VIDEO: Faf drops surprising scrumhalf hint
Cheslin Kolbe has been formally ‘listed’ as the back-up scrumhalf for South Africa and the World Cup Final against New Zealand in Paris on Saturday.
However, starting No.9 Faf de Klerk has revealed that one of the forwards has been training to help out at scrumhalf as well.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber was adamant that his seven-one bench split (in favour of the forwards) is no more of a risk than a five-three split – even though the only back in reserve is Willie le Roux.
That leaves De Klerk, who also covers flyhalf, as the only specialist No.9 in the matchday 23 for the historic face-off at Stade de France on Saturday.
Nienaber said selecting a team is about which combination (all 23) is best suited to beat the All Blacks on Saturday.
“The team is not 15, it is 23,” the coach said ahead of Saturday’s #BIG match – which will see one of the two teams lift the Webb Ellis Cup for a record fourth time.
“We always say that.
“When you do squad selection, there are a lot of things that influence that – from medical to past performances and a lot of analysis into New Zealand and where we think we can get the edge on them.
“Then the discussions start between the coaches and it goes from a five-three to a six-two and a seven-one, then it goes back again.
“It is not a 10-minute discussion, it is hours and hours”.
Nienaber said from a performance point of view, there is not a big gap between all the players and options at their disposal.
“As coaches, you always mitigate risk by prepping other players.
“In our case, it will be Cheslin [Kolbe] who will cover scrumhalf [against New Zealand],” he said.
“He played sweeper in Sevens, which is the equivalent of scrumhalf in the 15-man game.
“He has always been a guy who, if we got a yellow card, would be the stand-in scrumhalf, not just this week but for a couple of weeks.”
(WATCH as veteran scrumhalf Faf de Klerk reveals who has really been training as the team’s backup scrumhalf…)
However, De Klerk has revealed that Kolbe is not the only player who trained as scrumhalf.
He added he will also not ‘hold back’ to save himself and last the full 80 minutes.
“We’ve played like this before and I’ve played a lot of 80-minute games in my life,” De Klerk said.
“If you’re going to pace yourself to last 80 minutes, you’re going to lose this game.
“You have to go flat-out from the start and give it your all.”
Then he dropped a big hint about who else is being prepared to back up at No.9.
“Luckily, we’ve got Kwagga [Smith] covering No.9 as well, as he doesn’t get tired, so that’s fine.
“Cheslin has also been training there, so we’ve got back-up – so it doesn’t bother me.
“I will give my all from the start.
“However, hopefully, I can be there at the end when we win.
“It [seven-one bench split] doesn’t change my approach.
“I just have to make sure I’m recovered well for the game.”
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