VIDEO: Boks' kicking mystery solved
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said the coaching staff is leaving it up to the players to decide who will take the responsibility for goal-kicking in the Rugby Championship Round Two encounter with the All Blacks in Auckland on Saturday.
Wing Cheslin Kolbe, flyhalf Damian Willemse and scrumhalf Francois de Klerk are all earmarked to be ‘goal-kickers’ at Mount Smart in the Auckland suburb of Penrose.
“As we did on the year-end tour, all three are training to kick at goal,” Nienaber said.
“Cheslin [Kolbe] kicks at goal and he can kick at goal, as he did on the year-end tour,” the coach added.
“Damian Willemse is kicking at goal, as he did on the year-end tour and Francois [De Klerk] is kicking at goal as he did on the year-end tour.
“We have a few options and between them, they will make a decision.”
Nienaber added that they are monitoring their goal-kicking to see who has good form and rhythm.
(WATCH as Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber unpacks the process to decide who will take the kicks at goal for the Springboks …)
“Between them and Stokke [assistant coach Mzwandile Stick] – because I don’t know anything about kicking – they will have a discussion about who will start [with the kicks at goal.”
Sorting out the kicking pecking order is not the only major poser faced by the Bok coach.
Nienaber also spoke about the need to use the full squad, while building “momentum” during the Rugby Championship and looking towards the World Cup later this year.
“We also need [to use] the squad for the [World Cup] warm-up games,” he said about the post-Rugby Championship outings against Argentina, Wales and New Zealand,” Nienaber said.
“We need a squad going into the World Cup.
“The team we selected against Australia we felt had the right mix to be competitive against the Wallabies.
“The same applies to this match [against the All Blacks] – a team we feel can be competitive against a very good New Zealand side.
“The last couple of encounters were very close and that is the nature of the competition between the two countries.”
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