He might have made ten changes to his side for Saturday’s Rugby Championship rematch against the Wallabies but Rassie Erasmus has rubbished suggestions that he has “disrespected” his opponents, saying the clash is a “massive match for us”.
Days after annihilating the Wallabies 33-7 in front of a packed Suncorp Stadium crowd, the double World Cup-winning coach left out several World Cup starters, including captain Siya Kolisi, moved Lukhanyo Am into his unpreferred position at inside centre, and benched Eben Etzebeth and Ox Nche.
“There are still 14 Rugby World Cup winners in there and only two guys that are earning first starts,” Erasmus told reporters.
“This is not disrespect to Australia and this is not us feeling nonchalant about the game, this is us picking a team that we feel is good enough to still get us the win against a tough Wallabies team that wants to bounce back.
“I think if this week’s team played against the Springboks team that beat the Wallabies last week, they would give them a hell of a go.
“It is going to be interesting to see who steps up in the Test arena, in Perth where there are a lot of South African supporters and Australian supporters too.
“But we trust every one of the players selected and, hopefully, we can get the result.”
Rassie Erasmus has denied “disrespecting” the Wallabies after making ten changes to his Springboks team. (Photo by Michael Steele – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
The wholesale changes continued Erasmus’ approach of testing his depth in the years between World Cups.
Indeed, in recent years Erasmus has often been accused of running out second-string sides against the Wallabies and saving his most recognised men for outings against the All Blacks.
In fact, it’s one of the reasons why the Springboks’ record hasn’t been as strong in Australia.
Even last year, there were suggestions that Erasmus and former head coach Jacques Nienaber had rolled out a “B” team against the Wallabies at home.
Nonetheless, the Springboks rolled the Wallabies 43-12 in Pretoria and an incensed Eddie Jones was left seething at South African journalists for suggesting the Australians had underestimated the world champions.
“South Africans are good at winning. You don’t have to be a smartarse, mate,” Jones said.
“We were well and truly beaten today by a Springboks side that old mate is calling the B-team, right? I never knew there was a Springboks side that was called the B-team.”
With The Rugby Championship continuing to adopt two-match tours within the tournament rather than home and away fixtures, Erasmus rolled out his more recognisable side for their first-up clash and overturned their poor record in Brisbane by beating the Wallabies by an equal 26-point record on Australian soil.
Kurt-Lee Arendse continued his rich try-scoring form against the Wallabies, scoring twice in Brisbane. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
Erasmus opted to rest captain Kolisi along with Kurt-Lee Arendse, Damian de Allende, Bongi Mbonambi, Willie le Roux, Frans Malherbe, Cobus Reinach and Gerhard Steenekamp.
Halfback Morne van den Berg and lock Ruan Nortje will make their first Test starts for a side captained by Salmaan Moerat.
Although there are several new faces in the starting XV, Erasmus has an all-World Cup-winning “bomb squad” to bring off the bench.
“The bench is all World Cup winning guys so from the bench we expect to bring some experience and calm heads and guys like [Aphelele] Fassi, Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] and Elrigh [Louw] is to build on their Test caps and feel comfortable at this level and safe to bring what they have to the party,” Erasmus added.
Lukhanyo Am has been named at inside centre, with Handre Pollard offering cover in the role off the bench. (Photo by Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
The decision to rest de Allende and start Am at inside centre in a midfield along with Jesse Kriel has raised eyebrows too, with the Sharks midfielder barely used over the past 12 months after losing his stranglehold over the No.13 jersey.
“The first thing is we want to win the Test match,” Erasmus said.
“We’ve got all the minutes of the guys, although it’s Test match level, we saw when Lukhanyo moved to 12 at the start of his career and then we he moved to the Sharks he played 13.
“Damian needs a little bit of a rest because the way he plays his very physical and we can’t expect him to play 14 Test matches in a row and obviously Andre Esterhuizen is not currently available. We do see Handre as a possible 12.
“He [Am] looks really comfortable and we just have another option with Handre there.”
Despite the wholesale changes, Erasmus said he was confident there would be enough continuity in the team and added that this team would challenge last week’s XV in a hypothetical game.
“It is a bit of a slap in the face for the guys playing this weekend if we think that they are not as good as the guys that played last weekend. We trust them fully,” Erasmus said.
“We have full faith in the younger generation of players coming through, and we feel this is the right time to test them against an Australian outfit that will be desperate to bounce back strongly from last weekend.”
After showering Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt in praise last week following the clash in Brisbane, the former Munster coach, who worked alongside the New Zealander in the Irish system before taking on the Springboks head coaching role, added that he expected a response from their southern hemisphere rivals.
“They will be desperate to come back strongly from last week’s defeat and I have no doubt that Joe Schmidt will select a team that is fired up and who will give everything to turn things around and get their campaign back on track,” Erasmus said.
“They are a proud nation and they’ll be highly motivated to continue their impressive home win record against us in Australia, so we’re fully aware of the challenge.
“This is a massive match for us.”
