You could see Siya Kolisi’s foot going underneath the table while his head coach, Jacques Nienaber, was talking. Thump, thump, thump. “We are fortunate in terms of the support we’ve had from our legal team,” Nienaber said. “We were shielded from it, we stayed in our own bubble,” thump, thump, thump. “So for us it was business as usual.” Thump, thump, thump. Nienaber and Kolisi didn’t want to say much more about the decision not to charge Bongi Mbonambi. On Saturday, South Africa play the biggest game of their lives against New Zealand in the World Cup final. And the captain, Kolisi, thump, thump, thump, is impatient to get on with it.
“It’s probably the biggest occasion that we will ever be part of, probably the biggest rugby game there has ever been,” Nienaber said. “One and two in the world rankings playing each other in the World Cup final, and whoever wins will be the first country to win a fourth World Cup. It’s massive.”
Nienaber tried to hide it, but you could sense his nervousness. These are high stakes, and he has taken a hell of a gamble with his team selection. The Springboks have dropped both the fly-half Manie Libbok, who had started every big match they’ve played in the tournament so far, and the scrum-half Cobus Reinach, who started alongside Libbok against France and England. They’re not even on the bench. In their place they’ve called up Handrè Pollard and Faf de Klerk, who played, and won, the final in 2019. At the same time, they’ve picked seven forwards among their eight replacements, which means Willie le Roux is the only spare back they have.
South Africa used this seven‑one split when they beat New Zealand 35-7 in a warm-up Test at Twickenham before the tournament, but the All Blacks played the second half of that match with 14 men, and besides, this time they’ve had two months to prepare themselves for what’s coming. Not that Nienaber is making any attempt to disguise it. “It is going to be tight,” Nienaber promised. “It’s going to be a grind.”
The selection, he said, was the result of “hours and hours” of analysis and conversation between the coaches. South Africa have four scrum-halves in their squad, but are now in a position where the wing Cheslin Kolbe and the flanker Kwagga Smith will provide the cover for De Klerk in the final. Both have been training there in recent weeks. Kolbe, Nienaber explained somewhat unconvincingly, has experience of playing “sweeper” in sevens, which is roughly equivalent. “You select a team that you think can get a result. The 23 we selected for a reason, and the reason is we think they can deliver and win us back-to-back World Cups.”
New Zealand: B Barrett; Jordan, Ioane, J Barrett, Telea; Mo’unga, Smith; de Groot, Taylor, Lomax, Retallick, S Barrett, Frizell, Cane, Savea.
Replacements: Taukei’aho, Williams, Laulala, Whitelock, Papali’i, Christie, McKenzie, Lienart-Brown
South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, de Allende, Kolbe; Pollard, de Klerk; Kitshoff, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Mostert, Kolisi, du Toit, Vermeulen.
Replacements: Fourie, Nché, Nyakane, Kleyn, Snyman, Smith, Wiese, le Roux
It is especially cruel on Libbok, who had only just been nominated for World Rugby’s breakthrough player of the year award. The Springboks relied on Libbok’s skill as a playmaker in the run-up to this final, only to drop him, and the style he epitomised, once they got there. “If we’d gone with a 5:3 split, he would have played,” Nienaber said. “He’s unlucky because of the tactics that we think we will deploy.” Kolisi’s foot was still thumping under the table. It only stopped when he started to speak his mind about the selection, forcefully, fluently, convincingly, in what sounded very much like a speech he had already given once before this week.
“When those decisions get made and you have to ask yourself, am I going to sulk or am I going to think of the bigger project?” Kolisi said. “When we win, South Africa wins. When they write the name on the trophy they say: ‘South Africa,’ not: ‘This guy started,’ or: ‘This guy kicked the winning penalty.’ That’s just how we see it as a team, it’s far bigger than us.” His words were a reminder of exactly what, aside from 15 marauding forwards, the Springboks are bringing to this final. They have an irresistible sense of purpose. They are a team playing for something much bigger than the Webb Ellis Cup.
“I don’t think it will ever get any bigger,” Kolisi said. “You can’t even dream about this stuff, because it just doesn’t happen often. I don’t think it will happen in our lifetime again to have two teams like this in the final.”
