What difference will Willie le Roux and Handre Pollard make to the Bok game in the Mother City?
The Springboks will look to hit back in style when they take on the Wallabies in their second Rugby Championship Test of the season in Cape Town on Saturday (5.10pm) after going down 38-22 at Ellis Park in the opener last weekend.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has made 10 changes to his team from last week.
Here then are four things to look out for when the Boks and Wallabies clash this weekend.
Boks’ team changes
Only five starters from last week’s match in Joburg remain – Jesse Kriel, Grant Williams, Marco van Staden, Malcolm Marx and Ox Nche. All 10 other starters this week are new, in an effort to give the Boks more experience and fire-power, but how well will the 15 starters combine?
The key selections are at fullback where Willie le Roux will bring experience, at flyhalf where Handre Pollard will provide guidance, No 8 where Jean-Luc du Preez starts for the first time in seven years at Test level and at lock where Ruan Nortje and RG Snyman play together for the first time.
Game plan
It would seem Rassie Erasmus and the Bok coaching team feel the side played too much rugby in the Test at Ellis Park. The Boks’ ball-in-hand approach, attacking style, has been blamed for their coming unstuck in the second half.
However, one mustn’t forget that it was that very style of play that brought them three early tries, and left the Wallabies scratching their heads.
Now, it seems the Boks will revert to a more conservative, forwards-dominated style. Will this really be the case and if so, will it be better for the team?
Bomb Squad
The Boks failed to close out the game at Ellis Park because, according to the coaches, there wasn’t enough experience or leadership among the replacements. This week the Boks have opted to go with a six-two bench split of forwards to backs (as opposed to last weekend’s five-three), and have included the likes of Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager on the bench.
With the experienced Wilco Louw, Kwagga Smith and Cobus Reinach also there, there is definitely more experience in the “bomb squad” this weekend, but there are also young players who can make an impact, such as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Wallabies
To come back and score 38 unanswered points after being 22-0 down inside 20 minutes takes some doing. It was a remarkable response by the Wallabies last weekend at Ellis Park.
The question is, with the Boks now having seen what the visitors are capable of and perhaps having done a bit more homework themselves, what will Joe Schmidt’s side bring to the action this weekend that is different to what they produced at Ellis Park?
Did they get lucky last weekend or did they play in such a way that they forced the Boks into making errors? Was it a one-off by the Wallabies – and a one-off shocker by the Boks?
The next 80 minutes will tell us exactly where the Australian Test team are in comparison with the world champions, and whether they’ve truly turned the corner.
