Rassie Erasmus baffled by Springboks star’s forced withdrawal and provides Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu update
Springboks star Ethan Hooker and an inset of head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Rassie Erasmus has hinted that the big guns could be rolled out for the Springboks’ clash against Wales in Durban on Saturday.
The head coach rolled the dice by fielding several inexperienced players against Scotland at Loftus Versfeld, with South Africa running out 42-28 victors in Pretoria.
Erasmus’ starting XV to take on Scotland featured 429 Test caps worth of experience, with Jesse Kriel (88), Pieter-Steph du Toit (96) and Handre Pollard (85) making up more than half of that tally. Meanwhile, Gregor Townsend named a run-on team featuring 628 Scotland caps.
Springboks team to be stacked for Wales
Speaking after the Boks’ victory, Erasmus hinted that many of the World Cup winners could be back in action against Wales on the coast in South Africa’s final Nations Championship clash this July.
The likes of Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, and Cobus Reinach haven’t played any Tests for the Springboks, and neither has rising star fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Erasmus says that it could be a ‘combination’ of experience, experimentation and getting fit-again players back in the mix.
He added that he will want to name a team that has more Test caps than the opposition this time around.
“It’s a bit of a combination [return to experienced players and experiment],” Erasmus said.
“We’ll probably pick some experienced, you walk out today and you see Ox, Malcolm Marx, Siya, Eben, Lood, Franco, Cobus Reinach, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and you think of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and there are players coming back like Morne van den Berg – you know we were taking a chance today not because the guys are not good enough but because they haven’t played together. So next week we’ll probably have some guys who return to fitness.”
Erasmus baffled by Hooker’s forced exit
Another player he hopes to have available for selection is Sharks star Ethan Hooker, who returned from injury against Scotland as a late replacement for Canan Moodie.
The Bok coaching team hoped that Hooker could get through a full 80 minutes against the Scots after he returned from a dislocated shoulder that he sustained against the Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship.
However, the utility back was forced off the pitch in the 45th minute of the match after his mouth guard flashed, suggesting that he sustained a possible concussion and was forced to undergo an HIA. Erasmus was baffled by his forced exit from proceedings.
“I don’t understand the Ethan Hooker concussion really. I don’t understand it,” the head coach said.
“We didn’t see the incident, and the guy’s mouth guard pinged. Hopefully, he will be cleared. So to get Ethan through another couple of minutes, maybe give Jessie a rest – we will see.”
Updates on Hooker, Moodie and Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Asked for clarity on Moodie’s withdrawal from the matchday 23, Erasmus said: “Canan was not feeling that well during the week, and then on Friday he trained pretty well, but then he also had a bit of a stiff hammy.
“It wasn’t dangerous. It wasn’t like if we played him he was going to pull it, but he was a little bit off ill-wise. He had a bit of fever and then also he got the hamstring injury, and Ethan was fully, fully fit.
“We thought if Ethan plays this game, he can get 80 under his belt, maybe next week another 80, then Argentina, and when we hit New Zealand he’s got three or four games under his belt, and Canan has played the whole season.”
Hooker and Moodie could be fit for the clash against Wales, whilst Erasmus said that Feinberg-Mngomezulu will return to the squad in the coming weeks with an eye on returning against Argentina.
“Canan might be fully fit; maybe Canan switches to 13. We will probably get Sacha back into the group next Monday; he might be ready for Argentina after Argentina against New Zealand,” he added.
“Morne van den Berg is really close to full fitness, and then Siya might be ready; Lood hopefully is ready, so it will be a combination of guys coming back from injury and making sure we have more caps than our opposition when we run onto a field because today we were totally outdone by caps and experience.”
