Boks to back ‘frontline players’ as Kolisi, Nche, Hendrikse set to face Wales

The Springboks are leaning towards naming what will be close to a full-strength team for their World Cup warm-up match against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.

With the squad having been trimmed down to the final 33-man group for the showpiece event last week and with the Boks having made massive changes to every match-day squad over their four games so far this season, they will now be looking to back their first-choice group over their final two warm-up games.

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That could see players who have been injured such as captain Siya Kolisi and prop Ox Nche get a start this weekend, while scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, who has yet to play a game this season, will also likely be involved.

“There isn’t pressure on us to play these guys. But we are trying to be fair to them and get them into a stronger position to be considered for the first World Cup match against Scotland,” explained Bok assistant coach Daan Human.

“We have tried a lot of combinations (this season) and wanted to be fair and give all the players a fair chance to make it into the group. But going forward now I think we will be looking to settle down and back our frontline players.”

Injury worries

The Boks won’t back all of their star players however, with lock Eben Etzebeth possibly set to miss the Welsh game after Jean Kleyn was part of Monday’s press conference, which indicates he will either start this weekend or play-off the bench.

This could be due to the recent injuries that have kept star Bok players out of the World Cup squad, however Human claims that isn’t the case and that the Boks can’t fear playing their best players in the final two warm-ups.

“If you look at all the international teams at the moment there are a lot of injuries. France just lost their first choice flyhalf Ntamack. So it does happen, obviously to us as well. We have one or two guys on the fringe coming back from injury and not in the group at the moment,” said Human.

“So it (injuries) does have an influence. But these (warm-up) games are games that are being played in preparation for the World Cup. So we can’t have a fear (of injuries) going into these games.

“We have a good group of players and we have a lot of players who can still come in if needed. So injuries are unfortunately just part of the game that we have to live with.”

The Boks will name their match 23 for the Welsh game on Tuesday afternoon and will then have one last warm-up against the All Blacks at Twickenham next week Friday before heading onto France.