Why Springboks opted against Bomb Squad switch as the extent of Jan-Hendrik Wessels’ injury revealed
Springboks forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels and an inset of assistant coach Mzwandile Stick.
Mzwandile Stick has issued an update on injured forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels and why the Springboks stuck with a 5-3 bench against Australia.
South Africa kick off their Rugby Championship title defence at Ellis Park against the Wallabies, who they will face in Cape Town in round two of the tournament.
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus surprisingly selected a 5-3 split on the bench for the fixture in Johannesburg, which featured utility forward Wessels providing cover at loosehead prop.
Wessels’ injury
Erasmus hinted that the Boks might switch to a more forward-heavy bench depending on the Wallabies‘ team Joe Schmidt selected for the clash.
However, the only late change made to the bench was an enforced one as Boan Venter, who debuted for the Springboks against Georgia, replaced Wessels on the bench, with the latter withdrawing due to injury.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Stick confirmed that Wessels’ withdrawal was precautionary after he sustained a setback in training.
“Jan-Hendrik was just unlucky in one of the sessions, where he just got a knock. So, we just wanted to be cautious and not take a risk on him,” Stick said.
“Boan has been with the squad for a few weeks now and has done very, very well, fitting in nicely in the system and how we operate. He and Daan [Humaan, Springboks scrum coach] have got a good working relationship. He has worked with him since a young age.
“We just wanted to be safe with Jan-Hendrik after his knock in the training session.”
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Bench split
The assistant coach says that the coaching team had several options at their disposal when selecting their team, and while they were considering a more forward-heavy approach, the matchday squad remained unchanged as the players selected deserved their opportunity.
“There were a couple of positions where we put a slash behind the player’s name when it came to the team selections,” he explained.
“But the squad we’ve selected, the 23, is a good squad that can do the job for us. It’s going to be a tough game, a different game compared to what we’ve already faced in comparison to Italy and Georgia. But I feel the team that we’ve selected and all those guys, they deserve also their
opportunity.”
Zoning in on the decision to maintain the initial 5-3 bench split, Stick explained the Wallabies’ backline threats meant that having more backline options was better suited for the match.
“That’s why we didn’t change to the 6-2 split, we thought the 5-3 would be good enough for us to handle the game and the challenge Australia pose,” he added.
“Australia is a side that can give you tough times when it comes to ball-in-hand and give you a lot of challenges in the backs. So that’s why we preferred to go for the three 5-3 split.”
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