Mandatory bonus victory for the Springboks on Sunday (9:00 p.m.) against Tonga in Marseille. Any other scenario could prove fatal for the world champions in the event of a Scottish victory against Ireland in a week, in the “group of death”.
Beaten by world number 1 Ireland (13-8) and 2nd in the Group B standings, with 10 points, four lengths behind the Clover XV, South Africa would almost be mathematically qualified with a four-try victory. Barring an incredible Scottish comeback and a final ranking which would see Boks, Ireland and XV du Chardon on 15 points, and a team eliminated on goal average.
To avoid the humiliation of an exit from the group stage, which would be a first for the three-time world champions, South African coach Jacques Nienaber will have one eye on the calculator, and the other on Handre Pollard, regular scorer for the Springboks during their victorious campaign at the 2019 World Cup in Japan. Absent from the team for a year and returning from injury barely 15 days ago with his English club Leicester, the former Montpellier fly-half only returned to the selection thanks to the injury to hooker Malcolm Marx. And it was his metronome qualities against the posts which offered him a starting place against the Tongan Sea Eagles, after the failure at the foot of Manie Libbok and Faf de Klerk since the start of the competition (11 out of 23).
It remains to be verified whether the very managerial Pollard will not penalize a devastating Springbok three-quarter line under the baton of Libbok, as observed by the All Blacks, humiliated 35-7 at Twickenham just before this World Cup, or the young Romanian Oaks. , transformed into kindling (76-0). But “Handre is not Superman,” warned Rassie Erasmus, the director of South African rugby, this week. “In terms of our game plan, we clearly have some things to sort out,” Nienaber added: “Otherwise we won’t last long in this competition.”
One thing is certain: the world champions, 3rd in the world, do not take the Tongans (15th) lightly, with their flanker Siya Kolisi lined up from the kick-off for his 79th selection, his 50th as captain, but also the roc Eben Etzebeth in the second line. In the wake of their golgoths of the pack, the Springboks will also be able to count on their gazelles in the back lines, notably with the new pearl Canan Moodie in the center or Makazole Mapimpi on the wing.
A scrum half on the wing (Grant Williams), two N.8s in the third row (Wiese and Vermeulen), a flanker at the back (Fourie): Nienaber will also continue his experiments against Tonga from a more conservative Toutai Kefu. For the ex-wallaby world champion, in fact, we don’t change, or barely, a losing team. Dominated by Ireland (59-16) then Scotland (45-17), the Tongan starting XV has only been marginally modified (3 changes), including the forced absence of Vaea Fifita, the former -All Black, suspended after his red card against Scotland. In the World Cup, the Sea Eagles met the Boks only once, during the 2007 World Cup in France, with an honorable 30-25 defeat. Ten years earlier, in Cape Town, they had been defeated 74-10.
