‘New dogs in the neighbourhood’ – Rassie Erasmus addresses Evan Roos’ surprise Springboks omission
Springboks number eight Evan Roos and head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Rassie Erasmus has explained why powerhouse forward Evan Roos has missed out on selection for the Australian tour of the Rugby Championship.
The number eight has enjoyed a couple of superb seasons for the Stormers and was rewarded with a Springboks call-up for the mid-year series.
Roos started against both Wales and Portugal, showing glimpses of his quality in the dominant victories in London and Bloemfontein respectively.
However, it was not enough for him to be named in South Africa’s squad for the two games against the Wallabies.
Struggles against Ireland
Many were surprised by his Rugby Championship omission, especially with Kwagga Smith having a few issues in that spot against Ireland, but Erasmus insists that Roos should not worry about his absence.
“Certainly, Evan is not out of the mix,” he told reporters. “Prior to the Portugal Test, we told the guys, ‘you guys get a chance, go and express yourself and put up your hand. Show that there’s some new dogs in the neighbourhood, start lifting your leg and make your mark there.’ Certainly, a few guys did.
“Elrigh [Louw], we want to experience him against big nations. He was part of our plans always, but he certainly took a dip in form, he would admit that himself.
“We know what Evan now can do. Evan has not been thrown away, we still have nine Test matches this year.
“Against Argentina away last year we picked a totally different team, like we did against Portugal. It’s building squad depth.
“We know what Evan can do and he certainly didn’t have a bad game. We certainly know he’s comfortable within the Springbok set-up, we will now see if Elrigh gets his chance to show what he can do.”
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Some have questioned whether Roos’ style of play is suited to the Springboks’ game plan but Erasmus rejected that notion.
Gaining experience
“On defence, their roles are pretty much the same as it is with the Stormers. I think most of the South African teams have more or less the same defensive mindset and systems. There might be small tweaks here or there, but we are pretty familiar with the way the Stormers defend,” the Boks head coach said.
“We’re just trying to get caps under their belt. We know what he can do and we have no problem with what he did for us, but it’s time to give Elrigh a chance against top tier nations.
“The Bulls went the deepest in the URC and he was certainly one of the more physical players in that set-up. There’s no prescription more than what we will have for Elrigh or Pieter-Steph or Kwagga, or for anybody else.
“We’re definitely not punching his type of play in. I would rather say we encourage him more to play the way Evan wants to play, and he certainly did [against Portugal].
“He made a few errors. Like anybody else who hasn’t got more than 10 Test caps, he will make some errors.”
