Jacques Nienaber confirms Springboks' back-up No9 after unorthodox bench call

South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has confirmed that winger Cheslin Kolbe will serve as back-up to Faf de Klerk at scrum-half in the World Cup final after choosing to not name a No9 on the bench.

Nienaber has opted for a 7-1 split on the bench against the All Blacks at the Stade de France, with fullback Willie le Roux being the only back on the bench, meaning he has chosen to forgo a scrum-half reserve. That is a move that is very seldom seen in any form of professional rugby, but Nienaber feels left wing Kolbe can deputise for de Klerk based on his experience as a sweeper playing sevens.

“In our case it will be Cheslin (Kolbe),” Nienaber said after naming his squad. “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.”

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The starting half-back combination for the quarter-final and semi-final of Cobus Reinach and Manie Libbok are out of the squad entirely, as the Springboks have opted for the 2019 World Cup winning pairing of de Klerk and Handre Pollard.

Fly-half Pollard produced a player of the match winning performance from the bench against England in the semi-final, and has been rewarded with a start. Another player who had a vital role from the bench was tighthead Vincent Koch. However, he has dropped out of the squad entirely, with Trevor Nyakane taking his place on the bench.

Nienaber also explained why the Stade Francais prop missed out. He said: “Vincent Koch couldn’t train on Monday and we have a policy that if you can’t train on a Monday you are not up for selection.

“From a performance point of view, there is not a big gap. As coaches you always mitigate risk by prepping other people.