Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has revealed how the Bomb Squad was created in a small boardroom in 2019.
The tactic has played a crucial role in South Africa’s success since 2019, with the Springboks winning two Rugby World Cups and a British and Irish Lions series, with the bench sealing narrow victories throughout that period.
The idea of the Bomb Squad is not only to deploy a forward-heavy bench with a 6-2 or 7-1 split but is also a mindset that the starting players can empty the tank and give everything they have got with the replacement picking up from where he left off.
It has worked wonders for the Springboks, particularly because of the quality of forward Erasmus has at his disposal which sparked the idea in 2019. At the time, the head coach had two sets of front rowers with little splitting of the players in terms of quality.
Creation of the Bomb Squad
Erasmus revisited the creation of the Bomb Squad during the latest Rassie+ podcast with recently retired prop Steven Kitshoff, who the head coach believes played a pivotal role in the tactic’s creation.
“You called all the front rows together, myself, Malcolm [Marx, Vinnie [Vincent Koch], Beast [Mtawarira], Bongi [Mbonambi], Frans [Malherbe and Thomas [du Toit], and it was in this little boardroom,” Kitshoff said.
“You made a speech, and you asked ‘Would you prefer to be on the field at the beginning of the game or would you be there when the final whistle goes and you get cheer because you’ve won?
“And I remember Beast standing up and saying ‘Coach, I want to be on the field from the start.’”
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Erasmus replied, “That’s spot on. Just to add a little bit [of context], when I was playing, there weren’t always reserves; it was myself, Andre Venter and Gary Teichmann. But when Nick Mallett did sub me in a match, I was gatvol [angry, had enough], I was a bad teammate.
“Because I wanted to rather be on the field when we win, I wanted to put my hands and I remember asking you guys that question. I spun it in such a nice way. I thought all seven of you would buy into this, and I said, ‘Would you rather sing the anthem or would you want to be on that field when the final whistle goes?’
“You were saying ‘I don’t care, number 1 or 17, I don’t care’ and Beast said ‘No, I want to start.’
“So we always started Beast because he didn’t accept it.”
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Beast wanting to start
While Mtawarira did not buy into the idea of coming off the bench, Kitshoff believes that the starting role actually suited the veteran Bok better.
“Rightfully so,” he said.
“Beast was obviously good and passionate from minute one; he went flat out and he played well.”
Looking back, Erasmus believes that had that meeting gone a different way, the Bomb Squad tactic would have never been effective.
“I actually think that if you guys didn’t buy into it then, it wouldn’t have started,” he added.
“Because who do you pick between you [Kitshoff] and Beast? And all the tightheads that were there and the guys who are currently playing there now.
“I think it’s something that if in that little boardroom, you didn’t say ‘I don’t care if I’m 17’ because you might also play 40 minutes it would have never worked.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/rassie-erasmus-reveals-how-the-springboks-bomb-squad-almost-failed-to-form-in-2019
