Boks make three changes for England clash, Nienaber plays down awards row

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber named Handré Pollard and Cobus Reinach in a fresh halfback pairing and recalled Lood de Jager at lock in three changes to his starting team for the Test against England at Twickenham on Sunday (AEDT).

Pollard, Reinach and De Jager were drafted into the starting lineup in rotational switches, which sees Elton Jantjies and Herschel Jantjies join Franco Mostert (utility forward) among the replacements in other changes to the match-day squad that beat Scotland 30-15 at Murrayfield last week.

Victory for the Springboks over a strong England team will not only see the South Africans retain the No 1 spot on the world rankings; it would also mark their first unbeaten northern tour since 2013, and wrap up a successful season for the world champions with nine victories in 13 Test matches.

The last time the Springboks beat England in London was in 2014, when they edged the hosts 31-28, but they have won three of their last six outings against their northern hemisphere arch-rivals – the most recent being the Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama in 2019, where the Boks emerged 32-12 victors.

“We built up good momentum in the Tests against Wales and Scotland, and it is important for us to transfer that into our final match of the tour against England, so we opted to make only three changes to the starting team for this weekend’s clash,” said Nienaber.

“England will pose different threats to Scotland, and with that in mind we have decided to start with Handré, Cobus and Lood.

“Elton, Herschel and Franco have shown that they can inject energy and ignite a spark on attack off the bench, which will be handy against an English outfit that we know will be highly charged up for this match.”

Nienaber is expecting a tough battle against the team that beat the Wallabies last weekend.

“England have made it clear that they’ll come hard at us in this match, and with a few British & Irish Lions players in their midst, home ground advantage and a new record of eight wins in a row against Australia adding to their motivation this weekend, so we know it will be a hard grind,” said Nienaber.

“That said, we will enter the match equally motivated, especially with the opportunity to retain our status as the top team in the world for a third successive season and winning all three matches in the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour for the first time in eight years being a real prospect.”

Nienaber added: “This has been arguably the most challenging season for a Springbok team yet due to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to finish off the year with a victory against England would be a fantastic reward for the team.

“England have traditionally had a strong pack of forwards and backs that can trigger action on attack, but they have a number of new players and coaches this season, who will want to make their mark, so there may be a different dynamic in their style of play.

“We’ve been doing our homework and we’ve been putting in the hard yards both on and off the field, so we need to make sure we are mentally and physically sharp on Saturday and convert the opportunities we create on attack into points because in a Test match such as this there are generally only a few of them.”

Meanwhile Nienanber played down South African complaints over the World Rugby player of the year snubbing.

Wallaby captain Michael Hooper, Australian centre Samu Kerevi, England lock Maro Itoje and French scrumhalf Antoine Dupont on the World Player of the Year list, while Dave Rennie (Australia), Ian Foster (New Zealand), Simon Middleton (England Women), Allan Bunting and Corey Sweeney (both with New Zealand Women’s Sevens) are up for the Coach of the Year award.

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

“We trust and respect the process to get to the nominations, and if you look at all the nominations – coaches, players, women’s rugby – if you look at the quality around all sections, I think it’s tremendous,” Nienaber said.

“We are very happy for the guys who got nominated. Some of our players in the past have been nominated, and it’s very special for them. We wish all the nominees the best of luck with the whole process.

“The motivation comes from playing for the Boks, and I know it sounds clichéd, but it is so. The guys don’t play for a tap on the shoulder and a ‘well done’. They are playing for their country, and on Saturday, it’s South Africa against England.

“We have full confidence in the process that World Rugby use to get the nominations. There is good quality, and good luck to them with the process going forward.”

Springbok team to face England in London:

15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 71 caps, 60 pts (12t)

14 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 50 caps, 60 pts (12t)

13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 25 caps, 25 pts (5t)

12 – Damian de Allende (Munster) – 57 caps, 35 pts (7t)

11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 24 caps, 95 pts (19t)

10 – Handré Pollard (Montpellier) – 59 caps, 586 pts (6t, 83c, 126p, 4d)

9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 20 caps, 40pts (8t)

8 – Duane Vermeulen (Ulster) – 60 caps, 15 pts (3t)

7 – Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo) – 18 caps, 5 pts (1t)

6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 62 caps, 30 pts (6t)

5 – Lood de Jager (Sale Sharks) – 55 caps, 25 pts (5t)

4 – Eben Etzebeth (Toulon) – 96 caps, 15 pts (3t)

3 – Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls) – 53 caps, 5pts (1t)

2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Cell C Sharks) – 47 caps, 45 pts (9t)

1 – Ox Nché (Cell C Sharks) – 8 caps, 0pts

Replacements:

16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 45 caps, 50 pts (10t)

17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 58 caps, 5pts (1t)

18 – Vincent Koch (Saracens) – 30 caps, 0 pts

19 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 50 caps, 5pts (1t)

20 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 10 caps, 0 pts

21 – Herschel Jantjies (DHL Stormers) – 20 caps, 25 pts (5t)

22 – Elton Jantjies (NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes) – 43 caps, 323 pts (2t, 65c, 60p, 1d)

23 – Frans Steyn (Toyota Cheetahs) – 73 caps, 147pts (11t, 7c, 23p, 3d)