The control plan lasted four days.
Rassie named Pollard at 10 after Ellis Park. The point was obvious. Take the sting out of the game. Kick the points. Stop the leak. Then a niggle at Wednesday training became a Friday withdrawal. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu walks back into the jersey he wore when New Zealand scored five tries to one.
That is not a redemption arc. It is a calf and a team sheet.
Cape Town, DHL Stadium, 17:10. Second Test of four. All Blacks lead 1–0. Last Saturday finished 33–16. The Springboks had the scrum and the territory in Johannesburg and still left without the ranking. New Zealand are on 94.03. South Africa on 92.21. Those numbers are not vibes.
Siya Kolisi starts and captains. Cheslin Kolbe is back on the right wing. Ethan Hooker stays on the left. Damian Willemse at 15. Cobus Reinach at 9. Pieter-Steph du Toit at 7. Manie Libbok is the 23. The bench is no longer Pollard insurance. It is Libbok or the weather.
Ellis Park was lost at the breakdown and finished in the bin. Reinach lasted 13 minutes and left with a yellow. Will Jordan used the space. Cape Town does not refund that. A sold-out bowl and a 17:10 start do not clear a ruck.
Dave Rennie’s side arrived with the ranking they took last week. A Springbok win by any margin puts South Africa back at number one on the published points table. A draw leaves New Zealand in front. Another hiding gives them the series calculator before FNB Stadium next Saturday and Baltimore after that.
Do not write the score before Angus Gardner blows.
This is a late change, not a philosophy. Pollard was the repair. Sacha is the player who was already on the field when the first Test got away. The series is still 80 minutes from a 1–1 or a 0–2. Ranking points move with the result, not with the walk-in.
If you are going to Green Point, the traffic starts before lunch. The stadium is full. The only tickets left are the ones people are reselling. If you are on the couch, watch the first restart and the first empty 22. That is where last week died. A home loss tonight does not end the series on paper. It sends the Boks to Johannesburg already chasing.
* Can Sacha keep the ball in play long enough for this pack to use the scrum they already won last week?
* Does Kolbe’s return fix the back-three holes Kolbe himself left as a niggle?
* If the attacking shape stalls again, does anyone take the three points before New Zealand find another yellow-card gap?