Ken Borland

Continuity and consistency has trumped the new blood and bolters that are so beloved of rugby fans in the selection of the Springbok squad for the end-of-year tour of the United Kingdom, with Stormers lock Salmaan Moerat the only player announced on Tuesday who was not part of the extended Rugby Championship squad.

South Africa will play Wales, Scotland and England on successive Saturdays from November 6 and, after that, the Springboks only have 17 Tests before defending their World Cup crown in France in 2023.

And, as coach Jacques Nienaber pointed out, they have already been refreshing the squad with the likes of Ox Nche, Joseph Dweba, Moerat, Jasper Wiese, Aphelele Fassi, Sanele Nohamba, Jaden Hendrikse and Grant Williams all coming into the squad this year.

“We’ve been building a squad since 2018 and there have been young players coming in at every turn, all coming into the mix. So we are continually breeding young players. And we want consistency in selection, keeping experience because we will need that going into the 2023 World Cup. The average age of the squad is 28 but there are still some very experienced players.

“A Northern Hemisphere tour is a big challenge for us, just looking at their squads and the fact we haven’t won all three matches over there since 2013. So we had an eye on that in terms of selection and also that we only probably have 20 Tests left to the World Cup. So the big thing is to build continuity and consistency in selection, because we lost a lot of time in 2020,” Nienaber said after announcing his 32-man squad on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old Moerat owes his place to the absence of RG Snyman, who continues to be dogged by injury and has not played a Test since the World Cup final.

Moerat has always had the pedigree of a future Springbok, being captain of both the SA Schools and SA U20 teams. He is big – two metres tall and weighing 111kg – and athletic and has that bit of mongrel that all great locks have. The Paarl Boys High product is a strong defensive presence for the Stormers.

The other players not considered due to injury were scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, prop Frans Malherbe, loose forward Pieter-Steph du Toit, wing Cheslin Kolbe, utility forwards Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Rynhardt Elstadt, and flyhalf Johan Goosen.

Nienaber confirmed that Bulls star Goosen, who has played 13 Tests but last represented the Springboks back in 2016, was on their radar for the tour before he sustained a bad knee injury two weeks ago in Cardiff.

“We were definitely looking at Johan so it is unfortunate he got injured, especially with Morne Steyn retiring from international rugby. We are looking at young flyhalves and there is some nice talent. But a guy like Handre Pollard has played more than 50 Tests but is still relatively young at 27. That’s not a bad age for the next World Cup and no team has won that trophy with a flyhalf younger than 25.

“Elton Jantjies is also 31 and in those positions in the spine you always like experience to handle the pressure at a World Cup. We also wanted more experience with Morne Steyn in the British and Irish Lions series and the Rugby Championship, so with him announcing his retirement there is now a spot open. It would be nice to see some of the younger flyhalves get through a whole season for their franchise, get that continuity in performance,” Nienaber said.

Squad: Willie le Roux, Francois Steyn, Makazole Mapimpi, Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Damian Willemse, Sbu Nkosi, Aphelele Fassi, Handré Pollard, Elton Jantjies, Cobus Reinach, Herschel Jantjies, Grant Williams, Duane Vermeulen, Kwagga Smith, Jasper Wiese, Siya Kolisi (captain), Marco van Staden, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Marvin Orie, Eben Etzebeth, Salmaan Moerat, Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Koch, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Joseph Dweba, Ox Nché, Steven Kitshoff.

Bulls coach Jake White all but admitted on Friday that it will be a long shot for his team to beat Leinster, symbols of all that is strong in European rugby, when they meet in their opening United Rugby Championship match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, but he added that it is a lengthy competition and whatever happens, South Africa’s champions will know how close they are to competing for honours up north.

Leinster won the last four editions of the Pro14 before the rebranding with the arrival of the four South African franchises, and they are also perennial contenders for the Champions Cup, Europe’s premier competition, having reached the knockout stages in 12 of the last 13 years and winning the title five times.

“It’s all an unknown for us but a great opportunity. Leinster are like the Barcelona of rugby and there’s not much I have to say to the team about playing them. It will be a great benchmark of where we are early on, it will be  a huge test coming up against guys who have played 30-40 Tests for Ireland and European finals. They are by far the leaders in European rugby.

“We have guys who have played against the same teams in the Currie Cup, which is a significant difference. So it’s going to be a massive fixture for us but it is a long tournament – we could play 21 more games. So one thing we can learn from Leinster is that it’s not so much about the first game, they have often been slow starters, it’s about how you adapt and evolve through the competition,” White said.

The Sharks, bridesmaids to the Bulls since rugby returned after Covid, have a similarly dauting task as they take on Munster, perennial runners-up to Leinster recently, on Saturday night. One gets the feeling the Sharks legged it to Ireland with some relief as their last match was yet another defeat to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, the biggest margin of defeat in Currie Cup final history.

But the Sharks are traditionally good travellers and coach Sean Everitt knows they will be playing finals rugby once again, rather than the running game they would probably prefer.

“Munster are a well-drilled team who do not give you much, so it’s going to be about execution on the day. Johann van Graan is a well-organised coach, he’s been involved at the highest level with the Springboks and has brought a style to Munster that is very difficult to play against – they suffocate and strangle you. They are a well-oiled machine.

“Munster defend really well and have a strong kicking game – they want to trap you into playing in the wrong areas. So it’s going to be tough for us, but we are focused on what we need to do to succeed. We need to manage the game better and be more disciplined in that regard,” Everitt said.

The Stormers, given their recent troubles, will be grateful that they start against Italian opposition in the form of Benetton Treviso.

But Treviso were the team that destroyed the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup final and, given the Western Cape team’s struggles against their arch-rivals recently, they will have their hands full in northern Italy.

No matter how much criticism of ‘insular’ South African rugby drips from the pens of the overseas critics, the Springboks are determined to go back to their strengths when they take on the All Blacks in Townsville on Saturday, according to assistant coach Mzwandile Stick.
Springbok teams are traditionally at their best when they feel isolated, when their backs are against the wall and they feel the world is against them. It won’t be pretty, but New Zealand can expect a rugged, fiery response from the beleagured South Africans in the historic 100th meeting between the two teams on Saturday.
“We don’t care what they think, it does not bother us. Our focus has been on getting better in how we want to play, not on any negative stuff,” Stick said of criticism of the Springboks’ game-plan and players. “We need to be in control of our system and our main focus has been on sticking to our strengths after we went against them a bit against Australia. We don’t want to change who we are.
“We won’t go to a game we don’t want to play. Test rugby is about pressure, whether that’s applying it through your hands or kicking or set-pieces. If the space is there then we will go for it, but set-pieces and kicking are how we create pressure and we won’t change who we are. We’ve done nothing different in training this week,” Stick said on Friday.
The All Blacks have the luxury though of being able to field three players with fullback experience in their back three – Jordie Barrett, Will Jordan and George Bridge – and their tight five are all seasoned campaigners led by talismanic lock Brodie Retallick, who has never lost to the Springboks.
“We know the All Blacks are very strong and they have three fullbacks at the back, guys who are on form and have height. But we are well-prepared and we know our system very well. We know it will be tough, they are a very skilful side and they can put the ball in space and they have a good kicking game.
“There’s been no special preparation for the 100th Test, we’re treating it as just another Test, but we respect the game as a Test. The players understand how massive it is to play against the All Blacks, we don’t need any extra motivation, they are now the number one side in the world,” Stick said.

Due to their reliance on physicality and aggression, the Springboks have often been regarded as the bad boys of rugby. Which is all well and good when it comes to intimidating the opposition, but not so helpful when, in the eyes of the referees, you are the team who needs to be watched more carefully.

It’s a stereotype of course (which we know all about in this country), but it’s funny how, almost as surely as night follows day, South Africa win a World Cup or are the best team in the world and the narrative from overseas begins that the way they play the game is bad for rugby.

By way of contrast, New Zealand’s All Blacks are the golden child of rugby – everything they do is skilful, dazzling and how the game should be played. Even when they are kicking more than any other team or mastering the dark arts of niggle and consistently killing the ball in their own 22.

South African rugby has, however, gone through phases when it was unacceptably dirty and it is fair to say our natural tendency is towards conservative, defensive, backs-to-the-wall type play rather than embracing risk and flair. As current Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has pointed out though, it is the differences in style, in the DNA of teams, that makes international competition interesting. It would be really boring if everyone played the same way.

When I was a boy, there were no neutral referees so teams did not worry about the perceptions of the officials. The history books show that overseas teams considered it extremely difficult to win in South Africa, describing the refereeing as rather patriotic.

But now, the referee and his viewpoint are now an important part of an international team’s preparation for a match. And it is probably fair to say the current Springbok team is having a hard time with how referees are perceiving them at the moment, judging by Rassie Erasmus’s notorious video and the number of calls that seem to be going against them at the moment. In the last week we have had Faf de Klerk’s yellow card that set the tone for their poor second Test against Australia now being exposed by no less an authority as Nigel Owens as being a wrong call.

Probably the last time the Springboks faced such a PR crisis was between the 1995 and 2003 World Cups. Prior to 1995, James Small had been the only Springbok ever red-carded, when Ed Morrison sent him off against the Wallabies in Brisbane in 1993. But between 1995 and 2003, another five players were sent to the showers early and there were also numerous yellow cards.

Boy, did South Africa have a problem with discipline no matter how hard the likes of Andre Markgraaff and Rudolf Straeuli try to run the team like an army camp.

So when Jake White took over as Springbok coach in 2004, it was one of the key areas he identified as needing to improve. It was one of the reasons John Smit was appointed as captain, because the hooker was well-liked by referees and had a good ‘bedside manner’ with them.

As Smit built a rapport with the referees around the world and White clamped down hard on any on-field ill-discipline, so the Springboks’ reputation improved and they began to get more of the 50/50 calls. By 2007 they were world champions and the same group of players continued to dominate until the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal when Bryce Lawrence failed to read the script or the law book properly.

But the current Springboks’ issues with officiating and their efforts to get a fair deal are more likely to be resolved through gentle diplomacy than angry videos. Captain Siya Kolisi is one of the most respected people in global rugby, so I would like to see him take a leaf out of John Smit’s book and begin a charm offensive with the referees.

So what if the vanquished Northern Hemisphere teams don’t like the game-plan, but getting on the right side of the officials is a vital part of winning rugby.