We’re not geniuses, Jacques Nienaber says after Rugby World Cup final selection pays off

PARIS – Strength in depth and the positional versatility of the 33-strong squad were behind South Africa’s record fourth Rugby World Cup title, coach Jacques Nienaber said, warning people not to dub his staff “geniuses” over their left-field selections.

Cobus Reinach and Manie Libbok had been first-choice half-backs in the run-up to Saturday’s final, in which South Africa edged out New Zealand 12-11.

But Nienaber rang the changes for the final at the Stade de France, recalling Faf de Klerk and Handre Pollard, the architects of the 2019 World Cup-winning team in Japan.

He also went for a replacements’ bench comprising seven forwards and just one back in Willie le Roux, backing the players he picked to play to their strengths.

Pollard had not even made the initial squad and was called up only as an injury replacement for hooker Malcolm Marx. That had left the squad with just one specialist hooker in Bongi Mbonambi, cleared to play after a racial-slur row.

As it turned out, Mbonambi went off injured within minutes of the kick-off, replaced by 37-year-old flanker-turned-hooker Deon Fourie.

“I’m not saying we’re geniuses!” said Nienaber, who took over from Rassie Erasmus as coach after the latter had led the Boks to glory in Japan before taking up a director of rugby role.

“We don’t try and be creative and think out of the box. It’s not genius, it’s just that the players we have, have the ability to give us different tactical viewpoints.

“It’s the strength of the group, it’s 33 players who understand their roles, they don’t have egos and they buy into it.

“That gives us the opportunity to maybe go a little bit different than normal.”

The Boks had led 12-6 at half-time in Paris, Pollard kicking four penalties to two from Richie Mo’unga.

The sole score of the second half was a Beauden Barrett try for a New Zealand team reduced to 14 after Sam Cane was red-carded for a high tackle in the 27th minute.

New Zealand’s Shannon Frizell and South Africa’s Siya Kolisi and Cheslin Kolbe all saw yellow.

Nienaber said the country’s record fourth title, after previous successes in 1995, 2007 and 2019, had been long in the planning. “We came a long way with the players,” he said. “We always planned for this World Cup, since 2018. Massive credit to our fans.

“They were special from South Africa, 62 million people, the videos we had to play from them. It was unbelievable.”

Springbok captain Kolisi added: “I want to give credit to the All Blacks. They took us to the end, they took us to a dark place...

“People who are not from South Africa don’t understand what it means for our country. It is not just about the game. Our country goes through such a lot...

“This team just shows what you can do. As soon as we work together, all is possible, no matter in what sphere – in the field, in offices, it shows what we can do. I am grateful for this team, I am so proud of it.”

Selecting Pollard was straightforward, Nienaber said.

“Manie probably deserves it, a guy like Cobus deserves it when you think about what they’ve done in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

“The one thing we do have is we have 33 players that are the right players – not necessarily the best players in their positions, but they’re the right players.

“When we go with a strategy, we explain it, a guy like Cobus and a guy like Manie accept it.”

Nienaber also heaped praise on “phenomenal” flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit, who delivered 28 crunching tackles.

“If there’s a white plastic bag that blows over the pitch, he’d probably chase that down as well!” joked Nienaber. “He was a machine.”

“I guess as a team we like the drama,” Man of the Match du Toit quipped after the Springboks won all their knockout matches by a single point.

“We’ve had a lot of drama over the last years, so I supposed we are used it. It shows the resilience of the team… and the whole South Africa as well.

“The last three games were really rough, each one we played like a final. Each one we won by one point, so it was quite tough for us,” he said with a touch of understatement.

Meanwhile, Eddie Jones resigned as Wallabies coach in the wake of the calamitous World Cup campaign but wants one more job in charge of a Test team before retirement, he told The Australian newspaper on Sunday.

The 63-year-old’s move came less than two weeks after saying he would honour his contract to lead them until the next World Cup on home soil. AFP, REUTERS