It was very much the regulation victory that was expected but the Springbok triumph over Japan in the opening match of their five-game November tour did not go off without the introduction of considerable angst.
Siya Kolisi’s team face a formidable opponent in the captain’s 100th game at the weekend and it is also an opponent that is waiting for them. By all accounts, France are behaving out of their normal in the buildup to their clash with the world champions, who beat them by a solitary point in a massive World Cup quarterfinal on their own territory at the end of 2023.
It was the South African scrumming depth as much as the clutch kicking of Handre Pollard that got them home in that game. It will be recalled that the dominance they started to build in the second half prompted them to opt for a scrum inside their own half after fullback Damian Willemse called for a mark.
Up until about 10 days ago the Boks might have expected they could rely on a repeat recipe. However, in the 61-7 win over Japan at Wembley they lost Ox Nche to a tour ending injury and that has considerably undermined their chances of using the scrum as a big weapon at Stade de France on Saturday night.
Nche, along with Wilco Louw, has become the foremost go-too man for the Boks when the mission is to destroy an opposition scrum. Louw will be there. Nche won’t. And what really adds to the Bok angst is that neither will Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who was the victim of what many consider a rather bizarre Vodacom URC disciplinary committee decision to ban him for eight weeks, without any concrete evidence of his wrong-doing, following an incident in the recent match between the Vodacom Bulls and Connacht.
It isn’t an exaggeration to describe Wessels as the new Nche and Malcolm Marx all rolled into one as the truth is he is either already world class or will become world class in both positions. Given Nche’s misfortune, it would have been as a loosehead that he would have been relied on this week and it would have been an important part of his learning curve as the Boks build towards the 2027 RWC in Australia.
Fortunately for the Boks Gerhard Steenekamp, who missed the entire southern international season due to injury, is back in the mix, but it would have been Wessels’ presence that would have made up for the loss of Nche’s scrumming X-factor. If the Boks feel that their weaponry has been at the very least undermined if not removed completely it would be understandable.
SACHA BRINGS A DIFFERENT THREAT - EDDIE
However, one thing the Boks do have that they didn’t have in 2023 is Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Eddie Jones, the Japan coach, said it perfectly after the game - “He’s got seriously quick feet and a fantastic fend. Give him half an opportunity and he’s gone. That gives South Africa a different threat.”
The Boks already had a developing different threat when they last played France 23 and a half months ago. While Pollard landed the kick that won them the game, the South Africans would not have still been in it were it not for the X-factor and distribution skills that Manie Libbok brought to the Bok response to the three first half tries scored by France.
But the 23-year-old Feinberg-Mngomezulu is both those players rolled into one and more and has a wizardry about him that marks him as a generational talent. Jones is right - changes the extent of the threat posed to opposing teams completely, with the intense focus of the initial line of defenders wary of his stepping skills and explosiveness filtered by awareness that in a fraction of a second he can transfer the threat to the back three with his ability to kick into space from a flat lining position.
Often it is he himself who does the chasing and arrives at the opposing player or in the position of space, like he did at Kings Park against Argentina last month and again in the first half at Wembley, to score the try. He is a rare gift to the Boks, and he does bring an entirely different dynamic that will add to the Boks’ firepower in the same way as the absence of Nche and Wessels will subtract from it.
Apart from his two tries, with try scoring something he is making a habit of, his control of the game against Japan in the wet was an assuring indicator that he has been a good learner. He was the top performer in carries, metres made and defenders beaten, and also has field kicking skills as good if not better than the other two flyhalves.
CLEARLY IDENTIFIED AS FIRST CHOICE
While paying lip service to the need to have three pivots capable of doing the job, and he isn’t wrong about that, coach Rassie Erasmus has clearly identified Feinberg-Mngomezulu as his No 1 flyhalf by playing him in the No 10 jersey in four games in a row.
You can never be entirely sure of what Erasmus will do when it comes to selection but it would be a surprise were Feinberg-Mngomezulu not to continue in that role against France and it will mean the hosts face a completely different dynamic to what they are used to from South Africa. In short, they are up against a team that will in time rival their injured skipper Antoine Dupont’s status as the world’s best player. If he is not already doing that.
Weekend international results in games involving the top teams
South Africa 61 Japan 7
New Zealand 26 Ireland 13
England 25 Australia 7
Scotland 85 USA 0
