South Africa's wing Cheslin Kolbe (R) passes the ball beside Japan's centre Timothy Lafaele during the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between Japan and South Africa at the Tokyo Stadium in Tokyo on October 20, 2019. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP)
The Springboks’ quest to reach a third World Cup final received a massive blow on Thursday after coach Rassie Erasmus was forced to leave out star winger Cheslin Kolbe.
The brilliant pocket rocket, one of the standout players of the tournament, has been struggling with an ankle injury since the meeting with Canada and aggravated it in last week’s victory over Japan.
“It’s disappointing not to have Cheslin available as he has been brilliant for us since we first called him up last year,” said Erasmus.
There’s hope though that Kolbe will be available for a potential final or the third-place playoff.
However, the Bok mentor won’t necessarily despair too much given that the man who replaces him, S’bu Nkosi, is a solid replacement.
South Africa’s Sbu Nkosi is tackled by Canada’s Conor Trainor during the Rugby World Cup 2019 Group B game between South Africa and Canada at Kobe Misaki Stadium on October 8, 2019 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. (Photo by Ashley Western/MB Media/Getty Images)
While the Sharks winger doesn’t possess the kicking game of his teammate, he’s also an explosive attacker and his fundamentals, crucially, are excellent.
“We really rate Sbu and he will slot straight in. I am as excited to see what he can do as I would be if ‘Chessie’ were playing. Sbu has been very close to selection as it is,” said Erasmus.
Pleasingly, South Africa boast a lot of continuity, with some observers arguing it should start helping the team in clicking, particularly after the battle against Japan.
Erasmus himself is suddenly mentioning “momentum” more prominently.
“We’ve been fortunate to have been able to be pretty consistent in selection and we’ve built some nice momentum. But the challenge just got a lot tougher on Sunday. Wales are the reigning Six Nations champions – as well as Grand Slam winners – and apart from three defeats in their Rugby World Cup warm-ups have put together a really good sequence of results,” he said.
“But we’ve also found some rhythm and we’ll be ready for the challenge.”
Springboks: Willie le Roux, S’bu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk, Duane Vermeulen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (c), Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Beast Mtawarira. Bench: Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Vince Koch, RG Snyman, Franco Mostert, Francois Louw, Herschel Jantjies, Frans Steyn.
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