Rassie Erasmus said having the most experienced Springbok starting XV in history won’t guarantee victory against Ireland in the series decider at Kings Park on Saturday.
He named an unchanged lineup with 990 combined Test caps among them, surpassing the 987 amassed by the run-on team that beat the All Blacks in the World Cup final in France last year.
“We don’t really look at such things when we select the team, but this shows how blessed we are with the depth in the squad and the quality of the players we have,” said Erasmus of the record-breaking outfit.
“While it may be an impressive statistic, it will by no means guarantee us a victory. We know we must go out there and play good rugby for the full 80 minutes to get the desired result.”
With 20 players in the matchday 23 having World Cup experience and eight players having made their Test season ‘debut’ last weekend – including captain Siya Kolisi – the Bok boss hoped for a more clinical performance from his charges in Durban.
“It’s always tough facing Ireland,” said Erasmus. “They are a quality team, they are ranked second in the world, and as we saw last week, they never stop fighting, so we know the magnitude of the challenge that awaits us this weekend.
“We have no doubt they’ll come out even stronger this week, but we also identified the areas of the game that we need to improve on, and it’s vital for us to build on our performance in our quest to win both matches.”
Erasmus was pleased with the performances by the younger players in the squad last week – prop Gerhard Steenekamp, lock Salmaan Moerat and utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and expected them to be more settled this week.
“They all made a strong impact off the bench, and they have immense potential as individuals,” said Erasmus. “They’ll definitely become more confident and settled the more they play.
“It was really impressive to see them step up to the challenge of facing a top side such as Ireland, and similarly to the rest of the team, they know this weekend will be an even bigger test, but they’ll be up for the challenge.”
Erasmus was pleased that the 6-2 split on the bench gave the Boks the impact they had hoped for in the second half of last week’s win at Loftus Versfeld, adding: “We considered a few options for the first Test – a 5-3 split, 6-2 split, and 7-1 split, and we felt that this combination is the best to counter the challenge Ireland poses.
“The replacements made a good impact when they took the field by injecting energy into the game, and we are looking for much of the same from them this week.”
Erasmus expected Ireland to come out all guns blazing: “We’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreboard on a few occasions too and we remember how it felt to suffer a defeat against them in the World Cup pool stages, and we have no doubt they are feeling the same this week.
“They are a proud team and nation and they’ll be disappointed that they were unable to capitalise on a few opportunities last week close to our tryline, so they will work hard this week to fix their mistakes and ensure that they convert their chances into points.
“This is going to be another physically gruelling match, and just like us, they will be determined to correct the wrongs of last week.
“There is also the other important matter of them trying to draw the series, while we would be delighted to win both matches, which will fuel their motivation, so it is going to be another spectacle of top-class rugby.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
