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Coach Erasmus calls time on mass Springbok experiments / Photo: © AFP
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Coach Erasmus calls time on mass Springbok experiments
South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus says mass Springbok experiments will end when he names a 36-man squad on Tuesday for two Rugby Championship Tests against Australia during August.
"The bulk of that squad will be experienced players who are suited to the way we want to play while there will be room for one or two guys we want to experiment with," he told reporters.
"We wanted to experiment against the Barbarians, Italy and Georgia in build-up matches, and the scorelines we achieved were pretty satisfying.
"We used 46 players and gave first caps to a number of players. There are others we want to give opportunities to like Jaden and Jordan (Hendrikse), Quan (Horn) and Renzo (du Plessis).
"But the Rugby Championship is definitely a step up, starting with the Wallabies in Johannesburg and Cape Town on successive Saturdays next month."
South Africa are defending the Rugby Championship title and after Australia, play in New Zealand twice, then Argentina home and away, with the latter match switched from South America to London.
In November, the record four-time Rugby World Cup winners face a daunting tour of Europe, including France in Paris and Ireland in Dublin.
Erasmus, a key figure in different coaching roles in the 2019 and 2023 World Cup triumphs, also reflected on the build-up matches for the southern hemisphere championship.
"We are fairly happy if you look over the four games," he said, recalling victories over the Barbarians (54-7), Italy (42-24 and 45-0) and, this weekend, Georgia (55-10).
Each Test was preceded by many personnel changes to the matchday 23 -- 10 and 15 for the internationals against Italy and 16 for Georgia.
"Georgia were physical and disruptive, but that is not an excuse for making so many errors. If we chop and change while building squad depth, you will have lost rhythm.
"We found rhythm in the final 20 minutes and, while the scoreline was impressive, we can always do better."
The coach said fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who missed four of five conversion attempts, injured his hip warming up for the match.
"Sacha wanted to play, but that is no excuse for the way he kicked at the poles. However, he is certainly not one of the guys who made the most errors."
When Feinberg-Mngomezulu was substituted after 54 minutes, replacement Handre Pollard succeeded with all four conversion kicks and scored a try.
A. Madsen--BTZ
