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South African Rugby confirmed on Friday that Manie Libbok will start in place of Handre Pollard at fly-half for South Africa against France in this weekend’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final.

The inclusion of Libbock in the starting fifteen is bound to make a few people nervous as the flyhalf has had a rather shaky kicking performance in this year’s tournament.

In another surprise pick, Cobus Reinach will wear the No. 9 jersey instead of Faf de Klerk.

Both De Klerk and Pollard were part of the 2019 World Cup-winning squad, so perhaps they are being saved for the semis. Let’s just get there first.

The choice of starting fifteen will always ruffle a few feathers, but Libbock has been under unfair scrutiny the last few games as his boot seems to be a bit off. Besides the kicking, the flyhalf is rock-solid on attack and defence, so let’s see what happens come Sunday.

I’m going to stick my neck out and say that including Reinach is a good choice for the France game. Faf is great and all, but he seems to have lost a bit of his ‘urgency’ lately, and wiping the hair from his eyes takes up seconds they can’t afford to lose against a team like France. But that’s just an opinion.

The full team for this Sunday looks like this:

Damian Willemse; Kurt-Lee Arendese, Jesse Kriel, Damian De Allende, Cheslin Kolbe; Manie Libbok, Cobus Reinach; Duane Vermeulen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (capt); Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth; Frans Malherbe, Bong Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements: Deon Fourie, Ox Nche, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Faf de Klerk, Handre Pollard, Willie Le Roux.

The game kicks off at 21:00 South African time, so you might want to let your boss know you’ll be a bit late on Monday. Also, no meetings until after lunchtime.

[source:jacarandafm]