Ken Borland

Captain Siya Kolisi and talismanic lock Eben Etzebeth are the players to whom the saying ‘no rest for the wicked’ might be applied as they have been tasked with fronting up again for the Springboks in the opening Rugby Championship Test against Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.

They are the only players who started all three of the brutal Tests against the British and Irish Lions who are not getting a breather this weekend, and it is a credit to their superb, wickedly good, conditioning and mental strength that they are ready to go again on Saturday.

When coach Jacques Nienaber announced the team on Tuesday, he made it clear that the 10 changes made to the starting XV, and two more on the bench, were due to the need to rotate players in order to give them sufficient rest and game-time.

“We mean zero disrespect to Argentina, but our challenge is we have five big Tests on the trot, on successive weekends, and we have to look at player welfare more than anything else. Our first goal is always to win, but secondly we want to create squad depth. A lot of various things go into deciding who to rotate, and the guys not playing are not resting, they still play a massive role in preparation,” Nienaber said.

So why are Kolisi and Etzebeth, a duo who put their bodies on the line more than most against the Lions, still playing?

“Winning is what is required at the moment and if guys are physically and mentally ready to play then they will play. We also want to ensure continuity of leadership, we didn’t want to upset the applecart by taking too many leaders out. We look at player welfare wherever we can, but if a player is able to play six or seven Tests on the trot then we will choose him,” Nienaber explained.

The Springbok management have ensured that wherever they have brought in fresh faces, they have experienced back-up close by. A new-look front row of Ox Nche, debutant Jospeh Dweba and Wilco Louw has the bomb squad front row of Trevor Nyakane, Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch standing by on the bench; Etzebeth and Lood de Jager are a seasoned lock pairing and a new-look backline will be guided by wise old heads in Elton Jantjies, Francois Steyn and Jesse Kriel.

“The starting front row has not played for a while and it is Joseph’s first Test and Wilco was with us in 2018 so he’s a new old guy coming back. But there’s lots of consistency in the second row and the front row that will come off the bench. And it’s a new backline but a guy like Jesse with 47 caps will take over as defence captain from Lukhanyo Am, not to mention Frans, and Elton has consistently been part of our squad since 2018.

“There’s a good culture in the group in that guys are disappointed not to get chosen but they never get negative, they know they have another role in the team. We have had a group of players who have contributed for weeks, every day, but have not had the chance to play, but they don’t get negative. A guy like Elton has been outstanding in that regard,” Nienaber said.

Springbok team: Damian Willemse, Sbu Nkosi, Jesse Kriel, Francois Steyn, Aphelele Fassi, Elton Jantjies (vice-captain), Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Kwagga Smith, Siya Kolisi (captain), Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Joseph Dweba, Ox Nché. Bench – Malcolm Marx, Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Koch, Marvin Orie, Marco van Staden, Dan du Preez, Herschel Jantjies, Morné Steyn.

The Springboks were understandably a bit over-boisterous, rusty and inaccurate for the opening half-hour of their first Test in 20 months, but they then settled into their work and dispatched a tough Georgia team 40-9 at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The opening quarter saw the Springboks perhaps trying too hard, leading to ill-discipline, and several penalties not only allowed Georgia flyhalf Tedo Abzhandadza to slot all three of his kicks at goal but also robbed the home team of any momentum.

Georgia led 9-5 until the 35^th minute as the Springboks were just generally inaccurate, especially in their kicking game.

Their one bright moment had been a try on debut with his first touch by wing Aphelele Fassi, who galloped down the touchline for a fine finish after a lovely double-line attack that saw fullback Willie le Roux join the line and flank Pieter-Steph du Toit looping round to provide the scoring pass.

Without fans, Fassi’s marvellous run was not greeted with the acclaim it deserved, but the bench were noisy. The 23-year-old enjoyed an outstanding debut.

The Springboks seized control of the game with two tries in the last five minutes of the first half. Hooker Bongi Mbonambi scored from a maul and then Le Roux, outside centre Jesse Kriel and Fassi counter-attacked well from their own territory before Fassi put a good chip-kick infield, the ball bouncing wickedly for scrumhalf Cobus Reinach to gather and race away for the try.

Leading 19-9 at halftime, the Springboks were in complete control in the second half. Such was their dominance that at times it seemed like the tries could be dished out by a tombola lucky draw.

The replacement front row of Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Frans Malherbe scrummed superbly and set up a first Test try for eighthman Kwagga Smith, the deft boot of flyhalf Handre Pollard led to a try for replacement scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies and Marx scored from a powerful lineout drive.

The Springbok forwards, led by ubiquitous lock Franco Mostert, just kept battering away and the backs tried a lot, some of it was very good.

Du Toit would also have been a contender for the man of the match prize if there had been one.

In the end It was a good run-out for the Springboks, but, with the British and Irish Lions coming up, they will need to show further progress next week in the second Test against Georgia.

Scorers

South Africa: Tries – Aphelele Fassi, Bongi Mbonambi, Cobus Reinach, Kwagga Smith, Herschel Jantjies, Malcolm Marx. Conversions – Handre Polllard (4), Elton Jantjies.

Georgia: Penalties – Tedo Abzhandadze (3).

Turnovers spread through the Sharks’ performance like the bubonic plague last weekend, and if there was one area where the Lions excelled in their opening Rainbow Cup fixture, it was the breakdowns. So not turning over possession is going to be the key focus of the KwaZulu-Natal side as they host the Gautengers at Kings Park on Saturday.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt produced the astounding figure of 29 turnovers that his team conceded against the Stormers in Cape Town, and given that they enjoy playing a fluent game based on momentum, that extent of profligacy is clearly untenable for them.

And the Lions made life very difficult for the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, throwing everything at the rucks and cleaning up in that department.

“The biggest factor is going to be the number of turnovers conceded so we’ve looked to tighten up there. We’ve worked hard at our breakdown, because what we did last weekend is not going to be good enough against the Lions, who have two guys going very hard on the ball. The Lions contended at Loftus until the 70^th minute and they are tough to play against.

“They come hard at the breakdown so it’s difficult to get continuity. Keeping possession is going to be really important so we don’t allow them any free shots at us. We have to look after the ball at the breakdown because we don’t want a stop-start game. It’s going to be hard because MJ Pelser was massive there against the Bulls and we know the Lions score the majority of their tries from turnovers,” Everitt said this week.

While the Lions loose trio of Pelser, Vincent Tshituka and Franck Horne combined well to obstruct much of what the Bulls were trying to do, the Sharks arguably play with more flair and, if they sort out their breakdown work, they cold be harder to stop. They scored a couple of fantastic tries against the Stormers, with hat-trick scoring lock Reniel Hugo showing the sort of mobility and handling skills that Everitt is looking for from the forwards.

“We want to speed the game up, so Reniel scoring one of his tries from a quick tap was good game-awareness. But the Lions also have young backs full of energy and Wandisile Simelane is a great player who was a thorn in our side in the preparation series match. So we need to be on top of our game and keep our foot on the pedal,” Everitt said.

Bulls coach Jake White wants his team to be flexible and so he was satisfied that they were able to ‘win ugly’ in their opening Rainbow Cup match against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

White had before the game promised an attacking approach if conditions were dry, and the Bulls started superbly, keeping ball in hand for two minutes from the kickoff and then scoring the opening try. But thereafter they were constrained by a watertight, rapidly approaching Lions defence and the soft underfoot conditions, only managing to cross the tryline again in the 66^th and 80^th minutes for a 22-9 win.

The victory and a bonus point would also have been in the bag much earlier if the Bulls hadn’t had three tries disallowed due to captain’s referrals.

“Sometimes you’ve got to win these sort of games and we found a way to win. The Lions were very good at the breakdown, they tried to slow us down all the time. To have four tries disallowed – I think the yellow card for a deliberate knock-on could maybe have been a penalty try – was helluva frustrating because you keep thinking you’ve put a bit of distance between you and the opposition.

“But we know everyone will be coming for us because we’ve won the last two trophies and today we had to vasbyt for the win. We started so well and we were probably seduced a bit by that, the players maybe thought it was like a training run. But then the Lions had so many players in the line … if we had turned them around more with little kicks then we could have found a bit more space behind them,” White said after the Bulls’ 13^th successive win at home.

The Bulls dominated possession but at times they suffered from the rugby equivalent of bulimia – having an over-abundance of ball and generally keeping it in hand meant they also coughed up a lot of possession as the Lions dominated the breakdowns.

“We will work on not being sucked into playing too much rugby, sometimes we need to be a bit smarter. But we did end up playing into the wind in both halves because the wind turned … it was a bit extraordinary, something we’re not used to here. But it’s exciting times with guys like Elrigh Louw and Janko Swanepoel just out of the U21s, Mornay Smith is a young tighthead, Joe van Zyl, Stravino Jacobs and David Kriel are all young.

“But if you have too many youngsters then they can start to panic, so it’s nice for them to learn from the seniors exactly how to close off a game. I told the bench before the match that I was looking for composure at the end, for them to show maturity, and I was satisfied that they did. Lizo Gqoboka, Arno Botha and Morne Steyn are all Springboks, Jacques van Rooyen is very experienced, and it showed,” White said.