White lays it thick on Nienaber over Bok selections: 'You're not a national coach to learn lessons'

World Cup-winning former Springbok head coach Jake White was expressively dubious about current mentor Jacques Nienaber's selection changes in a column for Rugby Pass, saying the national team wasn't the place to "learn lessons".

Nienaber turned his team inside out from the first Test's narrow win over Wales at Loftus to the second Test that ended in close defeat in Bloemfontein last weekend.

He made 19 changes to that 23-man team before overhauling the team back for the third and final Test in Cape Town on Saturday (17:05).

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White especially castigated Nienaber for using the national team to "learn lessons" and making the second Test rotational switches, which backfired.

"I'm told his rationale for picking that second Test team was because he wanted that group of players to know what it was like to win a series, he didn't want them just to be playing a dead rubber in the Third Test," White wrote.

"To answer that, I'd say I don't think there should ever be a dead rubber test when you're playing at home.

"The job of a national coach is to win Test matches. National coaches shouldn't use Tests to see if players are good enough; that's what A-sides or training is for.

"I don't know if Nienaber picked that team on his own. He may have discussed it with Rassie [Erasmus, SA Rugby's director of rugby] and others but you're not a national coach to learn lessons.

"You learn that at age-grade or club level – I mean that sincerely – there's a reason people go through a system to become a national coach."

White, who is currently the Bulls director of rugby, whom he led to the United Rugby Championship final, said Nienaber "missed a trick" and invited pressure onto the