Rassie Erasmus: Riley Norton is what the Springboks need not JJ van der Mescht
Riley Norton celebrates scoring for the Springboks and an inset of Northampton Saints lock JJ van der Mescht.
Rassie Erasmus says that while JJ van der Mescht is a ‘wonderful’ player, he is not what the Springboks need right now, with Junior Boks skipper Riley Norton being a better fit.
Norton was a shock inclusion in the Springboks’ squad for the upcoming Nations Championship opener against England, considering that he has yet to play for the Stormers.
Springboks look to schoolboy superstar to ease lock crisis
A rising star in SA Rugby ranks, the utility forward not only captained the South African U20s team to the World Rugby Junior World Championship title last season but impressed with a rounder ball during his schoolboy years.
He became just the 15th person to represent South Africa in cricket and rugby at schoolboy level, playing in the U19 Cricket World Cup and looked every bit a future Protea before choosing the egg-shaped ball instead.
That decision looks to be bearing fruit quicker than many would have predicted after he earned his first appearance for the Springboks against the Barbarians, and impressed enough that he could now become a fully-fledged Bok this July.
This also comes amid somewhat of a lock crisis for the Springboks, with RG Snyman ruled out for the entire 2026 international season, while there is doubt around when Salmaan Moerat will return from injury, though Erasmus states his setback is long-term.
Lood de Jager is ‘touch and go’ for the England Test, while Franco Mostert is expected back for the clash against Scotland; he could be fast-tracked for England. Lions star Ruan Venter was also set to feature in the second row at some point this year for the Boks, while Eben Etzebeth missed the latter stages of the Sharks’ season with an injury but is expected to be fit to face Steve Borthwick’s men.
Rassie: Why Riley Norton has been selected over JJ van der Mescht
This injury list led many to think that Northampton Saints star Van der Mescht would be included in the official squad for the Nations Championship matches after being invited to the virtual alignment camps earlier this year. However, Erasmus has explained that the powerhouse lock doesn’t fit the requirements that the squad needs right now, even if he seems like a perfect replacement for Snyman.
“This is not the platform to go into the strengths and weaknesses of players,” the Springboks boss explained when fronting the media on Tuesday.
“Obviously our interactions with JJ were virtual, or contacting the club and monitoring his stats and those kind of things, but Riley is totally different; he’s in our system.
“He went through our junior structures like JJ did, but JJ has been away for a really long time. At the end of the day, we look at what we need in the team.
“One [Norton] is a line-out caller, very athletic around the park, and the other [Van der Mescht] is a bruiser who plays very direct. It depends on what you need for a certain Test match, and we all think JJ is a wonderful player, and it’s not to say that JJ is not going to play for us in the future, but what we feel we need at this stage is probably more what Riley gives us.”
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Not wasting Saints star’s time with options in the squad
The number four lock position is a bit of a concern for the Boks with Jean Kleyn also sidelined, Etzebeth lacking game minutes and Snyman ruled out, but Erasmus believes there is enough cover in the current squad.
“If you look at where we have injuries, if you look at RG, you will think that JJ is the immediate good replacement for that, but in the team there are some other guys like Cobus Wiese and many guys like Jasper who can even scrum at number four if you want,” he said.
“Jan-Hendrik Wessels played number four at school for a very long time.”
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The head coach added that they could have included the Saints’ lock in the squad, but that the coaching team didn’t want to call up a player who wasn’t going to be used during this international window.
“We just felt we don’t want to get somebody in that we don’t utilise. So hopefully in the future we do need somebody like that and press on his number and get him into the squad, but it’s totally two different types of players and Riley is obviously somebody that knows our systems really well because he comes through our structures.”
