad why we are going a certain route. It is not about individual selection. It is for South Africa.
“As selectors we know there will be pressure on us if we don’t deliver a result, but at the back of our minds we know this selection is for South Africa. The players take it like that. It is not about person or ego, not that they have egos, but you can’t think of that. You have to think about South Africa and the Springboks.
“Manie is unlucky because of the tactics that we think we will deploy. World Cup finals are not necessarily the most spectacular affairs. If you look at past games it is always tight, and this one is going to be tight. It’s going to be a grind.”
The team-first message lands more easily because Nienebar has been working with a host of these players for ten years, including Libbok, from his time coaching on SA Rugby’s player development programme to leading the Springboks.
“Manie was a 17-year-old in a schools side with Damian Willemse,” he said. “They are the same people. They haven’t become big-headed. If they are not selected they take it on the chin as they know it’s for South Africa, just like they did back then. It’s about teaching schoolkids, see how they grow as a person, how they become fathers. How they become men.”
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South Africa team to face New Zealand Damian Willemse; Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian De Allende, Cheslin Kolbe; Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk; Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi (c), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen
Replacements Deon Fourie, Ox Nche, Trevor Nyakane, Jean Kleyn, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Jasper Wiese, Willie le Roux
New Zealand v South Africa
Saturday, 8pm, Paris
TV ITV 1
