Rugby Australia will trial a lowering of the legal tackle height from the shoulder line to below the sternum in a bid to reduce concussions. Photo by Christiaan KOTZE / AFP
Springboks see silver lining in injury scare
The Springboks were able to use an injury scare to innovate in their record-breaking win over the All Blacks on Friday.
Rugby Australia will trial a lowering of the legal tackle height from the shoulder line to below the sternum in a bid to reduce concussions. Photo by Christiaan KOTZE / AFP
An injury scare for Willie Le Roux forced a late change to the Springbok team to face the All Blacks but coach Jacques Nienaber says that it presented them with an opportunity.
Nienaber and company decided to roll with the punches and try something a little different ahead of a Rugby World Cup that could be one of the most unpredictable ever.
ALSO READ: Springboks quick to move on from All Black trouncing
Injury scare allows the Springboks to innovate
The Springboks decided to field a bench with seven forwards and just one back in Cobus Reinach.
ALSO READ: Fiji clinch famous win over England at Twickenham
Reinach would wind up replacing Makazole Mapimpi on the wing while the rest of the backline played a full 80 minutes.
Fortunately for the Springboks it was the hard work of the forwards that would give them the edge.
ALSO READ: How do the World Rugby Rankings work?
“It was an unfortunate incident and we didn’t want to risk Willie,” said Nienaber.
“With the way games have been playing out, there are times when your forwards have to play in the backline, and this offered us the same option.
ALSO READ: When do the Springboks play again?
“It gave us a taste of how to manage things if we perhaps get an injury in a match. Obviously, the least risk would be selecting a five-three split, and a six-two split holds a little more risk, and then a seven-one split is the most-high risk.”
RWC looms
The Springboks now head for Corsica for a final camp before they move into their base camp for the Rugby World Cup in Toulon.
“This was a proper test, and it was exactly what we wanted before the World Cup,” said Nienaber.
“Wales play a different style of rugby to New Zealand, who pride themselves on their high intensity and high tempo game, so it was good preparation for us.
“That said, we have hard work ahead before the World Cup. We had several opportunities to score tries which we didn’t convert, so we’ll zoom in on that in Corsica and hopefully we can improve on that before our opening match.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES WRITTEN BY JAMES RICHARDSON
