Cape Town - While he feels that the current squad is very experienced and not old, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has stated that there is a “blank canvas” for new players to force their way into the mix for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Nienaber laid out his plans for the 2022 season on a SA Rugby podcast released on Friday, after the governing body announced the fixtures for the year earlier in the week.
The Boks will begin their campaign against Wales in a three-Test series in July, followed by the Rugby Championship, which kicks off against the All Blacks on August 6 in Mbombela.
While the end-of-year tour schedule has yet to be confirmed, the world champions are reportedly set to face Ireland, France, Italy and England on their trip up north.
Nienaber was criticised last year for not providing enough game time for the likes of Aphelele Fassi, Damian Willemse, Elton Jantjies, Sbu Nkosi, Jean-Luc du Plessis and Dan du Plessis while there were a few players outside the squad who were totally ignored, such as loose forwards Elrigh Louw and Evan Roos, and centre André Esterhuizen.
The Bok boss will be under even greater pressure this year to grow squad depth, as there have already several players pushing hard for selection in the United Rugby Championship – with Stormers fullback Warrick Gelant making a serious statement of intent in 2022.
Nienaber largely stuck to his guns last year, with the likes of Willie le Roux, Kwagga Smith and Franco Mostert benefitting from considerable amounts of game time, even though there were other in-form contenders at fullback and in the loose trio.
“What we are currently doing is that we are trying to construct a squad for this year. Obviously reviewing the squad we had last year, and where is there opportunity for change – looking at experience, looking at age, looking at bringing some new players in,” Nienaber said.
“From a player point of view, looking at the URC and Currie Cup, there is a blank canvas, from our perspective. We are looking for players that will knock the door down. Even players who are playing in Japan and abroad, and our own local players in the URC, they know they have to perform well to get into the squad.
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 BREAKING! Boks' home schedule for 2022 locked in
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3️⃣ Tests against @WelshRugbyUnion in July in Pretoria, Bloem and CT
💥 @AllBlacks return to SA for the first time since 2018
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“In terms of our squad, building towards the World Cup, there’s age and experience. I think there’s some people that might think if you look at our squad, this is an old squad.
“But I don’t think that the squad is old. If you look at the current age of the squad, it’s 27, 28 (on average). And they will go into the World Cup with an age of 29 – which is pretty much where teams who have won previous World Cups have an average age of between 27 and 29.
“But what people do see is a lot of experience. The current squad has over 1 300 Test caps – so it’s a very experienced squad, and not necessarily an old squad. Our sweet-spot is currently perfect in terms of experience versus age.”
Despite winning just eight Tests and losing five last year, the Boks still ended 2021 as the number-one ranked team.
Nienaber, though, acknowledged that his side were far from their best. “If I have to be brutally honest, if I have to give us a point out of 10, I would give us a six. If you look at the achievables that we probably set out before the year started, the British and Irish Lions was a big focus for us. Then defending the Rugby Championship was one of the things we set out for ourselves,” he said.
“Then, I don’t know when last we had an end-of-year tour where we didn’t lose a match, so that was an objective. And the fourth objective was to see if we can finish the year at number one in the world again, having started the year at number one.
“So, if you look at it, we probably ended up with half of them. We beat the British and Irish Lions, which was good for us. Because of how big it is, it’s something that only happens once every 12 years.
“I thought we were up and down in the Rugby Championship, and then we narrowly lost out on the end-of-year tour. But by some or other way, we still ended at number one in the world. So, I would probably say, between a five and a six out of 10.”
🔊 New podcast! Hear from Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber as they gear up for a big season ahead. Check it out here https://t.co/bqdLGH2GCx or listen on @Soundcloud @Spotifypodcasts or @applepodcasts. #StrongerTogether #StrongerForever pic.twitter.com/QyqIcBHHDX
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Nienaber hopes to announce the first Bok squad in 2022 at the end of May, and cannot wait for the opening Test against Wales on July 2 at Loftus Versfeld.
“There is nothing better than starting your season with three proper Test matches against Wales. I think the fans are also excited, and the sponsors,” he said.
“We haven’t had the Rugby Championship here since 2019 – the last match against the All Blacks (in SA) was in Pretoria (in 2018).
So, it’s nice and tough schedule, but I think that’s what you want a year before the World Cup – you want to play big opponents, and if you look at the eight nations we are playing and the world ranking currently, we are playing numbers two, three, four and five.
“And the other four opponents that we are going to face this year, only one of them are outside the top 10.”
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