Rassie Erasmus: ‘This is definitely not the strongest Springboks team’
Captain Siya Kolisi and an inset of Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Rassie Erasmus has retained largely the same Springboks matchday 23 for the third consecutive round of the Rugby Championship, but emphatically states that this is not the best team.
The teamsheet for the clash with Argentina at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham features four changes, but it is essentially the same starting XV named for the match in Durban last week.
Ox Nche was initially named in the run-on team for the fixture in KZN but withdrew from the game due to a niggle, and having overcome a setback, he slots right back into the number one jersey.
The other three changes are on the bench with Jesse Kriel replacing Andre Esterhuizen, Bongi Mbonambi coming in for Marco van Staden and Grant Williams recovering in time to take over from Morne van den Berg.
After falling to a seven-point defeat to the All Blacks at Eden Park in round three, Erasmus made wholesale changes to his backline in particular, giving the more inexperienced players starting roles in Wellington, which paid off massively as the Boks hammered New Zealand, 43-10.
Not the best Springboks
He has since stuck to mostly the same starting team, with the majority of the changes being enforced through injury, and while this is a change of tack from the head coach, it is not due to him believing that this is the best Springboks team that he can select.
He answered that question emphatically after naming his squad for the meeting with Los Pumas in the final round of the Rugby Championship, with South Africa a bonus-point victory away from defending their title.
Erasmus explained that the short turnaround and lack of training sessions in London influenced the team selection.
“No, no, definitely not,” he replied.
“We just have two days of training, and we only arrived on Monday, and last night we only had the team announcement.
“We have a training session today and tomorrow. So no, this is definitely not our strongest team.”
While he was tempted to make alterations to his team, there wasn’t enough time to change tactics, but he was boosted by the fact that most of the players overcame the niggles that threatened their involvement.
“Yeah, we didn’t train yesterday because we only arrived then, so we moved the policy to Tuesday,” he explained.
“If everybody could train on Tuesday, and everybody that we dotted down here trained. So obviously Ox was out with an injury, but he had a week to recover, and he’s fine now. Bongi was with his family, that was a bit ill.
“Grant had a niggle last week, so he’s fine, and then putting Jesse in and Andre out was more in respect of the speed that Argentina have.
“Damian Willemse was having more of a nerve problem than an actual hamstring, and that’s cleared up nicely. Cheslin [Kolbe] had a shoulder concern, but that turned out to be fine.”
Playing at Twickenham
Prior to kick-off in London on Saturday, the Wallabies host the All Blacks in Perth, which means that Erasmus and his charges will know precisely what is required of them to win the Rugby Championship.
The Allianz Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for the Boks in recent years, having won on their four most recent visits to the venue, which includes victories over England, New Zealand and Wales.
Lock Eben Etzebeth also knows the ground well, with Saturday’s clash being the 12th occasion that he will don the Green and Gold jersey at the home of England Rugby.
“Obviously, memories of 2015, that didn’t go that well against New Zealand here in the semi-final and lost but probably the best memory at Twickenham was the game against the All Blacks before the 2023 World Cup,” Etzebeth said.
“Always a great stadium to play at, lots of South Africans in London. So it will be a great game, great to play and obviously a shorter trip than to go to Argentina, which is a small positive for us, but really excited to play against Argentina at neutral ground.”
