With battering ram Jasper Wiese facing a possible suspension, the Boks have confirmed that captain Siya Kolisi is fit and is one of the options being considered to pack down at the base of the scrum.
With battering ram Jasper Wiese facing a possible suspension, the Boks have confirmed that captain Siya Kolisi is fit and is one of the options being considered to pack down at the base of the scrum.
Assistant coach Deon Davids is confident that, even if Wiese is suspended for what was deemed a headbutt in Saturday’s win against Italy, the Boks have enough players who can fill in at No 8.
“We have versatile players in our squad, and players like Evan (Roos), Siya (Kolisi) and Marco (van Staden) can cover No 8, so we have a few players who can play there for us,” he said.
Kolisi missed the exhibition match against the Barbarians and the two-Test series against Italy through injury so getting minutes against Georgia at Mbombela Stadium will be valuable ahead of the Rugby Championship. In the lead-up to the second Test against Italy, coach Rassie Erasmus had said Kolisi was nursing a niggling neck injury and Achilles strain and that he would be given the extra week to recover as a precaution.
In terms of cover, Erasmus has a number of specialist eighthman unavailable to him. The likes of Cameron Hanekom, Juarno Augustus, Jean-Luc du Preez and now Wiese are out of contention which leaves only Evan Roos as the specialist.
The hard-running Stormer is most likely to get the No 8 jersey against Georgia, but Kolisi has done well for the Sharks in that position during the United Rugby Championship and the Champions Cup. He had often spoken during the season of enjoying playing at 8 which he says gives him greater control and allows him to make more dominant tackles.
Wiese faces a World Rugby disciplinary committee on Tuesday.
Usually the foul play committee would meet without the player, their representatives or World Rugby, but perhaps to underline the serious nature of Wiese’s offence and given his patchy disciplinary record, he’s been asked to appear before a disciplinary panel.
In May last year, in his final match for the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership, the World Cup-winning loose forward was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle and subsequently banned for six matches.
But the Springbok management remain resolute in their support of Wiese.
Bok assistant coach Deon Davids says they trust the judicial process and the team has to deal with any eventuality.
“As a team, we will be there for Jasper regardless of what decision is made.”
The Springboks are not underestimating Georgia, despite comfortable wins over them in their two previous meetings – the most recent of those being a 40-9 victory at Loftus Versfeld in 2021.
Lock Ruan Nortje says despite only being ranked 11th in the world, the Georgian forwards will look to prove a point.
“Georgia are a tough team that have delivered a few good performances in the last few seasons, so we are preparing ourselves for an extremely physical and challenging match this weekend.”
Davids confirmed that all players are fit and available for selection, with Erasmus set to name the match-23 on Tuesday.
