Kolbe back for final but Garces looms again

The good news coming from the camp on Tuesday was that wing Cheslin Kolbe has been cleared for selection for the biggest match since 2007 when the same sides met in the World Cup final in Paris.

Kolbe missed last week’s 19-16 semi-final win over Wales due to an ankle injury which he first picked up against Italy in pool play and then aggravated in the quarter-final against Japan.

The less encouraging news is that French referee Jerome Garces will handle the final. This will be the third time the Boks will be subject to his whistle at RWC 2019 following their opening match against the All Blacks (SA lost 23-13) and last week’s semi-final.

Referee Jerome Garces makes a call during The Rugby Championship match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the South Africa Springboks at Westpac Stadium on September 13, 2014 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Gallo Images)

Garces had a quiet game last Sunday, which means he made no howlers. But historically he is an official who doesn’t suit the Boks, who have won just five of 15 Tests he has officiated. Garces was also under pressure after a poor performance on the opening weekend.

Welshman Nigel Owens, who is consistently excellent, injured a calf muscle last week and was not available for consideration to handle back-to-back finals after controlling the main match at Twickenham four years ago.

On the up side, the Boks have seen enough of Garces at this tournament to understand how to deal with him. If they have done their homework, and it appears they have, given how little Garces intruded in the game last week, the Boks have a good understanding of how to manage the official.

Vitally though, Kolbe’s return strengthens the team in several areas.

Last week Wales peppered the Bok back three with contestable kicks and between Willie le Roux, Sbu Nkosi and Makazole Mapimpi the trio were collectively shaky. Kolbe, despite his lack of height, is able to launch his frame high into the air through a combination of explosiveness and timing. He is a better judge of the ball’s flight than most others.

Kolbe also brings superior speed to Nkosi, who deputised last week, and his lighter frame means he is able to relentlessly chase kicks all day, which the Boks will no doubt rain down on England.

And most crucially, he is a fine defender because he has such astute awareness of the opposition’s attacking shape. He is not afraid to shoot off the line to disrupt an attacking move and has the speed and agility to recover if he is caught out of position occasionally.

Coach Rassie Erasmus made no secret that Kolbe will play now that he has been cleared. Erasmus has been transparent throughout this campaign and refused to play guessing games in the media.

“Kolbe will come into the 23, otherwise it will probably be exactly the same,” Erasmus said, to some of the travelling English media’s astonishment. They are used to England coach Eddie Jones’ verbal jousting and innuendo at press conferences. Erasmus’ comment also confirmed that the Boks would go into the match with a six/two split on the bench between backs and forwards.

England’s 19-7 semi-final win over New Zealand was on Saturday, giving them one extra day to recover and prepare for the final. They also didn’t play their final Pool match against France after the match was cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis.

England have therefore played one fewer match than the Boks. In a physically demanding tournament, heading into a tense final that could be defined by tight margins, that has to be to England’s advantage.

“We will only have 160 minutes training this week and we have a six-day turnaround,” Erasmus said. “There is not a lot you can change in that time, just one or two moves maybe.

“I have coached against Eddie’s England four times and we have never had discussions via the media. I am expecting another normal build-up to a Test match, although he might surprise us.

“On the field, I expect a very well coached, fit England team with a great tactical plan. The physicality they brought to New Zealand was the next level and it had been a long time since I had seen an England team turn up with that much physicality. They will be brimming with confidence.”

There are parallels between the Boks and England in the sense that they have both placed premiums on defence, the kicking game and set piece superiority.

Where England are ahead is that they have had four years under Jones to add the more subtle layers of attacking moves and strike plays to their playbook. It took Jones two years to lay the foundations of the plan and another two to build the variations on top of that base.

Erasmus’ Boks are 24 months behind England in their evolution and Erasmus is only in the early stages of adding building blocks to his foundation. The Boks simply aren’t far enough along in their development to match England for attacking variation.

“You have to understand where we are coming from – eighth in the world,” Erasmus said. “We had certain challenges and one of them was to redeem ourselves and become a power again by getting into the top two. You have to put building blocks in place and follow certain routes to get short-term results.

“We accept there are some things in our game we need to improve, but we are in a position to win the World Cup. We accept criticism but we are happy with the position we are in. There will not be a lot of change. You can expect the same from us on Saturday.

“We have varied our play against different teams and our last game against England [at Twickenham last November] was very close,” said Erasmus. “We will see how we can stop them scoring points while managing more ourselves.

“England put teams under pressure with their line speed and do not give much time and space, which New Zealand found out. We do the same, so we experience it at training sessions a lot.

“Our team selection will not be far off where it has been previously. We will pretty much go with the same 23 we have had in the last couple of games. We believe that is the way we can get the most out of our team.” DM

Listen to last week’s RWC 2019 podcast here