Springbok coaches Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have explained the reason for the change from the traditional team announcement for the Rugby World Cup quarter-final match against France.
Ahead of a Test match, teams usually announce their match-day lineups at least 48 hours in advance.
But since the 2019 World Cup, Springbok coaches have started releasing their hands early, with names on the team sheet on the Tuesday before games.
This move was to stop speculation between the teams, and since my coaching team had already decided on the lineup and announced it to the team at that point, I thought it would be better to announce it early.
keep quiet
However, this tactic has changed ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final against France, with Ninabar and Erasmus citing the size of Fabien Galthie’s coaching and analysis team as an adjustment.
“Usually we get our teams off to a nice early start, but this time we did it only on Thursday. We don’t announce our teams early in the week, we do it like every other team does, and we do it on Thursdays. “We’ve changed it so that it only happens later in the day or 72 hours before,” Ninabar said. Betway Exclusive excerpt from the Chasing the Sun 2 documentary.
“The reason is that we have about 14 analysts on our team, so we didn’t want the team to step back and prepare.
“So teams can acquire players and bring out their profiles the moment they get into a game.”
The Springboks will also revert to a more traditional 5-on-3 split for this match, making some surprising choices for an important match, even though the French international had the firepower, especially up front. .
Many expected Handre Pollard to start the match, but it was Mani Livbok who popped up at 10 o’clock instead, and scrum-half Kobus Reinach, who replaced Faf de Klerk, was also a shock.
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mix and match
In episode 3 of the series, Erasmus says that the Springboks were a difficult team to analyze because of all the changes they made before and during Matchday 23’s match.
He echoed that sentiment once again in the snippet.
“I thought the combination and matching of teams doesn’t always play the same way.” [players]Even when we played against the All Blacks at Twickenham, which was a completely different team,” Erasmus said.
“It definitely must have made it more difficult for teams that had some data on us.
“If you play four-nine, and you play nine at 10, then 10 at 12, or 12 at 15, side to hooker, lock to side, and so on. It gets a little harder. [analysis] It doesn’t take much time to figure out the trends, so you can’t influence them in any way. ”
Nienaber added: “The team we picked for the quarter-finals didn’t show us how advanced we were.” [Libbok]Handre Pollard, fly-half or faf Damian Willemse [de Klerk] With fly half. Because at the World Cup, all four of them will play at flyhalf in the run-up to the quarter-finals. ”
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“We have about 14 analysts on our team, so we didn’t want the team to go back and prepare.”
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France’s resources were divided
It wasn’t just the fly-half that the Springbok coaching staff kept up with the French international, with Willy le Roux and Damien Willemse sharing the full-back jersey, and when Makazole Mapimpi was injured , added that 2019 World Cup star Lukhanyo Am has rejoined the team. While Jesse Kriel retains his starting role, questions arose as to whether Canaan Moody would also start against the All Blacks and in the pool stages.
“Their resources were divided because we rotated too much,” Nienaber added.
“That’s why we delayed announcing the teams so late. So they only had two days to know their profile and say, ‘Okay, this is the team we’re going to play.’ .”
quiz: Can you name all the Springbok captains since 1995?
