Masterclass in misdirection: Why the Springboks’ hybrid player strategy will keep opponents guessing

Springbok fans have come to know and love the Bomb Squad, and all of its iterations.

Since 2019, Rassie Erasmus has challenged the status quo by stacking his bench with some of the world’s leading players.

The split between forwards and backs has become a national talking point, with Erasmus deploying six and occasionally seven heavies from the bench to close out big matches.

Like many of Erasmus’ strategies, the Bomb Squad is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

While the Boks typically announce their team on a Tuesday, it’s not always clear what Erasmus intends to do on matchday, and indeed, who will play where.

Over the past seven seasons, locks have been used in the back row, flanks have been deployed at hooker, and Kwagga Smith — the “OG” hybrid player — has switched from flank to wing.

The modern game demands that every individual in a squad covers more than one position, and yet Erasmus and company have taken the utility concept further than any other side.

If recent evidence is anything to go by, the Boks have unlocked the next level.

Next level of hybrid player

When the Boks played the Barbarians at the Cape Town Stadium last Saturday, Erasmus showed the world yet another tactical picture.

Around the 45th minute, the Bok coach made eight substitutions simultaneously, which is in itself out of the ordinary.

Specialist inside centre André Esterhuizen jogged onto the pitch with the rest of the subs — and at that point, the bench formation appeared to be a five-three split between forwards and backs.

When the starting midfield combination of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel remained on the field, a few of us in the press box wondered if Kriel might shift to wing to accommodate the new centre. Up in the coaching box, Barbarians boss Robbie Deans may have been thinking along similar lines.

But after the next scrum was set, it became clear that the 1.93m, 116kg Esterhuizen was playing flank rather than centre, and that South Africa’s bench split was six-two rather than five-three.

The forward-heavy formation provided the Boks with more power in the closing stages, and they continued to punish the Barbarians en route to an emphatic 54-7 victory.

Misdirection and double bluffs

In recent seasons, most of the Six Nations teams have favoured a forward-heavy bench, with France going as far as to copy and paste the Boks’ seven-one formation that made its debut at the 2023 World Cup.

Other teams have developed an answer to Smith — with Ben Earl covering centre as well as the back row for England.

But until now, no one has been bold or crazy enough to use a backline player in the forwards.

The Bok coaches and players have spoken at length about the tactic in recent days, as they prepare for the Test-season opener against Italy at Loftus Versfeld.

The move could maximise the talents of Esterhuizen — who has been a fringe player within the national set-up since 2018 — and strengthen the Bomb Squad in the long term.

Erasmus admitted as much at the team announcement this week. Esterhuizen is unlikely to get much game time as a specialist inside centre, given Damian de Allende’s hold on the No 12 jersey.

But as a hybrid player with the rare ability to cover backline and forward positions, Esterhuizen could become more of a feature in South Africa’s matchday squad in seasons to come.

Does this mean that Erasmus has revealed his hand, or will it add yet another layer to the guessing game that precedes every Bok team announcement?

More significantly, will it force opposition coaches and analysts to invest more time and energy into exploring potential scenarios, whenever they receive the South African teamsheet?

Bok assistant coach Daan Human broached the subject earlier this week, confirming that the Esterhuizen innovation will serve the team’s interests — and possibly lead to a situation where the Boks select an eight-zero split on the bench.

And yet, if Esterhuizen is named on the bench in that scenario, the opposition won’t know whether Erasmus intends to use him as a forward or back until he takes the field.

As a result, it will be harder to anticipate South Africa’s strategy in that crucial period of the game.

Hybrid alternatives

Human put things into perspective recently when he said that Esterhuizen was bigger and heavier than some of the forwards in the Bok side.

Which begs the question: Is Esterhuizen the only backline player capable of making the switch, and does South Africa’s newest tactical ploy hinge on the availability of one player?

You can bet your bottom dollar that Erasmus is considering other options, but when you look at what’s available at the franchises, there aren’t many players who tick all those boxes.

De Allende has packed down at flank before, when the forwards have lost a man to the sin bin.

While he is 10kg lighter than Esterhuizen — another figure that puts the size of “Andre the Giant” into perspective — he has the power and the mentality to mix it with the forwards, and fits the requirement of a hybrid player.

The Boks could become even less predictable if they hand De Allende the role.

Imagine a scenario where De Allende starts a Test at centre and finishes at flank. As was the case in the recent game against the Barbarians, Erasmus could announce a matchday squad that has five recognised forwards on the bench, before going on to use an extra forward option in the Test itself.

De Allende (33) is one of the older players in the squad, and Erasmus will have to manage the veteran centre’s workload in the lead-up to the 2027 World Cup.

Esterhuizen was completely exhausted after putting in a 35-minute shift at the Cape Town Stadium, especially around the scrums and mauls.

It’s clear that the hybrid role will require a different approach to conditioning and workload management — and Erasmus has confirmed that they will bear this in mind.

Guessing game

The innovation has got people talking before a two-Test series that the Boks should win comfortably.

Erasmus hasn’t picked Esterhuizen for the first match at Loftus Versfeld this Saturday, and the six-two bench formation may appear somewhat conservative — until you start to wonder whether Franco Mostert will play lock or flank in the second stanza, and whether De Allende might shift to flank later in the match.

Erasmus has made sure that every player in the current squad understands their role and when and where they will play over the two Tests against Italy and the one-off against Georgia.

Outside the squad, the media and public will continue to speculate about the lineups, as will the Boks’ future opponents.

How will the opposition react to the picture that was presented at the Cape Town Stadium last week? Is it a sign of things to come against the All Blacks at Eden Park, France in Paris, and Ireland in Dublin later this year — or merely a well calculated bluff?

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Esterhuizen’s cameo and the “hidden” six-two split is that Scott Robertson, Fabien Galthié and Andy Farrell won’t know what to expect — not in the months leading up to those marquee matches, not in the week before, and not until the moment when the Bok subs are deployed.

The Tests season has only just begun, but Erasmus is already in their heads. DM