‘It’s a slap in the face’ – Rassie Erasmus dismisses Springboks selection claim
Rassie Erasmus has defended his decision to make wholesale changes to the Springboks matchday 23.
Rassie Erasmus has defended his decision to make 10 changes to the starting Springboks team to face Australia in their second Rugby Championship match.
The Springboks thrashed Australia 33-7 in the tournament opener in Brisbane last week and the two sides will do battle again this Saturday in Perth.
However, it will be a vastly changed South African outfit that takes the field with only Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Pieter-Steph du Toit retaining starting roles.
Mass Springboks’ changes
In fact, Erasmus‘ starting XV from the first match contained 836 Tests caps worth of experience with that number plummeting to 332 for this week.
The decision to make so many changes has taken many by surprise despite the result last week and the Bok boss has dismissed any claims that his side is not taking the Rugby Championship seriously or that they are disrespecting Australia.
Erasmus has repeatedly stated that one of the team’s targets is to finally end the wait for another Rugby Championship title, having last won it in 2019, and feels that a much-changed matchday 23 is key to achieving it.
“We won the World Cup but it’s probably important to win the Rugby Championship and build into the next World Cup,” the head coach admitted after naming his team.
“But it is a bit of a slap in the face for the guys playing this weekend if we think that they are not as good as the guys that played last weekend.
“We trust them fully and you look at the squad and there isn’t much to choose from between Frans Malherbe, Thomas du Toit and Vincent Koch.
“Then, Johan Grobbelaar is getting a chance with Malcolm Marx on the bench and we saw how well Aphelele Fassi slotted in previously and learned and competed.”
Not taking the Wallabies lightly
The Bok boss also pointed to the fact that there are still many of the stars who featured in the two successful World Cup campaigns that will run out against the Wallabies.
“There are still 14 Rugby World Cup winners in there and only two guys that are earning first starts,” he added.
“This is not disrespect to Australia and this is not us feeling nonchalant about the game, this is us picking a team that we feel is good enough to still get us the win against a tough Wallabies team that wants to bounce back.
“I think if this week’s team played against the Springboks team that beat the Wallabies last week, they would give them a hell of a go.
“It is going to be interesting to see who steps up in the test arena, in Perth where there are a lot of South African supporters and Australian supporters too. But we trust every one of the players selected and hopefully, we can get the result.”
