Generally during this Rugby World Cup, South Africa announced its team composition four days before playing its matches, whereas it can normally do so 48 hours before playing. Change of program for the explosive quarter-final against the XV of France, Sunday (9 p.m.) at the Stade de France. “The decision to delay the announcement of our team composition is undoubtedly tactical,” explained South African coach Rassie Erasmus. “We watched and analyzed our matches from last year and we saw that in almost every position, we have two players who are almost equally good.”
The main question concerning the composition of the Boks concerns the opener position where Handré Pollard, recently returned to the group, and Manie Libbok, not very successful against the poles, are in the balance. “In some cases we don’t even know which one is better, so we are keeping our options open for a seven-one (seven forwards, one back), six-two or five-three split of our substitutes bench.” He added: “With Handre (Pollard) and Manie (Libbok) available, and Lukhanyo (Am) fully fit, we have sort of made our decision. We also want to see what the French team will look like. This could also have an influence on our move to a seven-one or six-two bench.