Springboks find balance before season-closing England clash

Rotation was the name of the game on Tuesday as the Springboks kept faith with the same squad, making just three changes to their starting line-up for their final end-of-year tour clash against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Flyhalf Handre Pollard and scrumhalf Cobus Reinach feature in a new halfback pairing for the team, with the past weekend’s starters Elton and Herschel Jantjies both dropping to the bench, while lock Franco Mostert also makes a straight swap with Lood de Jager.

After an impressive showing against Scotland it was a bit of a surprise to see Elton Jantjies moved to the bench considering he has yet to start back-to-back games this year, and while Pollard still looks a little unconvincing, his variation seems to have played a part in selection.

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“We had certain internal goals and things that we wanted to try out on this end-of-year tour, trying not to lose momentum, and whenever we made a change we have said whether it’s a rotational one or not,” said coach Jacques Nienaber.

“I thought Elton was outstanding last weekend and it was good for us to give him a start – the way he trains and the way he has performed in the games he has started, he is really pushing – but I thought Handre did well when he came on.

“Obviously with Elton on the bench it also gives us a little bit of versatility in terms of the back end of the game. Depending on whether we are chasing or controlling the game, we can make certain substitutions, which gives us that versatility.”

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Another big call was made with Jesse Kriel retaining his spot on the right wing, despite Sbu Nkosi being back with the Boks and having had over a week of training since he was delayed in joining up with the squad at the start of the tour.

“There was a big discussion in maybe getting Sbu back in the mix. Obviously he joined us late with his passport and travel document problems,” explained Nienaber.

“But I thought with Jesse, in terms of the first game against Wales and the step up he made against Scotland (last week), especially with all the different variations Scotland brings to their game, I thought he adapted well and had a solid performance.

“On this end-of-year-tour we want to keep momentum but also wanted to try a couple of things and build some experience in certain players in certain positions to get some versatility, so that was our thinking around that.”