Nienaber explains why Kwagga replaced Willie in Bok team at Twickenham

The Springboks ensured several eyebrows were raised when only minutes before the match against the All Blacks at Twickenham on Friday night it was announced that loose forward Kwagga Smith would replace backline player Willie le Roux in the matchday squad for the World Cup warm-up clash.

Le Roux was initially selected to sit on the bench with Cobus Reinach as the only two backs replacements, but the veteran fullback was ruled out of the match with a niggle.

One back on bench

The Bok management opted to replace Le Roux, who suffered a knock to the ribs in training, with Kwagga Smith, leaving the world champions with just one back among eight replacements on the bench.

The Boks’ gamble paid off as they won the match 35-7 with a dominant showing in all departments.

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After the match, coach Jacques Nienaber explained the decision to pick Smith ahead of another back on the bench.

“It was an unfortunate incident and we didn’t want to risk Willie,” said Nienaber.

“With the way games have been playing out, there are times when your forwards have to play in the backline, and this offered us the same option.

“It gave us a taste of how to manage things if we perhaps get an injury in a match. Obviously, the least risk would be selecting a five-three split, and a six-two split holds a little more risk, and then a seven-one split is the most-high risk.”

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The good news is Le Roux should be okay in the coming days, while the Boks appeared to come out of the Twickenham game unscathed in the injury department.

‘Proper test’

Nienaber was full of praise for his team, but said plenty of work still lay ahead for them before the World Cup kicks off on September 8. The Boks’ first match is on September 10, against Scotland in Marseille.

“This was a proper test, and it was exactly what we wanted before the World Cup,” said Nienaber. “Wales (who the Boks faced last weekend) play a different style of rugby to New Zealand, who pride themselves on their high intensity and high tempo game, so it was good preparation for us.

“That said, we have hard work ahead before the World Cup. We had several opportunities to score tries which we didn’t convert, so we’ll zoom in on that in Corsica and hopefully we can improve on that before our opening match.”

The Boks will depart for a week-long training camp in Corsica on Saturday and will arrive at their Rugby World Cup base in Toulon on Sunday, 3 September.