Why Boks have opted for 5-3 bench split against Tonga

The Springboks have opted to go for their lesser used 5-3 split of forwards to backs on their bench to lessen the pressure on returning flyhalf Handre Pollard and ease him back into international rugby in their World Cup pool match against Tonga on Sunday.

Pollard hasn’t played for the Boks since their Rugby Championship match against Australia in August last year, where he picked up a knee injury, before a calf injury later in 2022 has hampered him since as he has played little club rugby.

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Thus starting against Tonga will be a big challenge for him, with Nienaber believing that he won’t be able to get through the full 80 minutes, necessitating the extra backline replacement on the bench.

The Boks’ most used split is the 6-2 forwards to backs combination that they made famous during the 2019 World Cup in Japan, while recently they have experimented with a controversial 7-1 split that they used in a warm-up match against the All Blacks and this past weekend against Ireland.

Reverting backto 5-3

So reverting back to the 5-3 split used by most international teams around the world is an interesting decision.

“That’s why we went with a five-three split (on the bench). If you look at Handre, he hasn’t played top-level club rugby since the first weekend in May,” explained Nienaber.

“I think it’s about 19 weeks ago and in those 19 weeks, he’s only played 30 minutes of club rugby and that was in the Premiership (for Leicester Tigers) the other night.

“There’s a good possibility that he probably would struggle to get through an intense game and a good probability that he might cramp up. That’s why we went with the five-three and have Manie (Libbok) on the bench just for cover.”

Vitally important

The Tonga game is a vitally important one for the Boks with them needing a big bonus point win to give them the best chance to qualify for the World Cup quarterfinals and Nienaber believes they have shown their opposition respect in retaining over half of the match 23 that turned out against Ireland.

“If you look at the team selection, 13 of the players that played against Ireland are playing in this Test match again, so that shows you how important this game is for us and with how much respect we are treating Tonga,” said Nienaber.

“If you don’t give them respect it can become a slippery game.”