BOK WRAP: Satisfied, but decision time looms for Rassie

With one game to go before the start of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship and the start of the real buildup to their massive clash with New Zealand in Auckland, this week will be decision time for the Springboks and their coach Rassie Erasmus.

After both the Boks and All Blacks ended their opening test matches of the year feeling under-fulfilled, it was a return to business as usual at the weekend. The Kiwis had their mojo back in dispatching a second-string France team early on Saturday, and then in the evening South African time, the Boks produced a blend of power, flair, pace and innovation to whitewash Italy.

With the opposition under-strength in both cases, the satisfaction both camps feel may be qualified. Erasmus said as much after his side’s 45-0 win amid a terrific atmosphere at Gqeberha’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. He wasn’t jumping over the moon with delight; he was just “reasonably satisfied”. As he should have been in a game where, had it not been for the red carding of No. 8 Jasper Wiese with nearly an hour to go, his team would probably have scored close to or beyond the 70 mark.

RED CARD UNDERLINED VALUE OF ESTERHUIZEN MOVE

Actually, the red card for a head-butt, and it certainly looked like a fair decision from referee Andrew Brace, might have helped the Boks. In the sense that it tested one of the innovations that Erasmus has started the season with, that of asking centre Andre Esterhuizen to double as a flank. Flitting Esterhuizen between his usual position and loose-forward, depending on who was putting the ball into the scrum, helped the Boks out of a hole.

“Andre saved us today. I didn’t realise that it would be when there’s a card that using him as a hybrid player would work for us, but it did in this game,” said Erasmus.

He probably would have anyway, but his new-found utility value has probably cemented Esterhuizen's place in the squad when it is whittled down from its current 45 to 35 after Saturday’s final game of this initial phase of the international season against Georgia in Nelspruit. And that’s why it is decision time for Erasmus, as there will be some tricky calls to make with a lot hinging on how fringe players might perform in a game that, given how poor Georgia have been recently, the world champions should win by a massive score.

SQUAD WILL BE REDUCED AFTER GEORGIA GAME

It was noticeable last week that Erasmus adjusted from his line immediately post the opening test against Italy in Pretoria, where the visitors came back strongly in the second half and ended the game with momentum. He said then that “some players who were first choices might have become second choices”.

That may remain so, but from the team announcement press conference at the team hotel in the beachfront suburb of Summerstrand he was peddling the line that after an in-depth analysis and review of the Pretoria game, he and the team had concluded that there had been a relaxation of intensity after halftime. It wasn’t acceptable, he said, but it was fixable.

And it was, with the Boks going down to 13 men at one stage of the second half in Gqeberha but still managing to retain intensity and their attacking intent and finishing the game strongly. It was a new team, and this time the reserves on duty on the day made the required impact, but Erasmus was choosing his words carefully.

“We don’t look at it like that, we see this as a squad of 45 players,” said Erasmus in response to a question whether the changed-up team had put pressure on the one that played in Pretoria.

“I will give the guys a week off after next week’s game and then we will bring back a squad of 35 for the start of the buildup to the Rugby Championship.”

So this week there are players who, both in training and if they get to play against Georgia, will be straining themselves to impress the coach. As it should be. And then when the squad is whittled down, we can start the debate about who will make up the starting team against New Zealand, which will follow two home tests against Australia in Johannesburg and Cape Town in mid-August.

WILLIAMS’ ZIP MADE A DIFFERENCE

There were players who advanced the case for Eden Park selection in Gqeberha, most notably Manie Libbok, who brings a dynamic to the Bok attacking game that isn’t there when Handre Pollard plays in the No 10. From the vantage point of the stadium press box, the impact his notable passing game has on the attack was noticeable, as it was when the Boks thumped Argentina in the Championship decider last September.

Scrumhalf Grant Williams, playing his first game in quite a while after recovering from a neck injury, reminded us of the zip he can bring at scrumhalf. His ability to keep the opposing defences busy with his willingness to snipe adds to the Bok attacking capability. And Canan Moodie showed both his pace and his power when he scored his try. His replacement, Ethan Hooker, put in some big hits when he came on.

Edwill van der Merwe slotted in seamlessly on the wing and at times it was hard to tell him apart from the two wings that weren’t playing, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe. Given that that pair played the first two games of this Bok campaign, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Moodie or Hooker, or both, play on the wing this week. They might find they are both in the same team, with one at No 13.

ROOS MIGHT BE MORE NEEDED NOW

That’s probably one of the biggest gains for the Boks so far in the season, the underlining of the utility value that so many of the players have. Cobus Wiese, who can also play blindside flank, made an impact when he came on at lock. The same holds for Evan Roos, who may be more needed now that it is likely Wiese will face a suspension.

If there is one of the more experienced players who is more under pressure for his place than others, it might be Bongi Mbonambi, and in that sense, the decision to play Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who was at loosehead in an earlier game, at hooker was significant.

Erasmus explained the decision to replace the front-row “swinger” Thomas du Toit by saying that the reduction in the number of forwards after the red card made it necessary to play a more specialist loosehead there, as, in his words, “Thomas is more of a tighthead who can play loosehead".

The Boks are a bit thin in that position due to injuries (Gerhard Steenekamp, Ntuthuko Mchunu) and the retirement of Steven Kitshoff, but Steenekamp will be back for the Championship, while Saturday’s game in Nelspruit should see a debut for Edinburgh prop Boan Venter.

WEEKEND INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

South Africa 45 Italy 0

New Zealand 43 France 17

Anzac XV 0 British and Irish Lions 48

Argentina 17 England 22

Japan 22 Wales 31