Rassie Erasmus has made nine changes to his side to face the All Blacks on Saturday in Johannesburg. Of most interest to Scott Robertson was the combination at lock, with Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje being more or less the last men standing in a Springbok second row wracked with injuries.
However, Erasmus threw a curveball by admitting that Eben Etzebeth is still in consideration, despite not being named due to a knee injury.
“Monday morning we announced the team with Eben out, with our policy that if you can’t train on a Monday you can’t play. But Eben went through the whole training session on Monday, so obviously we’ll have a look at how this afternoon [training] goes.”
It’s a wily move by Erasmus to keep the All Blacks guessing before the Ellis Park clash, as he has made a habit of last-minute changes to his line-ups. He’s also sprung a bit of a surprise with the inclusion of Aphelele Fassi at fullback in place of veteran Willie le Roux and kept the trust in young star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at first five.
Erasmus has gone for a six/two bench split, with Grant Williams and Handre Pollard covering the backs.
The squad features 12 players who appeared in the 12-11 World Cup final win against the All Blacks at the Stade de France in Paris last October. That was the Springboks’ fifth win in the last 10 tests between the two great rivals, however, Erasmus was firm in his view about letting his side get ahead of themselves.
“We’ll be stupid if we don’t respect them. We’ll be bad coaches, we’ll be stupid players, we’ll be an arrogant nation, we’ll be put back in our place,” he said.
“It’s a team that beat England at home. It’s a team that lost to Argentina - we’ve lost to Argentina. It’s a team that we beat by one point in the World Cup final. I just want people to understand that Razor [Scott Robertson] is a fantastic coach.”
Erasmus said the recent upheaval in the All Black landscape had played its part in some of the instability.
“If you lose Richie Mo’unga all of a sudden and…you’re trying this guy at 10, your captain is out for the first test matches and you strike Argentina on the wrong day, that doesn’t make Razor a bad coach. We saw what happened the next week.
“They’ve got too much class all round, too good a coaching structure not to get it right.”
Erasmus, whose side has won four tests and lost one so far this season, pointed to the departure of South African sides from Super Rugby as a potential issue in gauging new opposition players.
“Perhaps it’s because we’re not in Super Rugby any more, we don’t know these players as well. We’re just tracking them, analysing them and see ‘this guy’s dangerous’. The moment you switch off, what’s-his-name McKenzie will do something.”
Erasmus was expecting the game, to be played in front of 62,000 at Johannesburg’s iconic Ellis Park, to be a close one.
“We’ve played the last 10 times against them; one draw, four losses and five wins for us, the last 10 times and it’s been two points, four points, one point,” Erasmus said. “It’s going to be really, really tight.”
