The Star E-dition

Bok ‘Bomb Squad’ doesn’t have right tools

ASHFAK MOHAMED Comment

JACQUES Nienaber mentioned that Steven Kitshoff remarked that the Springbok “Bomb Squad” was back together again when he told the players who would be in the match-23 for tomorrow’s Rugby Championship clash against the Wallabies in Brisbane.

When the Bok coach asked the loosehead prop what he had meant, the Stormers No 1 said that the last time he had been alongside Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch on the bench was for the 2019 Rugby World Cup final against England.

Kitshoff is back on the bench after Trevor Nyakane was handed a start for the Lang Park showdown.

But the rest of the Bomb Squad is not together, and that contributed to the lacklustre performance in last week’s 28-26 defeat to Australia on the Gold Coast.

On that magical November

2019 night in Yokohama, the Boks had two locks in RG Snyman and Franco Mostert on the bench – with Francois Louw as loose-forward cover – and the two second-rowers made a huge difference when they came on, Mostert for the injured Lood de Jager in the 21st minute and Snyman for Eben Etzebeth in the 59th.

Fast-forward to last Sunday, and the Boks had three loose forwards among the substitutes – Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith and Jasper Wiese – with no locks. The plan is for Mostert, who started at No 7, to move to lock in the second half, but that cannot have the same impact as a fresh Snyman and Mostert coming on in the second row.

And it didn’t work out. While

Van Staden, Smith and Wiese are all good rugby players, they are not locks and don’t possess the physical attributes that Mostert and Snyman do. The latter is unfortunately still injured and now back in Ireland at Munster, while Mostert has had to fill in for the injured Pieter-Steph du Toit at blindside flank.

A better solution last week would have been to play a specialist No 7, like Jean-Luc du Preez or Rynhardt Elstadt, and have Mostert come on at lock in the second half.

But Nienaber has stuck with the same formula for tomorrow’s match, and it just does not make sense.

The situation has been worsened by the concussion-related absence of De Jager, which sees Marvin Orie come in at No 5. It would’ve been interesting to see whether Orie would have been on the bench if De Jager had been ready to play, but I doubt it.

You cannot expect Van Staden, Smith and Wiese to provide the same physicality and presence that a specialist lock would, nor can Mostert produce the required energy when moving to the second row in the second half after running around at flank up to that point.

Nienaber said this week that the Boks try to think “as unemotional about team selection as possible” when asked about the make-up of the six-two bench split in favour of the forwards, as well as whether he thought about bringing in a recognised goal-kicker such as Morne Steyn or Elton Jantjies, after Handre Pollard missed three shots at the posts and Damian Willemse one.

But you need the necessary tools to do the job, and at the moment, the Boks don’t look like they have the right mix in terms of reserves or game plan.

SPORT

en-za

2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/281925956146051

African News Agency