Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber made only two changes to his starting team for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final against the All Blacks at 21:00. During a media. South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber explained their decision on a 7:1 split on the bench after the announcement of their team to play New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup 2023 final at Stade de France on Saturday, 28 October.
On whether the 7:1 split on the bench is the best option to face New Zealand Nienaber said: “I'm not going to say what the strengths and weaknesses of the All Blacks are, that would be stupid. But a lot of analysis went into it and at the end we went with a squad of 23. It could have been 6:2, 5:3, it doesn’t matter. You select a team that you think can get a result. The 23 we selected for a reason, and the reason is we think they can deliver and win us a back-to-back World Cup.
“How did the other guys take it? We explain to the whole squad why we are going a certain route. It is not about individual selection. It is for South Africa. As selectors we know there will be pressure on us if we don’t deliver a result but at the back of our minds we know this selection is for South Africa.
"The players take it like that. It is not about person or ego, not that they have egos, but you can’t think of that. You have to think about South Africa and the Springboks.”
Explaing the reasoning behind the 7:1 splits Nienaber said: “The team is not 15, it is 23. 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 starts between the coaches and it goes from a 5:3 to a 6:2 to a 7:1, then it goes back again. It is not a 10-minute discussion, it is hours and hours.
“Vincent Koch couldn’t train on Monday and we have a policy that if you can’t train on a Monday you are not up for selection.
“From a performance point of view, there is not a big gap. As coaches you always mitigate risk by prepping other people.
"In our case it will be Cheslin (Kolbe). He played sweeper in sevens which is the equivalent to scrum-half. He has always been a guy who, if we got a yellow card, would be the stand in half-back, not just this week but for a couple of weeks.”
