Injury-hit Springboks ready for Romania
After their opening win against Scotland, South Africa get a second crack at Pool B on Sunday evening against Romania in Bordeaux. While much has been made of the world champions’ squad depth, the loss of the hooker Malcolm Marx to a knee injury this week was a significant setback on and off the field.
“It’s a blow on various levels,” said the head coach, Jacques Nienaber, of the front rower’s training mishap. “When we left Toulon to come to Bordeaux we were all sad. Rugby players work incredibly hard for four years to come to a World Cup.
“For him to miss out on it for such a freak accident is a big blow. The second blow, every individual in our team adds something to the Boks, to the team, so we lose that. The typical thing is in the mornings I would see Malcolm with his daughter in his arms, so I’m going to miss that and the chats that we had. And thirdly you lose a quality rugby player as a team.”
The Springboks’ wider approach to selection has generated much debate lately, a trend that continued when Nienaber named four scrum-halves in his 23-man group to face Romania. He was keen to highlight the various skills of the players in question, however, referencing the fact that Faf de Klerk is no stranger to playing at fly-half, having done so at club and school level. Cobus Reinach starts, Grant Williams is on the wing, with De Klerk and Jaden Hendrikse the other No 9s in the squad to take on the world’s 19th-ranked nation.
“From the start, people were wondering why we were taking four scrum-halves [in the squad] but if you look at the versatility within that, that’s what we saw,” Nienaber said. “Grant [Williams] played his school career on the wing, it was only in his last couple of games he moved to nine. Like you saw in the game against New Zealand, a guy like Cobus [Reinach] can help us out on the wing as well.
“Faf [de Klerk], the majority of his school career, he played fly-half. He has also played fly-half for the Lions in Super Rugby and also for Sale Sharks in the Premiership. Yes, there are four nines but a lot of them have played different positions. That’s nice for us, the versatility that we get from them.”
Another versatile operator in South Africa’s squad is the fit-again 20-year-old Canan Moodie, who played his first professional match at centre in the statement win against the All Blacks at Twickenham. Moodie is reunited in midfield with Harlequins’ Andre Esterhuizen in Bordeaux as Nienaber and the director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, test various combinations in a match they expect to win comfortably.
Also keep an eye out for Damian Willemse, the only player retained in the starting lineup from the opener against Scotland. Willemse, who had a brief spell at Saracens in 2019, switches from full-back to fly-half.
Samoa want more Test matches
While Samoa’s selectoral options have been boosted by rugby’s revised eligibility rules, opportunities to play top-ranked nations away from World Cups remain limited. Before their opener against Chile in Bordeaux on Saturday, the head coach, Seilala Mapusua, was asked if he felt his side have enough chances to play tier-one nations between tournaments. “The short answer would be ‘no’,” Mapusua said. “I’ve been in the role for three years now and in that time we’ve played nine or potentially 10 Test matches.
“When we played Ireland a few weeks ago, that was the second tier-one team we played since the 2019 World Cup, [the other one was] Italy last year. So in terms of preparing to compete I think a lot more can be done, a lot more meaningful games that will help us prepare for the pinnacle event.”
Tshiunza’s steep learning curve
Christ Tshiunza’s ascent to a starting spot for Wales has been so swift, his family members have barely been able to keep up. “It is very surreal, considering in 2010 I didn’t even know what rugby was,” Tshiunza said of his opportunity to line up in the second row for Warren Gatland’s team against Portugal on Saturday.
Tshiunza’s family left the Democratic Republic of the Congo 13 years ago, and the 20-year-old was first called into the Wales squad in October 2021 by Gatland’s predecessor, Wayne Pivac. It has been a steep learning curve for all.
“My family that come to the games now, they haven’t got a clue,” Tshiunza said. “They are like: ‘Where’s Christ, where’s Christ? Oh, good job, you did something well today.’ They don’t know the rules, but I am glad they can come and support.”
Pressure on Ireland, says Tonga’s Havili
The Tonga fly-half William Havili, believes the onus is on Ireland to deliver when the teams collide in Nantes tonighton Saturday night. “The pressure’s not really on us, it’s more on them,” said Havili. “People expect us to lose, but we’ve just been chipping away quietly.”
Meanwhile Tonga’s captain, Ben Tameifuna, believes his men are capable of causing Ireland problems at the set-piece. “Scrum time will be huge for us, we’re going to have a crack,” said the Bordeaux Bègles prop. “The game starts up front.” Tameifuna was tight-lipped in comparison when quizzed on how Tonga’s front-rowers are fuelling up at the breakfast table. “Just porridge and eggs,” he said.
Koch’s baguette diet
And finally, sticking with the food theme: asked to name his favourite French food, the Springboks prop Vincent Koch put forward the controversial theory that excessive consumption of French bread does not lead to weight gain.
“The baguettes, of course,” Koch said. “For some reason you don’t pick up too much weight if you have too many. And the crêpes are always a good thing to keep the big boys happy.” Non-fattening baguettes? Sounds like a load of crêpe.
