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Springboks explain why they are revisiting a shelved 2018 tactic

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber has explained the logic behind the decision to revisit a selection plan they had to abandon in 2018 regarding Jesse Kriel, the 27-year-old whose inclusion in next Saturday’s team to face Wales is one of three changes from the XV that last month defeated the All Blacks. More typically known as a midfielder, Kriel has been named on the right wing to take on the Welsh after Sbu Nkosi was delayed travelling to the UK due to a need to have the necessary paperwork.

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Kriel won the last of his 48 Springboks caps in August versus Argentina, going on to be an unused squad member during the recent four-match leg of the Rugby Championship which took place in Australia. Despite being without involvement in any sort of a match in more than eleven weeks, Nienaber has decided the time is now right to not only include Kriel to face Wales but to also select him in a position he was last chosen in versus the All Blacks in Wellington in September 2018. 

The coach is looking forward to seeing what now unfolds more than three years later in a selection that sees Damian Willemse at full-back for Willie le Roux due to rotation and Herschel Jantjies at scrum-half in place of the injured Faf de Klerk.

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“Jesse has played on the wing for us before so it is not an experiment,” insisted Nienaber about Kriel after confirming his Springboks XV to take on a Welsh team hurting from last Saturday’s hammering by the All Blacks. “We know that he can do it for us. He did it for us against the All Blacks in Wellington in 2018 – he started for us on the wing.

“Then with the rotation that we made at 15, Jesse is nice for us in terms of bringing some organisational skills, some experience in terms of almost 50 Test caps. Rotating a guy like Willie with 70 Test caps does leave an opportunity for someone with experience and that is the reason why we decided to put Jesse in there.

“Jesse has trained well with us over the last couple of weeks that we have been together. With Damian, we always as a team want to develop, want to win, want to transform and want to create squad depth and this is an ideal opportunity for us to get some experience into guys in this end-of-year tour with a view to continuing to win.” Reflecting on why Kriel hasn’t played as the Springboks No14 since 2018, Nienaber added: “It was something that we spoke about (doing more) back then. We selected him at 14 for that Test match but then Lukhanyo broke his arm and the guy who was benching for Jesse in that Test match was Cheslin (Kolbe). 

“Jesse moved into 13 with Lukhanyo departing with his injury and then Cheslin came on and from then on Jesse played 13 for the majority of that year and Cheslin started cementing himself in that 14 position. We didn’t have an opportunity then after that. 

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“We took Jesse to the World Cup and we probably would have given him some opportunity there as well but in the first Test match against New Zealand he injured himself and that took him out of the rest of the World Cup. It was something that we spoke about (doing again) but it just didn’t materialise.”

Next Saturday will be just the fourth start for 23-year Willemse and rather than being upset at losing the No15 shirt, Nienaber reported that le Roux is helping the rookie full-back to make a success of his young rival’s inclusion. “Every player brings something different and when we announced the team to the players we said Willie has played the majority of the Tests since we came back in 2018 and we know what we have in Willie.

“I said if we had to play a World Cup final on the weekend we would probably select Willie because of his experience, because of what he has done for us in the past. This is the ideal situation to give Damian an opportunity. We haven’t given him an extended opportunity (in the past) where he can play and settle himself into the full-back position. 

“We said to Willie, please help us develop him and Aphelele (Fassi, another rookie 23-year-old). It is a little side project and Willie is feeding as much information as he can into them. But in saying that Aphelele, Damian and Willie, they are different players, different X-factors, different skill sets… they have to bring their own specialness to the game.”

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Meanwhile, de Klerk’s injury-enforced absence always meant there was a vacancy at No9. However, rather than pair Cobus Reinach with Handre Pollard, his Montpellier club colleague, Nienaber looked instead to Jantjies, a scrum-half who has only started twice before for the Springboks.  

“Herschel is probably in the same bracket as Damian. It is a nice opportunity for us to get Herschel a bit of a run starting. We know what we have in Cobus, we know what we have in Faf and Herschel has been training well and has done really well if you think of the games Faf got injured. For us, it is a nice opportunity to develop the game-driving skill set in starting for us. That is the nice thing of having Herschel and Cobus here.”

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Jon 5 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

30 Go to comments
A
Adrian 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 12 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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