RASSIE GOES ALL IN

RASSIE Erasmus says he snubbed Handre Pollard to see if his other two flyhalves Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok have what it takes to lead the Springboks to back-to-back Rugby Championship titles.

The Bok coach selected a starting team with just one change as Ox Nche returns to loosehead prop for the title-decider against Argentina at Twickenham.

Nché missed out on last week’s 67-30 win against the Pumas in Durban because of injury.

The big changes were made on the bench as Erasmus roped in Bongi Mbobambi as replacement hooker, while scrumhalf Grant Williams and centre Jesse Kriel will provide backup in the backline.

According to Erasmus, it was a tough call to stick with basically the same starting team, that sees Boan Venter dropped for Nche.

Asked about sticking to his guns and wanting to see Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Libbok run the show in London, Erasmus wysed: “I think there will probably be a lot of questions about why Handré is not playing and 10 to one it might be a bit of a gamble that we are taking.

“It does not mean we don’t think the other guys can’t do the job on Saturday. But there are lessons that Sacha and Manie can learn from playing in such a [high-stakes] game that Handré has already learned.”

However, the Bok baas admitted it was difficult to stay with his guns for their final Rugby Championship clash, and said: “We would have liked to make [more than] four changes to the team. But we thought with only two days of training, you can’t change too much.

“We tend to think we are a squad of 45 players, but because we only have these two training days available it was not an easy decision to make.

“We are gonna play against an Argentinian team that are hurting.”

BOK TEAM v PUMAS: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ehtan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, (capt), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels. 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Jesse Kriel