VIDEO: Final selection - the key questions
SPOTLIGHT: Coaches, generally, don’t tend to change much ahead of a major Final.
Yet, there are some interesting posers, certainly for the South African selectors, ahead of their World Cup Final face-off against New Zealand at Stade de France in Paris on Saturday.
Coach Jacques Nienaber has, repeatedly in the last two months, soft-pedalled selection questions.
He did the same ahead of the Final, after squeaking past England (16-15) in a fiery clash at the weekend.
Does he start with Handre Pollard or Manie Libbok at No.10?
Faf de Klerk or Cobus Reinach at No.9?
Willie le Roux or Damian Willemse at fullback?
Does Ox Nche or Steven Kitshoff start at loosehead prop?
Should RG Snyman start or continue to make his impact off the bench?
There are a few others, but these are certainly talking points ahead of Thursday’s team announcement.
Nienaber was giving nothing away.
(Watch as Jacques Nienaber discusses team selection for the World Cup Final …)
“Sometimes when we select a team there’s a big thing about the bench – whether it’s a seven-one, or five-three, or a six-two, or a four-four on the bench [ratio of forwards to backs],” he straight-batted the question again.
“The main thing is, it’s a squad of 33 players and everyone has a role or responsibility.
“The fact that the ‘bomb squad’ – or the guys coming off the bench – came on to the field is because the guys who started, laid the foundations and that is what people miss.
“They see the performance of the guys coming on, but you don’t know how much the starters took out of the team they are playing against.
“It is something we discuss with the players and they understand how it works.
“We don’t have an A and a B side – sometimes we start with Ox [Nche] and [Steven] Kitshoff is on the bench.
“We don’t operate like that.”
Assistant coach Deon Davids wasn’t giving anything away either, but admitted preparation is going to be #VITAL this week.
“It is a fantastic and exciting week that lies ahead of us,” he told a media briefing.
“Our battles with the All Blacks, there is a lot of history between us.
“We have played them a couple of times this year, but going into a World Cup final I don’t think any of those previous encounters count.”
The All Blacks won 35-20 in the Rugby Championship encounter in Auckland back in July, while the Springboks returned the favour with a comprehensive 35-7 drubbing at Twickenham in the World Cup warm-up match in August.
“It is a totally new game, under new circumstances, playing for the World Cup,” Davids said of the Final, adding: “We will have to be on top of our plan and our execution this week.
“You can see that throughout the competition New Zealand have been playing excellent rugby.
“They are also in a really good space, so it is going to be a hard-fought battle on Saturday and we need to make sure we tick a lot of boxes in our preparation.”
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