Boks bomb squad will blitz you again
SOUTH AFRICA BENCH BOYS READY TO TAME THE LIONS
WARREN GATLAND’S British & Irish Lions have been warned the Bok Bomb Squad is ready to blow up in their faces again in the deciding Test on Saturday.
South Africa’s heavyweight bench made the difference for the world champions in last weekend’s 27-9 win and they will be at it again with the series on the line.
Sale’s Lood de Jager dominated when he came on in that second Test and has been rewarded with a starting place this weekend.
Hooker Malcolm Marx, props Trevor Nyakane and Vincent Koch, and back row Marco van Staden were also introduced after the 56th minute when the Springboks were 11-9 up and the tourists were threatening.
But the Lions hardly got a blow in the final quarter as the Bomb Squad exploded and the hosts ran away to level the series 1-1, doing the job that got them their nickname during the 2019 World Cup triumph.
And starting prop Frans Malherbe believes – with Marx, Nyakane, Koch and Van Staden named on the bench again – the boys coming on are as good as the starters, and will keep the pressure on at the business end of the third Test. Malherbe, who made way for the Bomb Squad, said: “You saw the impact Trevor, Vince and Malcolm made at the weekend. It shows everyone is at the same quality level.
“But the example of that, for me, was coming off the field on Saturday and seeing the impact the bench made. It was really a big satisfaction for me.”
Veteran fly-half Morne Steyn, 37, has been whistled up to take De Jager’s place on the bench as the Boks switch to a 5/3 forwards to backs split from a 6/2.
De Jager might have given the Lions a bad night last Saturday but Steyn gave them a complete nightmare in 2009 when Ian McGeechan was in charge of the tourists.
Then the second Test in Pretoria was poised 22-22 when Steyn, again a replacement, landed a 53-metre penalty in the 81st minute to nail a series win and head coach Jacques Nienaber says that moment helped get the old timer the nod. Nienaber said: “That is probably one of the big things that weighed in Morne’s selection favour. “He has been in big games like this, he understands the pressure that will be on. If you take World Cup finals and this game, the pressure in this game is going to be similar, it is do-or-die.
“The World Cup and the British & Irish Lions series are as big as it can get, and Morne has been there and done it before in a big game in 2009.”