‘They can keep talking’ – Kolisi claps back at ‘Bomb Squad’ critics

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was in a spicy mood at the team’s pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of the second Test of the Incoming Series against Ireland at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday evening (kick-off 5pm).

Kolisi was in no mood to entertain complaints about the Boks, famed in some corners and infamous in others, ‘Bomb Squad’, which received renewed criticism this week, after coach Rassie Erasmus deployed all six forward replacements at the same time in the first Test.

There is every chance that the Boks could do it again this weekend, if Erasmus feels the need to try and swing the momentum, and Kolisi was adamant that the team had grown used to the complaints about a legitimate tactic.

“It (complaints) happens so much that we just don’t care. If you look at the rule book you will see that none of the stuff we do breaks any rules,” said Kolisi when asked about the noise around it.

“You never hear us speaking about other team’s tactics, the focus is always only us and what works for this team. It is all about what we need to do on Saturday. It is always related to the teams we are playing. The coaches explain to us what they want, and we understand the selection around that.

“We don’t know why people always have something to say about what we do but we never say anything about them. But it’s fine, they can keep talking, we’ll just keep focusing on what we do, and if it doesn’t work then we can change it, but we don’t sit and dwell on it.”

Doubled down

Kolisi doubled down on his explanation, saying that it was in fact a compliment that they were paying another team if they felt the need to go with a 6-2 or 7-1 split on the bench.

“I honestly believe that they should see it as a compliment because if we are strengthening a certain area on the bench surely that we are letting them know that is where we think they are strong.

“It is all about what we need on a given day. Sometimes it is a case of me knowing I can only go a certain number of minutes. It is not always about us wanting to have less backs (or more forwards).”

Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick backed up his skipper, adding that they had the utmost respect for all of the teams that they come up against and that it was all about playing the situation.

He also admitted that you may see the forward heavy bench split used a bit less in the future as their game evolves with the times.

Ireland six-two

“Ireland used a six-two split on a few occasions during the Six Nations. If it works for you and is within the rules of the game, then why not, and people in South Africa appear to enjoy it when the bomb squad comes on,” said Stick.

“On a day if we want to go with a seven-one split, because the situation demands it, we will go with that. You may find though that it starts to change now, because we have made adaptations to our game that will entail the backs running a lot more metres in a game than they have in the past.

“So you may find us going five-three at certain points, it is all geared towards the needs and the specific challenges on a given day and against given opponents.

“We play according to the rules and no-one can tell me we don’t play in a good spirit. There is good respect between us and Ireland, not just between the players but also the members of the respective coaching staffs.”