Springboks: Rassie Erasmus backing ‘nice and calm’ rookie to shine against Wales
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus is backing his four debutants to impress in the world champions’ Nations Championship encounter against Wales in Durban on Saturday.
Vusi Moyo (fly-half) and Jaco Williams (wing), who were part of South Africa’s U20 side that won last year’s World Rugby Junior World Championship, as well as Ruben van Heerden (lock) and Carlu Sadie (tighthead prop) are the quartet who are set to make their Test debuts this weekend.
Since their triumphant campaign at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, Handre Pollard, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok are the players who have worn the Boks‘ number 10 jersey but Erasmus is excited by the prospect of unleashing Moyo, who still qualifies to represent South Africa at U20 level.
“Obviously, sometimes you get a really skillful 10 and sometimes you get a small nippy 10,” he told reporters in Durban. “When Handre was a young guy coming through you know he was a guy that took it to the line so all 10s got different things and sometimes the guy gets away with being small but being nippy.
“Vusi for his age is a really big boy, certainly in training sessions he doesn’t stand back in the physical side of the game.
‘A wonderful kicker of the ball’
“I think he’s nice and calm. It’s definitely a Test match so that’s why it’s a Test match he will be tested in. He’s a wonderful kicker of the ball. He kicks great, the way he kicks off restarts.
“His kicks to touch are great and to the poles but that’s not been in Test matches.
“So, we want to see him in a Test match because what he shows in training sessions and also in the Barbarians game, he definitely showed a lot there and then I think he’s got, for a big man, really good soft hands.”
It’s a similar story with Williams who is a player of whom Erasmus has high expectations.
“Jaco is obviously out of the Junior Boks and Cheswill (Jooste) is also a guy that we would have loved to have here, and we know Riley (Norton) got injured with us,” said Erasmus.
“Vusi, we kept with us here and Jaco is a guy that I must say, while Cheswill is definitely a player who I think is going to get very far one day, but what Jaco has shown is, I always thought he was just a nippy guy and he’s just the finisher but he’s certainly a guy that brings it on the physical side of things as well.
“For a guy that’s 21 years old, he’s a powerful player. He is not a huge guy but he’s a really powerful player and a guy with a lot of speed and X-factor.”
Meanwhile, at the age of 28, Van Heerden is far more experienced, and Erasmus believes his call-up is a deserved one as he has been biding his time in the Springboks’ second-row pecking order for some time now.
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“We’re all glad for him. I think it’s a lock of the Bulls so it was always in our camp and never got a chance I can’t remember his name now it’s terrible to have guys in camp and not give them (an) opportunity. Sometimes it’s the nerves of a coach and sometimes it’s just the opposition that you play and sometimes it’s where we are as a team.
‘He defensively made a good claim’
“Ruben played against us last year with the Barbarians and he certainly, I thought he defensively made a good claim, (especially) how he tackled.
“This year, he was picked actually for the Barbarians (again.) We got a few injuries and we pulled him up. He said, no he doesn’t want to play for the Barbarians, he wants to play for the SA ‘A’ side.
“So, he’s a guy (who) I believe really wants to play for the Boks. He’s been preparing for six, seven weeks. (At training), the Springboks who played a Test match, every week he’s been Scotland or England’s five lock and so on, so it’s nice to reward somebody, not by giving out caps for free because we also believe Ruan (Nortje) must get a rest.
“Ruan has played a hell of a lot now and internally we have the little prizes and stuff, we give internally to players what we expect from them in the game, and he was one of the guys who got something today.
“Ruan has not been dropped, it’s resting Ruan and then we’ve just seen that training sessions again. Obviously, when he (Van Heerden) plays for the Stormers, I think Andre Hugo (Venter) has got one of the best accuracy (rates) in lineouts and Ruben calls the lineouts. So, that might happen in the second half (if Venter makes an appearance off the bench) and we think he’s a good guy that can step it up and we hope he does.”
