Durban — Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber dodged the bullet that is his non-selection so far of red-hot Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee by telling the media that the Springbok squad to play Wales has not been announced and Coetzee must simply continue “to perform” for the Bulls.
Nienaber was talking at an online media conference on Tuesday after his first training camp of the year began in Johannesburg yesterday.
Nienaber is currently working with ten Sharks players and seven Japan-based players and he says he will add more to that group as the Bulls and Stormers’ involvement in the URC comes to an end.
Potentially, both those sides could lose their semi-finals this weekend and Nineaber would then have his full complement by Monday. He is obviously, hoping, though, that the SA teams defeat Leinster and Ulster and progress to an all-South African final.
When asked about Coetzee and also in-form Stormers fullback Warrick Gelant, Nienaber said: “They are currently with their franchises on URC duty... I can’t now speculate on who is in and who is out — that is why we delayed the announcement of the squad so the players can focus on the URC. Right now, they must just perform for their teams."
Wales does not have the issue of waiting for players to be freed from the URC as none of their four teams made the quarter-finals. This gives Wales coach Wayne Pivac an advantage over Nienaber.
“They have four weeks of preparation as a group because they did not make the URC play-offs,” Nienaber said. “They are going to come here extremely well prepared and there is zero chance of us underestimating them.
“They are a proud team and always bring a physical edge; their set pieces and their defence of set pieces are always well-coached,” he added. “They are tactically smart and every game we have played against them since Rassie and I got involved in 2018 is a low-scoring, scrappy arm wrestle, with usually about thee points separating us at the final whistle.”
Nienaber said that Wales's shock loss to Italy in their last Six Nations game has deflected from their excellent performances against France and England.
“France won the Grand Slam, but they could only score three points for 70 minutes of their match against Wales — they eventually won 13-9. And against England Wales was 17-0 down early in the game and only just lost at the end after pulling level with England; so we are under no illusions as to how tough this series is going to be.”
Nienaber pointed out that according to World Rugby’s Regulation No 9, national coaches must have their players only a week before a Test match, so any training he can do with available players is a bonus
“Usually you only get your players on the Sunday before the match, so we are lucky if an SA falls out and we get players. We are fortunate to get them a little earlier. Nothing has changed regarding that regulation.”
IOL Sport