Playing Springboks selector for Lions series
The strength and power of the Springboks forwards is such that Saracens strong man Vincent Koch will struggle to make the match-day 23, let alone the starting XV, for the three-Test series against the British & Irish Lions.
Koch is one of the powerhouses of the game up north and was brutal in his scrumming during the 2019 World Cup campaign. He is a fantastic player and would be the starting tighthead prop in most international line-ups.
But as things stand Koch, who will be in the extended Springboks squad, is number three in the pecking order behind Stormers tighthead Frans Malherbe and Bulls tighthead Trevor Nyakane.
Malherbe knows only one way at scrum time – and that is forward, while Nyakane has proved potent as a starting or impact option for Jake White’s champion Bulls.
Koch, whose Saracens have not been playing Premiership rugby this season, will benefit from being with the Springboks squad for a month before the warm-up Tests against Georgia and the three-Test series against the British & Irish Lions. He should be in prime physical condition come the series opener at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town on 24th July.
It could also be that he has jumped the queue because of fitness or other tighthead prop availability. There is still some rugby to be played before the international season starts and the Lions series commences.
South Africa’s forwards were a strength at the 2019 World Cup and the majority of those forwards are available and in very good form.
Right now, I’d pick the all Stormers front row, with the Bulls big piano movers and Malcolm Marx to provide cover in the match-day squad. And I’d have no issue starting the bench front row and reversing the order. That is the quality of both trios.
Eben Etzebeth is a certainty as the one lock and in the absence of the injured Lood de Jager and potentially RG Snyman, I’d definitely start Franco Mostert as the other lock. The loose-forward mix will remain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Duane Vermeulen. There has been criticism of Kolisi’s play in the Rainbow Cup SA but in two months time he should be primed to take on the Lions and he will also be a beneficiary from time spent within the bio bubble of the Springboks squad.
The backline will be exactly that which started the World Cup final, and the only change I’d make on the bench would be to go with a three backs and five forwards split, which would accommodate Morne Steyn’s experience as a specialist back-up to Handre Pollard.
Right now, on Tuesday, 18th May, 2021, this is the match 23 I’d select to play the first Test in Cape Town against the men in red.
Each week, from hereon in, I will revisit this selection.
Mark Keohane’s Springboks to play Lions in 1st Test (15-1): Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk, Duane Vermeulen, Pieter-Steph Du Toit, Siya Kolisi (c), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Mbongeni Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff.
Substitutes (16-23): Malcolm Marx, Lizo Gqoboka, Trevor Nyakane, Jason Jenkins/RG Snyman, Marcell Coetzee, Herschel Jantjies, Morne Steyn & Frans Steyn
*Snyman plays ahead of Jenkins if fit.
**17 of the World Cup final match 23 in this selection.
British & Irish Lions 8-match tour schedule in SA
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