Libbok gets the nod as Springboks ready for France

South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has named his matchday 23 to face France at Stade de France this Sunday, 15 October (21:00 CET).

In the starting XV, Cobus Reinach and Manie Libbok are preferred at scrum-half and fly-half to Faf de Klerk and Handre Pollard respectively, while Duane Vermeulen starts at number eight ahead of Jasper Wiese, who drops out of the 23 altogether.

While Nienaber had previously experimented with the much talked about 7-1 split (of forwards and backs) on the bench against Ireland, they have now opted for a more traditional 5-3 split, for the second consecutive match and third time at RWC 2023.

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There are 13 of the 15 players who started against Ireland in round three, with the only two changes coming at scrum-half and number eight, while there are 14 players in this match-day squad from the last time South Africa played France, in the 2022 Autumn Nations Series, including Libbok, who made his debut.

SPRINGBOKS TEAM TO FACE FRANCE IN PARIS

1 Steven Kitshoff
2 Mbongeni Mbonambi
3 Frans Malherbe
4 Eben Etzebeth
5 Franco Mostert
6 Siya Kolisi (c)
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit
8 Duane Vermeulen
9 Cobus Reinach
10 Manie Libbok
11 Cheslin Kolbe
12 Damian de Allende
13 Jesse Kriel
14 Kurt-Lee Arendse
15 Damian Willemse

Replacements:
16 Deon Fourie
17 Ox Nche
18 Vincent Koch
19 RG Snyman
20 Kwagga Smith
21 Faf de Klerk
22 Handre Pollard
23 Willie Le Roux

South Africa boasts a wealth of experience with seven players in the match-day squad who have played in each of their last two Rugby World Cup quarter-finals (2015 and 2019): Willie Le Roux, Damian de Allende, Handre Pollard, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Duane Vermeulen and Pieter-Steph du Toit.

This will be only the third time Reinach has started alongside Libbok at half-back.

“If you look at a guy like Cobus, he is playing exceptional rugby, and Faf for that matter,” explained Nienaber.

“It’s the same with Manie [Libbok]. Handre [Pollard] is a bit different, when you look at the cumulative number of minutes he has played for us this year. It is probably one game altogether, so he is slowly building up his minutes. And Manie is probably our in-form fly-half. I think we have lost one game this year when he has started at 10. The team performs when he starts at 10, it is as simple as that.”

Libbok has converted 55% of his kicks at goal at RWC 2023, while Pollard, who averages 15.7 points per game in RWC knock-out games, kicked 100% from the tee when he came on against Tonga.

Pollard, who is on the bench, scored 19 points against France the last time he played at this venue in 2018, kicking a perfect seven out of seven attempts.

“I know Handre came back and kicked 100% in the last game, but I think Manie did too. Any player can have an off day but when you play knockout games, you are not going to get many opportunities. So when we get them, we must use them.”

There is no place in the squad for World Cup 2019 winner, Lukhanyo Am, who joined the squad recently due to an injury to winger Makazole Mapimpi.

“The beauty of our squad is we had the ability to rotate and rest and manage their load. Hopefully that will carry us through. Lukhanyo [Am] has not had much exposure because of his injury, but he looks good in training. It’s the same with Jasper [Wiese], there is no reason why they might not get selected in a semi-final. We believe we have a team to match the strengths and expose the weaknesses of France, although there are not a lot of weaknesses there.”