Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Springboks have made the bold call of naming seven forwards on their bench for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup clash against Ireland in Paris.
Coach Jacques Nienaber named his match-day 23 on Tuesday, with Cobus Reinach the only backline player included among the eight substitutes.
The Boks made the same tactical play when they thrashed the All Blacks 35-7 at Twickenham last month in a World Cup warm-up match, but this latest call is sure to be a major talking point against the No 1 ranked side in the world.
Having beaten Scotland in their opening tournament fixture two weekends ago, the Boks will all but secure top spot in Pool B and a safe passage to the play-offs if they beat Ireland.
The starting line-up has a familiar feel to it with the likes of captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Faf de Klerk, Cheslin Kolbe, Damian de Allende and Manie Libbok returning to the fold.
Eben Etzebeth, who was injured in the Scotland match, returns to the starting line-up while Deon Fourie is named as the replacement hooker to Bongi Mbonambi in Malcolm Marx’s absence.
Handre Pollard, who joined the squad in Paris on Monday as Marx’s injury replacement, is not included in the match-day 23.
“We’re fortunate to have a match-fit squad and have been building depth and versatility for a while and believe this is the best combination for this match,” Nienaber explained.
“For many of these players this is their second or third World Cup, so they know what it takes to perform at this level, and we believe this team has the right balance of players to achieve what we would like to achieve in this match.
“We know it’s going to be a grind of a match and we know we need to pitch up physically and mentally. We also need to start with intensity and stay focused until the final whistle.
“This is a massive game for both sides with an eye to progressing out of our pool, so we need to be extremely accurate in all areas of our game.”
Springboks:
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19, Jean Kleyn, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Kwagga Smith, 23 Cobus Reinach
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