South Africa: Boks Make a Huge Statement of Intent As They Go 7/1 Against Ireland

19 September 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
By Craig Ray

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber named seven forwards and only one back on his bench for Saturday's crunch Rugby World Cup 2023 Pool B clash in Paris.

As statements of intent go, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber might as well have WhatsApp-ed Ireland coach Andy Farrell and challenged him to a fight in the car park.

Nienaber's decision to flood his bench with seven forwards and only one back as cover is like West Indian great Viv Richards going to the coin toss against England in shorts and flip-flops and coming out to bat in a cap. Richards was saying: "You don't intimidate me, I intimidate you." Nienaber's Boks are sending the same message with a powerful Bomb Squad.

This has never been done before. Well, it has, but that was by the Boks a month ago, and it was a late decision when Willie le Roux was injured in the warm-up before they met the All Blacks at Twickenham. The Boks won that match 35-7.

This is the first time an international team, three days out from a Test, has taken such an extreme position. And bloody hell, it's fun.

Free hit?

The Boks' 18-3 victory over Scotland and their 76-0 thrashing of Romania in their opening two matches at RWC 2023 means they have a virtual free hit against Ireland to try this. If the...

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