Johannesburg – The loss of Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am for what seems the rest of the season – and certainly for the remainder of the Rugby Championship – will be acutely felt by the Springboks, if prop Trevor Nyakane’s lamentation is to be believed.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday from Sydney, Australia, Nyakane said of the double blow: “Those are two of our leaders. They are two great players who are experienced and very good at what they do.
“(But) in the Springbok squad,” Nyakane added on a more positive note, “we thrive on helping each other and making everyone better. The people who are going to be taking up their roles are just as experienced and as good players and leaders.
“It is sad to have lost Handre and Lukhanyo but Jesse,” Nyakane said, referring to this weekend’s outside-centre – Kriel, who sat next to him during the briefing, “and the other guys coming in, come with a lot of experience as well.
“It is a blow to us but we have capable guys and we have full trust in them.”
Both Pollard and Am have been released back to their clubs – Leicester Tigers and the Shark, respectively–- with knee injuries that will be further assessed, with Kriel and Damian Willemse selected for Saturday’s clash in the Rugby Championship against the Wallabies in the No 13 and No 10 jerseys, respectively.
Another big call by head coach Jacques Nienaber and Co for the must-win clash, sees Deon Fourie on the bench as cover at hooker for starting No 2 Malcolm Marx.
Fourie has not played in the position on a regular basis since at least 2018, enjoying a favourable spell on the side of the scrum rather. Nienaber did reveal on Tuesday, that the 35-year-old has been training in the position since the injury to Bongi Mbonambi earlier this year, and that revelation was confirmed by Nyakane.
“We have only worked together with him as a hooker on the training field,” said the 33-year-old, who will earn his 58th Test cap this weekend. “Deon is a very experienced player.
“I remember I watched him at school, and he was a hooker and he always played there. It was a fright to me when I saw him starting to play flanker when he got to (Western) Province.
“When I worked with him (this week), he was in sync. He knows exactly what we are trying to achieve as a pack and he fits in perfectly.
“I have worked more with him during the week and things are shaping up to be just as good. I know he will tackle (the challenge) head on and we will be there, side-by-side, doing everything to come out victorious as a Springbok pack.”
The versatile Nyakane will also watch on from the bench, so Fourie and he could have a massive impact later in the game. The Boks dominated the Australians in the set-piece, in spite of the 25-17 defeat, last weekend; and were especially destructive in snaffling up the Wallabies line-out ball.
In that set-piece they won nearly half of the Aussies’ throw-in, while at scrum-time they enjoyed the majority of the momentum. The Austalians conceded 16 penalties during the game, a fair portion coming from the SA pack.
Alas, the Boks could not convert that dominance into scoreboard pressure or points, so Nyakane and Co will have to make sure that they do not repeat that shortcoming on Saturday.
The match at the Allianz Stadium kicks off at 11.30am.
@FreemanZAR
