Damian Willemse and Faf de Klerk have a risk-free opportunity calling the shots at flyhalf for the Springboks against minnows Romania on Sunday.
This is according to Bok head coach Jacques Nienaber, who believes the world champions’ Pool B clash in Bordeaux this weekend is also the ideal match to get some first World Cup Test-match exposure to the entire squad.
South Africa and Romania’s only previous meeting came in the 1995 World Cup, which the Boks won 21-8, and the 19-ranked Europeans aren’t expect to present much of a challenge to the men in green and gold.
Willemse, who started last week’s 18-3 win over Scotland at Stade Velodrome, switches from fullback to No 10 against the Oaks, scrumhalf De Klerk will provide flyhalf cover from the bench.
Nienaber named all four scrumhalves in the Bok squad to face the Romanians, and speaking after the team announcement on Wednesday, the SA tactician touched on whether his selections are based on the next game or with future clashes in mind.
“I’m not being disrespectful to Romania but it’s an opportunity to try him [De Klerk] out in a Test match under pressure at 10. He’s trained there for us numerous times,” he told reporters.
“We’ve said Faf is our third-choice fly-half but this is a nice opportunity to give him a run at 10, controlling the game at 10 at test-match level.
“The most important thing in terms of selection is that we’re competitive and that we beat Romania. If we in any way think of further games in the competition, it will be disrespectful to the players that we selected to play for South Africa and it will be disrespectful to the opponents.
“It’s not a risk for us. It is well calculated. We are comfortable with what we saw in training. We believe that the guys are good enough in those positions to beat the opposition.”
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“If you look at Damian at 10 or Faf who’s our back-up flyhalf, there isn’t a problem from a defensive viewpoint. They’re brave, they put their heads in dark places. You don’t have to hide them on defence.”
On what the Boks hope to get out of the Romania game from a team perspective, Nienaber added: “Points difference might come into this pool but the first thing is to bank the win.
“But there is definitely some technical and tactical stuff that we get out of this game.
“Getting some first World Cup test match into some players, getting used to the pressure, which is different to any other competition, that exposure will be great.”
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