Jacques Nienaber says the Springboks’ drive to succeed in Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks is as big as it gets.
Nienaber made two injury-enforced changes to his match-day squad for their final Rugby Championship clash with the All Blacks in Gold Coast, with Ox Nche earning a starting berth and Jasper Wiese being drafted in among the replacements.
Nche will start at loosehead prop with Trevor Nyakane switching to tighthead after Frans Malherbe was ruled out of selection due to a neck niggle, while Wiese takes over from Marco van Staden, who suffered a shoulder injury in the latter stages of this past weekend’s 19-17 defeat by the All Blacks in Townsville.
Commenting on his thought process for this week’s team selection, Nienaber said: “We made a big step up in terms of our performance last week and, having reviewed the match, there is no doubt we delivered a performance worthy of a victory.
“With that in mind we opted for continuity in our team, so the only change in the run-on side is Ox taking over in the front row after Frans was ruled out.
“Trevor is a seasoned campaigner who is equally comfortable at loosehead and tighthead prop, and Ox is a strong scrummager, so we are looking forward to seeing what they can do in the scrums.
“On the bench, Jasper takes over from Marco, and we are fortunate in that they are similar in terms of their physicality and strong ball-carrying abilities.”
The Boks were also dealt a cruel blow with news that Cheslin Kolbe is again unavailable for selection after his leg injury flared up, despite the wing training with the team on Monday.
The Bok boss confirmed Kolbe would’ve started had he came through the full training session unscathed.
“Cheslin would have started the match if he made a full recovery from the leg injury which has kept him out since the beginning of our Australian tour, but unfortunately his injury flared up during the latter stages of Tuesday’s field session, so we could not select him.”
Nienaber stressed the importance of turning the corner after three successive defeats on tour and said the entire squad was aligned in terms of what their roles were to steer the team to a much-needed win.
“We are bitterly disappointed about the results in the last few weeks and everyone in our team realises the importance of finishing the Rugby Championship on a winning note,” said Nienaber.
“Every member of squad will have a role to play in ensuring that the players on the field are at their best on match day, and we have no doubt that if we can build on the strong points of our game last week and improve further on the execution of our game plan, we can get the desired result.
“We know it is going to take a colossal 80-minute effort, but the drive to succeed and motivation to win this weekend is as big as it gets.
“Last week we stuck to our DNA and style of play, and with a little more luck we could have come away with the result, so we need to ensure that we are better at it this week.
“We are ready for this challenge mentally and physically and we know what we are capable of as a team, so we’ll go out there and give everything we have.”
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