Cape Town - The most interesting selection in the Springbok team picked by Jacques Nienaber on Tuesday was Trevor Nyakane at loosehead prop.
It was a surprise call, as the Racing 92 front-ranker lined up at tighthead prop in last week’s 13-12 loss to Wales in Bloemfontein.
Yes, the 33-year-old is regarded as a “swinger” prop who is able to play on both sides of the scrum and he has done so when required previously.
But at the moment, there are two excellent specialist looseheads in Ox Nche and Steven Kitshoff. Both had solid United Rugby Championship campaigns for the Sharks and Stormers respectively, and are established at Test level.
Thomas du Toit was given a go in the No 1 jersey last week too, after performing strongly at tighthead for the Sharks this season, and the big man from Paarl was again a powerful figure.
But for me, moving Nyakane to the left-hand-side of the scrum might just give the Boks a different dynamic in Saturday’s series decider at Cape Town Stadium.
I have always felt that the former Bulls and Cheetahs man’s best position is loosehead prop, which is where he became a Bok in the first place.
Nyakane can add a fresh dimension as a ball-carrier and scrummager at No 1, instead of having to “stay tight” at No 3. While Nche and Kitshoff are no slouches with ball-inhand, a free-roaming Nyakane would counter-balance the hard specialist work expected from Frans Malherbe at tighthead.
The rest of the pack was as expected, although Evan Roos can count himself unlucky to miss out on the No 8 jersey after a spirited display on debut last week. Jasper Wiese was chosen as the man of the match in the first Test at Loftus, and his greater experience and hard ball-carrying is probably what won him the nod.
Jaden Hendrikse getting a second consecutive start will be a big talking point this week, but that is more about him getting extra game time than really threatening Faf de Klerk, who is on the bench, for the No 9 jersey.
Hendrikse’s box-kicking was quite good in Bloemfontein, but he needs to speed up his service from the base to give the Bok backline some spark on attack.
Handre Pollard’s retention at flyhalf was no surprise, but where there appears to have been a real shift in thinking among the Bok coaches is Damian Willemse’s status in the squad.
The Stormers star seems to have edged out Willie le Roux for the No 15 jersey going forward, but is that his best position?
Firstly, Le Roux proved that he can still be an important cog in the Bok attack when he brought much-needed shape to the backline in the second half at Loftus.
Secondly, Willemse played at inside centre for the Stormers, and brought a real edge at flyhalf in the second half of the first Test too.
Nienaber has spoken about Willemse fulfilling a similar utility back role to Frans Steyn going forward, but is that fair to the man?
I think he deserves more than that, and as he showed for the Stormers and in Pretoria a few weeks ago, he needs to be closer to the ball to make even more of an impact …
IOL Sport