Springboks v Tonga: Four talking points ahead of the match

The Springboks take on Tonga in their final pool match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup at the Stade de Marseille on Sunday night (kick-off 9pm).

The game has huge implications for the Boks as they need to pick up a big bonus point win to give them the best possible chance of reaching the competition quarterfinals.

ALSO READ: Revealed – The wedding day speech that put Kolisi on the path to Bok captaincy

With the Boks having a bye on the final weekend of pool action, Ireland and Scotland will battle it out to see which two of the three will make it into the knockouts.

Here are four key aspects the Boks will be focusing on against Tonga:

Finishing

What has become a common theme for the Boks over the past few years is their inability to finish their chances that they create in games. It is usually only brought up in matches when they lose, like over the past weekend against Ireland with coach Jacques Nienaber highlighting four big chances on their line that they butchered. But it also happens in games where they pick up strong wins. 

Against the All Blacks at Twickenham the Boks won 35-7, but they had three huge early chances that they missed before the opening score in the 17^th minute. In their 24-13 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires the Boks dominated the first half and missed a plethora of chances to trail 10-3 at the break before powering away in the second half. This is something they have to get right against Tonga.

Goal kicking

Goal kicking has been the words on everyone’s lips over the past few months and it has only gotten louder as the Boks have progressed in the World Cup. Before the showpiece event there were many questions over Manie Libbok’s kicking ability, but he seemed to have shut them down with a perfect performance off the tee in the final warm-up match against the All Blacks.

However he has since gone off the boil again in the games against Scotland and Ireland, which saw calls for the return of Handre Pollard which was answered with him starting against Tonga. Everyone will thus be hoping to see a strong kicking performance in the match, while Libbok should also get on in the second half and hopefully he will also have his kicking boots on.

Hooker and lineouts

Arguably the biggest risk that the Boks have taken in the World Cup so far was replacing the injured Malcolm Marx with Pollard, instead of bringing in a specialist hooker. The Boks now have just one specialist hooker in Bongi Mbonambi, while two openside flankers, Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden are providing back-up. 

Fourie was a hooker for most of his career, but was never considered Bok material in the position which is still the case now, and it was only his switch to flank that finally saw him reach his potential and earn a call up. People didn’t even know Van Staden was a hooking option until coach Jacques Nienaber mentioned it after the injury to Marx. They both get a chance this weekend against Tonga to either fire or flop in the position.

Esterhuizen, Moodie combination

A very exciting centre partnership has been bubbling under over the past month between Andre Esterhuizen and Canan Moodie and they get another chance to impress on Sunday against Tonga. Esterhuizen has been extremely impressive at 12 this season and it is just unlucky that he finds himself behind the Bok coaches preferred starter Damian de Allende. 

There were big worries at 13 when Lukhanyo Am was essentially ruled out of the World Cup, but Jesse Kriel has stepped up to the plate nicely. But the Bok management showed their hand when they backed rising talent Moodie at outside centre against the All Blacks, with him producing a superb showing against them and against Romania. The Esterhuizen Moodie partnership now gets another chance to show their worth.