VIDEO: What Nienaber expects from new 'game drivers' in Auckland crunch
New Zealand will not only provide a far more formidable challenge than Australia, but also require a very different approach.
The most obvious indication of the likely change of tactics can be found in the selection of the halfbacks for the Springboks’ trip to Mount Smart in Auckland and a Round Two Rugby Championship face-off with New Zealand on Saturday.
Eden Park is unavailable, as it prepares to host Women’s World Cup soccer matches, meaning an encounter that could determine the winners of the Rugby Championship has been moved the clash across the city to a Rugby League venue in the Auckland suburb of Penrose.
Francois de Klerk and Damian Willemse will start at scrumhalf and flyhalf respectively, replacing Cobus Reinach (No.9) and Manie Libbok (No.10) – who were the starting halfbacks last week.
Not that they are devoid of creativity, but De Klerk and Willemse will certainly be more pragmatic in their approach.
Reinach, 33, was named to provide some ‘guidance’ to the more inexperienced Libbok, 25.
“I thought Manie [Libbok] did well in his first start [for the Boks] – in terms of driving the team and making good decisions,” the coach told @rugby365com.
(WATCH as Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber talks about his expectations for the new halfback combination in the Auckland crunch.…)
With De Klerk and Willemse partnered as a starting combination on the 2022 year-end tour – the 26-30 loss to France, the 63-21 demolition of Italy and the 27-13 win over England – the team has a couple of more settled ‘drivers’.
However, they are well down the order of the most experienced halfback combinations – De Klerk and the injured Handré Pollard (24 Tests) sharing first place with the late Joost van der Westhuizen (at No.9) and now retired No.10 Henry Honiball.
Nienaber admitted that the All Blacks will present his team with different ‘pictures’, as opposed to the challenge Wallabies presented.
“What we want from our No.9 and No.10 is to make good decisions,” he said.
“They have to ensure our pack is going forward.
“The pictures and opportunities [presented to the halfbacks] will be different, because it is a different team [we are facing].”
De Klerk, 31, has 46 Test caps to his credit, while the 25-year-old Willemse has 28 Bok appearances.
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