Bok coach Nienaber responds to Dweba selection after All Black struggles: 'There's always a reason'

Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber refused to give reasons why they started with Joseph Dweba at hooker ahead of Malcolm Marx against the All Blacks at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Marx came off a sensational, man-of-the-match performance in Mbombela a week earlier but, once starter Bongi Mbonambi got injured in training, Dweba leapt into the starting XV ahead of Marx, who was on the bench.

The move backfired as Dweba's lineout was targeted by the All Blacks, with Sam Whitelock picking his first throw-in of the match within five minutes.

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It set a dominant tone that the Boks only recovered from later in the game. Dweba, meanwhile, was yanked after 30 minutes after not being effective in only his third Test.

"There's always a reason – a rugby reason why we did that, but that's privileged," said Nienaber.

"The players all know [the reason]. Every single player knows why we went that route and there's a very logical reason why we did that."

All Blacks coach Ian Foster was as blunt as can be when asked if they went after Dweba's lineout.

"Yep," he said, simply, in his last words of the post-match press conference as if dropping the mic after their stunning 35-23 victory.