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Nkosi in for Kolbe, Duane, Faf return for Boks

rugby08 September 2021 09:30| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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Faf De Klerk & Duane Vermeulen © Getty Images

The Springboks will go into Sunday’s  Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against Australia without their talisman Cheslin Kolbe, but welcomed back hardman Duane Vermeulen and halfback Faf de Klerk to the starting lineup on Wednesday.


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Kolbe received a knock to the leg last week and hasn’t trained since last Friday, and with the team protocols determining a player must be available on the Monday, he will miss out on action this week.

His replacement wasn’t too hard to predict, with S’bu Nkosi moving into the starting lineup to earn his 13th cap for the Boks and was preferred to Aphelele Fassi on the wing for the game.

Nkosi has been the regular stand-in on the right-wing for the Boks in the past and his try-scoring prowess makes him the perfect replacement for Kolbe.

As expected, Vermeulen passed his fitness tests and claims back the No 8 jersey from Jasper Wiese, while De Klerk is back as well and replaces Cobus Reinach at 9 with the Bok axis looking a lot stronger and closer to full strength than in the opening two Rugby Championship games.

But Vermeulen’s return and Franco Mostert’s continued appearance at blindside flank leaves a mouth-watering possibility of a different type of bomb squad, as the Boks opted for three loose forwards on a six-two bench, with Herschel Jantjies and Damian Willemse the only backs among the replacements.

With Mostert, who can move to lock, the versatility of Wiese along with fellow loosies Kwagga Smith and Marco van Staden gives the Boks a potential breakdown threat in the second half where they will use a bit more brains than brawn to stop the Wallaby threat.

And it gives them some intriguing options on how to use the bench in the match, which will be watched carefully.

It also sends out a clear message that the forward battle is a massive one for the Boks and perhaps accounts a bit for the message the Wallabies sent out that they want to try and run the Boks off their feet. 

Players such as Smith, who gets around the park exceptionally well, will be vital for the cause while there is still the power of Wiese that can be used as well.

The backline picks itself and De Klerk’s excellent box-kicking ability as well as his ability to harangue defences makes him a perfect foil around the edges, while Damian de Allende and Luykhanyo Am can take another step forward in claiming themselves as possibly the best midfield combo in world rugby at the moment.

The Boks’ record in Australia is dismal, and while there is confidence in the camp, the last time they won down under was in 2013, and there is a lot of pressure to get things right on Sunday to keep their hopes up of retaining the Rugby Championship title they won in 2019.

The All Blacks have already wiped the floor with the Wallabies but the prospect will be different, and it has been a while that the ball-in-play options will be so high and the attack will be so different for this Springbok team.

The Wallabies, for all their faults right now, have a knack for averting a forward submission and will be looking to do that again. They are a clever team, and one that is a serious threat to the Boks ambitions.

But the Boks will trust themselves and their systems, and there is a lot more confidence in this side now than in a number of previous visits.

Vermeulen and De Klerk’s return will bolster that.

SPRINGBOK TEAM:

Willie le Roux, S’bu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi; Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk; Duane Vermeulen, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements: Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche, Vincent Koch, Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith, Jasper Wiese, Herschel Jantjies, Damian Willemse. 

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