RWC: Head coach Jacques Nienaber names squad that features players who know what it takes to win and who will enter the tournament with vast international experience

By Sports Reporter

Head coach Jacques Nienaber is confident the Springbok squad selected to defend the World Cup in France can bring the Webb Ellis Cup back home.

Nienaber on Tuesday named a 33-man contingent that features four scrumhalves, a former Ireland lock and their oldest debutant after it was confirmed that the world champions will be without a trio of key players for the global showpiece.

Handre Pollard (calf), Lukhanyo Am (knee) and Lood de Jager (chest problem) have been placed on standby, while the team will be captained by Siya Kolisi, who is expected to be back in action in the coming weeks.

“This was one of the hardest selections we have ever had to make,” said Nienaber. “Any of the 42-man training squad would do a great job but injuries have played a part in the final selection and time unfortunately ran out for some real champions.

“However, we said from the outset that we wanted to name the best 33 players for the World Cup, and after giving 38 players a run in the last four Tests we are pleased with the make-up of the group, and we know we have proper depth in each position. “We’ve picked a squad with a bunch of the players who can also cover alternative positions, which we’ll need in a very tough World Cup.

“We were in a great position this year to have so many players knocking on the door for selection but unfortunately, we could only select 33. Injuries have had a hand in the final selection, but they are part of the game, and we are excited about the quality of the players who can step in and perform at World Cup level – as many of the players who featured against Argentina showed last weekend.”

The group features a strong mix of experience and some of the best up-and-coming young players in the Republic, with only three players missing out from the starting XV from the 32-12 final win over England in Japan four years ago.

The announcement of the Springbok squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup received a mixed response from fans who are divided over what will happen in France. South Africa have never won back-to-back World Cup titles, and a poll following the squad announcememt asked readers whether the Springboks would be able to overcome their injury woes to achieve a historic first.

There is almost complete confidence the Springboks will make it through to the playoffs, with only 5% of readers having South Africa falling out in the pool stage.

However, what happens next seesaws from 30% predicting South Africa are knocked out in the quarter-finals (matching the Boks’ earliest exits from previous World Cups) to 39% believing Siya Kolisi will once against raise the Webb Ellis Cup.

Nienaber added: “Since Rassie [Erasmus] and I returned to South Africa in 2018 we’ve been building to the 2023 World Cup, and we are pleased with where we are, going into this World Cup.

“The coaches and players have put in a helluva lot of work in the last few years, and we have the luxury of naming a squad that features a big group of players who know what it takes to win a World Cup and who will enter the tournament with vast international experience.

“The younger players have also showed in the last two seasons that they can match some of the top players in the world, so we believe we are better prepared as a team going into this tournament.

“We still have two warm-up games left and a road to travel to build player combinations and fine tune the areas of our game that we feel we need to improve on, so we are by no means the final product at this stage.”

…DOUBTS ABOUT KOLISI’S MATCH FITNESS

KNEE SURGERY: Inspirational captain on a tight recovery schedule before the global tournament gets underway

By Sports Reporter

Siya Kolisi’s name was among those chosen to travel to France but the Springbok skipper has admitted he feared he would miss the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

On Tuesday afternoon, it was confirmed that Kolisi had recovered sufficiently from knee surgery to lead the Springboks in the defence of their world title.

There were very real doubts that the inspirational Bok captain would be fit in time to lead his country after he suffered a knee injury that required surgery during the closing stages of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

It set Kolisi on a tight recovery schedule, especially since the No 6 would need a couple of games to pick up momentum before the global tournament got underway.

An SA Rugby release on Tuesday confirmed that Kolisi is expected to be back for the penultimate warm-up match against Wales in Cardiff, with the Springboks taking on the All Blacks in their final preparation game at Twickenham a week later.

“I was scared [I wasn’t going to make it], but the surgeon and the medical team at the Springboks gave me confidence that I would be okay,” Kolisi told the media in Johannesburg.

“I was very scared and if it wasn’t for my wife, my family and the guys that have been through what I’m going through like RG [Snyman] and Handre Pollard… Every time I felt something weird, I’d go to them, and they’d tell me what they felt at the stage I was going through, and it gave me a lot of confidence. “It all reminds you how quickly it can all be taken away from you.”

The Springboks won’t be able to call on the services of 2019 World Cup-winners Handre Pollard (calf), Lukhanyo Am (knee) and Lood de Jager (illness), who were omitted from the squad, but named on the standby list.

“It’s very sad and I don’t wish it on anyone,” said Kolisi of his absent teammates.

“But with their injury timelines there is hope that they might still come back into the team if anybody [selected] is injured.”