Boks keep faith with same squad for semis

The Springboks kept the faith with the same team that won an epic quarterfinal to oust hosts France on Sunday, for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semifinal against England in Paris.

While a lot of the squad looked battered and bruised after one of the best knockout games in Rugby World Cup history, it is clear the Boks have settled on the same squad as a mark of confidence to try and carry them into the World Cup final and a chance to defend their 2019 crown.

The @Springboks are unchanged ahead of Saturday's semi-final against England 🇿🇦🆚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

This is only the second time in 64 tests that the Boks have named the same team as the previous week 💪#StrongerTogether | #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/Nsz0GmCxDX

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 19, 2023

While there may have been some consideration to bring in players such as Jasper Wiese and Andre Esterhuizen, the Boks decided against this in selecting their squad of 23.

There was also a bit of smoke and mirrors this week when Canan Moodie turned up for media interviews - normally the job of the match day 23 - and just afterwards Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus told the English media waiting who their side would be.

But in the end the Boks backed the squad that has got them this far, and the team that did the business to put the World Cup hosts out of the competition.

Coach Jacques Nienaber said that the performance against France was the catalyst to back the same team going into the World Cup semifinal.

“It’s always going to be a tough team selection for us because the gap between the players is very small. There were some great performances on the weekend and the guys put in some big performances as a team, so we decided to go with the same,” he said.

The Boks have managed their squad well, with the average minutes the same across the entire team, and believe despite the epic battle on Sunday that they will have a fresh squad to take on Steve Borthwick’s team on Saturday.

“We always said, especially if you look at the World Cup, that it is a long road - seven games, seven top quality games and we felt managing the load is an important thing for us to do. The squad depth that we built in 2022 gave us the opportunity. You can’t manage workload and go off on performances, and I think we did that very well this year in the Rugby Championship, we tried to rotate to make sure that everybody is fresh so that if we have to push on anybody’s button now, and substitute someone at the business end of the competition, that they have had enough exposure and game time with the team so that there is good continuity,” Nienaber added.

And his message to the team was simple: “This is what you live for, this is where you want to be. We said today if we took us all back six years ago and you would have said you are going to play in the semifinal of a World Cup in the quest of defending a World Cup, would you have taken it - yes you would have taken it. This is what you wished for for six years, to be in this position.

“For us it is an absolute privilege and honour to be in this position.”

FOUR FACTORS

There were many factors in the win over France that impressed Nienaber, but the main one was the side’s workrate and the fact that they were efficient in turning opportunities into points when it mattered.

“Our setpieces, and especially our scrum was good on the day. And just the workrate, the effort and opportunities we got. Every opportunity we got we used and in big games like that it is about creating opportunities and then you must take the opportunities. The pleasing thing for me is the opportunities we created, we took advantage of and turned that into points.”

Nienaber added that the team didn’t need motivation ahead of the game, as defending their title was enough.

“Internal motivation. If this was Argentina or irrespective of which team it is, it is England in this case. We don’t have beef with England - they might, and I don’t know what is going on in their camp. But for us we want to defend the World Cup. That was our mission in 2020. Irrespective of who was the semifinalist, they are the next team that we focus on. If it was Fiji it was Fiji, if it was England it was England.

“For us this is our semifinal, they are a team that got there and deserved to get there, just like us. It is two teams that are in form and we have to make sure that we prepare as best we can during the week and then on Saturday we have to go out and execute.

“And we have to take our opportunities just like we did this last weekend against France.”

England are due to name their squad later on Thursday.

Springbok team to face France in Paris:

15 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers)

14 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls)

13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles)

12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights)

11 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath)

10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers)

9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier)

8 – Duane Vermeulen (SA Rugby)

7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz)

6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92)

5 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat)

4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks)

3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers)

2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks)

1 – Steven Kitshoff (Ulster)

Replacements:

16 – Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers)

17 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks)

18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks)

19 – RG Snyman (Munster)

20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs)

21 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles)

22 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers)

23 – Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls)