VIDEO: Rotation policy under the spotlight
OPINION: South Africa is not the only team using the rotation system in their build-up to the World Cup and results over the weekend are proof of that.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber explained the roadmap that was plotted out by his coaching generals in a bid to successfully defend their World Cup title in France in September.
And it entailed a lot of chopping and changing in an effort to give 38 players in the original squad an opportunity to show their mettle to try and secure their spot on the plane to France.
The rotation system had an adverse effect on the outcome of the Springboks’ Rugby Championship campaign and a warm-up game, with varying results, not all good.
The loss against New Zealand in Auckland was especially difficult to swallow (and watch).
The past weekend saw France, one of the favourites for the World Cup, bow to Scotland, Wales thrashed England and New Zealand narrowly beat a struggling Australia by 23-20.
France’s Les Blues were without a host of their established players who were given the day off, amongst them Antoine Dupont, Gael Fickou and Romain Ntamack in their 21-25 loss against Scotland over the weekend.
For England, under new coach Steve Borthwick, it has been a topsy-turvy few months with trial and error and maybe more misses than hits, hence another loss, this time at the hands of Wales.
But Nienaber has stood firm in his belief of the rotation policy, explaining the tough process around this to the media week in and week out over the last two months.
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He again defended this strategy on Tuesday after the World Cup squad of 33 was named.
“We have always said we are going to try different things and everyone could see that there was rotation,” Nienaber reiterated.
“We never kept the same combinations. And the reason for that is we believe we need a squad of 42 to defend our World Cup title.
“If you look at our last 10 games, we lost three.
“We lost against Ireland away from home with a few points, we also lost to France away from home with a red card and we lost against New Zealand away from home.
“So there are three games out of the last 10 that we lost.
“And in those ten games we chopped and changed a lot to build depth and to ensure, if a guy like Lood [de Jager] gets injured, that we didn’t put all our eggs in one basket,” the coach said.
“We made sure a player like Marvin played a lot of games, and won a lot of games, a few big games that he won.
“That was our plan the whole time, to build as much depth as possible in our squad.
“And now we have 33, and there is still a lot of work ahead for us in the next five weeks. Looking at the games we have left, in terms of our build-up to the World Cup, there is Wales.
“If someone had said a month ago you are playing Wales, it would be an easy game. And then you look at what they did with England over the weekend – and England also rotated players.
“And your first game at the World Cup is Scotland, it shouldn’t be that difficult – and we have said from the start that Scotland will be our biggest challenge – and you could see when France also rotated, they lost a Test.
“The same with New Zealand – I think they went for continuity throughout the Rugby Championship and the moment they used their rotation policy, they almost lost to Australia.
“I need to take my hat off to the players. We really put the squad under pressure with continuous rotations and does come at a risk.
“Yes it comes with risk, but there is also an advantage to it. If you can keep on winning, and build momentum, then it has an advantage as well.”
