Erasmus Pleased with Springbok Progress Ahead of Italy Clash

The Springboks’ preparations for the opening stretch of their international season are moving in the right direction, according to head coach Rassie Erasmus. This comes after South Africa’s convincing 54-7 win over the Barbarians in wet and windy conditions at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.

Erasmus revealed that much of the squad selection for the initial phase of the season had already been finalized, with the team now looking ahead to the Castle Lager Incoming Series, which includes two Tests against Italy and a clash with Georgia.

“We won’t get carried away with this performance,” Erasmus cautioned.

“Certainly, some of the newer guys showed us that they can do it at this level, but we’ll layer them in.

“We know who is going to play in Italy one and two, and certainly by the end of the Georgia game, which will be a grind, we’ll have a group of 45, 50 that have had some game time.”

The Springboks ran in eight tries to one in a match that was regularly interrupted by rain showers.

Jesse Kriel, who captained the team in the absence of Siya Kolisi (withdrawn due to injury on the eve of the match), was pleased with the team’s bold approach.

“We came in here to be bold and positive and not let the conditions affect us and keep the ball in hand and I thought we looked dangerous on turnover ball,” said Kriel.

“I thought we looked dangerous when we got the ball into guys like Aphelele Fassi, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe’s hands. They’re special rugby players, they can make something out of nothing, and we saw that today.”

Looking ahead, Erasmus said the team is eager to build on their attacking play in what should be more favorable conditions when they take on Italy in Pretoria on Saturday.

“Some of the half gaps and some of the line breaks we made would have stuck if the weather had been drier,” he explained. “We can’t wait to play on a dry pitch and improve on our attack.

“We want to get better, the next three matches we’ll be trying to focus on us before we hit the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.”

Erasmus also introduced an interesting tactical twist, using inside centre Andre Esterhuizen as a loose forward off the bench in what he described as a carefully planned hybrid role.

“You can have two ways of looking at it,” said Erasmus.

“You can have a forward covering a back position like Kwagga Smith covering wing, and you can have a back covering a forward position, like Andre covering flanker.

“You can call him a hybrid player, but he is a backline player who can also play in the forwards now. He has been training with both the forwards and the backs, and I must say Felix Jones handles his load very well in how much he does with the forwards and how much he does with the backs.

“We started chatting to him about it five months ago, but he is a backline player who can also play forward.”

Erasmus also took time to applaud Lood de Jager, who made his long-awaited return to the field after a potentially career-ending illness.

“The condition that he had was almost career-ending, but when we did the fitness testing three weeks ago, he was exceptional,” Erasmus said.

“His body might be 32 or 33, but he has had some two or three years ‘rest’ in the last couple of years, and I think that showed. I also thought Jean Kleyn went deep into the game very well. We’re very glad Lood came through it, and we have some nice depth at lock now.

“Overall, it was a satisfying performance. It was a good hit out, but now the test matches start next week.”