Kolbe at fullback for Boks against Ireland

The Springbok coaches have gone through with what was hinted last week by selecting Cheslin Kolbe at fullback for Saturday’s opening tour match against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

National director of rugby Rassie Erasmus threw out the possibility of playing Kolbe in the No 15 jersey ahead of Willie le Roux during the squad announcement press conference last Friday. However, he said he was not saying the Boks would definitely make that selection, it was just a possibility. On Tuesday though it became reality.

Kolbe started out his career playing fullback for the Stormers and Western Province and has also played several positions for the French club teams he has represented, but he has been used almost exclusively on the wing by the Boks. Kolbe has been out of action at international level since fracturing his jaw in the final and deciding test against Wales in Cape Town in mid-July, but he has been in excellent form for Toulon in the French Top 14 since returning to the playing field in early October.

With Kurt-Lee Arendse playing on the right wing, it means that the South Africans will have two players of relatively diminutive stature in their back three, something that would be seen as a massive gamble by most coaches. But Erasmus has never been one who is afraid of thinking out of the box, and most of his plans and experiments come off.

“Cheslin at fullback, that’s an exciting option,” said Erasmus right at the end of the team announcement press conference last Friday.

“We are going to have to filter our squad down to 33 for the World Cup and you want players who are versatile. There will be some difficult calls. And right now we play the No 1 (Ireland) and No 2 (France) in the world and while I know you shouldn’t take chances in games like that, maybe you need to with a World Cup coming up. These are the actual games where you might try something like that.

“If a Kurt-Lee (Arendse) is fully on form and a Mapimpi is fully on form, and Damian is playing 10, then why not play Cheslin at 15? I’m not saying it is definitely going to happen — Kurt-Lee can also play at 15 for us, and there are a few guys in the SA ‘A’ pool but, yes, he is a realistic option to play 15.”

The selection of Kolbe and Arendse into the Bok back three is one of three changes to the starting team from the last time the Boks played, which was the final Castle Lager Rugby Championship game against Argentina in Durban on the Heritage Day public holiday. Canan Moodie, now injured, was on the right wing in that game, with Arendse coming back from suspension off the bench, while Willie le Roux was at fullback.

The experienced le Roux moves to the bench for the Aviva Stadium clash and will be covering several backline positions, but particularly fullback and flyhalf, as coach Jacques Nienaber continues with the six/two split between forwards and backs.

Damian Willemse, the starting flyhalf in two Rugby Championship games following the injury to Handre Pollard that has kept him out of the current tour, is back at No 10 as the other change to the starting team. Willemse missed the Kings Park clash because he was concussed in the first game against the Los Pumas in Buenos Aires.

The retention of the rest of the team that did duty against the Pumas in Durban was anticipated, and the bench is mostly what would have been anticipated too. There are changes there though, with Duane Vermeulen dropping out as he’s not on tour and being replaced by the energetic Stormers flanker Deon Fourie, who joins Kwagga Smith as the loose-forward backup. Franco Mostert continues as the lock back-up, while Le Roux takes up the bench position vacated by Arendse’s promotion to the starting team.

With Faf de Klerk on the bench as Jaden Hendrikse continues as the No 9, Kolbe looks set to take on the additional responsibility of being the place-kicking back-up/partnership with Willemse, a job he has done for his French clubs.