One thing that we shouldn’t hear from the Springbok camp this week is the word continuity.
I’m pretty sure it will slip into Allister Coetzee’s vocabulary again when he announces his team to face the All Blacks in New Zealand.
But change is necessary.
And the biggest one should come at left wing where Courtnall Skosan should be replaced by Dillyn Leyds.
Skosan has now played six Tests in a row for the Boks and apart from showing his pace a few times, he is not the next Bryan Habana.
And against New Zealand, he will cost the Boks.
Skosan is poor under the high ball. I believe he is scared.
It was evident in the matches against Argentina and again against Australia on Saturday.
The Wallabies clearly targeted the winger with their restarts, and it worked a treat.
In Leyds, Coetzee has a player that has played at fullback before and is much better than Skosan at fielding high balls.
Plus Dillyn is in form and he proved as much when he was dropped from the Bok squad to play Currie Cup for Western Province.
Change is good, just look at Pieter-Steph du Toit’s performance against Australia.
After warming the bench for Franco Mostert throughout the year, Du Toit finally got his start against the Wallabies.
Admittedly he was off the pace for the Stormers this year after bagging the SA Rugby Player of the Year award in 2016.
But that’s what happens when you drop star players; they respond with great displays.
With Coenie Oosthuizen also ruled out of the Test against the Kiwis, we know there will be at least one change to the starting XV.
Then we’ve got No.8 Uzair Cassiem.
At this point in time, he is a passenger in the Bok setup.
As a No.8, he packs down at blindside flanker during scrum time. Why?
Jaco Kriel was the man tasked with binding at the back of the pack when the Boks were defending a Wallabies scrum.
One possible reason is that Cassiem is perhaps too slow to cover the back of the backline.
So why is there a need to play a player out of a position at top level?
If he can’t perform the basics required in a position to satisfaction, then he shouldn’t be a starter in Allister Coetzee’s team.
Maybe if Trevor Nyakane cracks the nod in place of Oosthuizen, Coetzee will also bring in Jean-Luc du Preez as a starting No.8.
I’m sure, though, that we’ll see minimal changes to the team again this week.
And I’ve got no doubt that continuity will be the word used to describe the selection policy. Ai tog.