Cheslin Kolbe is set to resume the responsibility of kicking at goal for the Springboks, after Damian Willemse was named at flyhalf against the All Blacks for Saturday’s Auckland-based Test. DYLAN JACK reports.
Despite picking a largely tried-and-tested matchday-23 for the Rugby Championship clash against the All Blacks at the Mount Smart Stadium, the Springboks have opted not to elect an out-and-out goalkicker for the match.
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Manie Libbok took the responsibility in his first Test start in the opener against the Wallabies, but is on the bench against New Zealand, as Willemse will wear the No 10 jersey for the seventh time in his Test career.
Willemse’s run at flyhalf first started against the Wallabies in Australia last September, but he has often shared the goalkicking responsibility with his teammates. The Springboks opted to float the kicking between Willemse, Kolbe and Faf de Klerk during last November’s European tour, with mixed results.
While the tactic backfired in the 19-16 loss to Ireland in Dublin, it produced better results in Marseilles, where the trio combined for four penalties and two conversions against France between them.
Still, it was surprising to hear Nienaber admit that the Springboks had not yet settled on a goalkicker after naming the team to tackle the All Blacks on Tuesday.
“I will take you back to the end of year tour, when we said our kickers are kicking,” the Bok head coach said. “Cheslin is kicking and can kick for poles, as he did on the end of year tour, Damian is kicking for poles, as he did on tour and Faf is kicking for poles, like he did on tour.
“So we have a couple of options. Between them, they will make a decision. We are measuring their trainings and kicks at poles. Between them and Stick – I don’t know anything about kicking – they will have a good discussion over who will start in terms of kicking for poles.”
Kolbe, who was among the contingent to travel to New Zealand early last week, is back on the wing after watching Kurt-Lee Arendse score a hat-trick against the Wallabies.
When asked whether that performance put him under pressure, the 2019 World Cup-winner took a pragmatic approach.
“It was a wonderful performance from the team,” said Kolbe. “It’s always great to see the boys get the opportunity and perform the way they did. For us, we made sure we prepared them as well as we could before we left for New Zealand.
“It was great to see how well the guys performed over the weekend. I’m sure there is still a lot that we would like to improve on and rectify going forward in the Rugby Championship.”
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