Why Rassie’s Boks deserve more faith as well as scrutiny

Despite all they have achieved, the most successful Springbok side in history always seems to be one loss away from being denounced as a boring, old or overrated team.

Consider the overreaction to South Africa’s 33-16 defeat by New Zealand in the opening clash of the Greatest Rivalry series.

The erratic performance at Ellis Park came in for due criticism, but some took it too far when they marked the result as the beginning of the end for Rassie Erasmus’ ageing charges.

We all know how that turned out. The Boks went on to win the series 3-1, with the so-called golden oldies leading the charge in a breathtaking all-court approach. 

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Fast forward to the present, where the Boks appear to have plummeted in the estimation of some fans and critics following a 42-38 loss to Australia, and the depth chart that was once the envy of the rugby world has been largely dismissed.

Some appear to have forgotten all this team has achieved over the past nine years, or more specifically, how they became the best team on the planet.

Rassie has earned the right to rotate

These are unprecedented times for South African rugby, where the Boks win major series and tournaments while maintaining an 85% win record during a four-year cycle.

Erasmus’ charges have lost six times since the start of the 2024 season and haven’t lost back-to-back Tests since November 2022.

The game plan is working, the South African rugby system is better than ever, and the Boks are looking to take things forward before they target a third consecutive World Cup title in Australia next year.

Now, consider the impact those results have had on the South African rugby community.

After surviving on crumbs for much of the professional era – and the odd slice in the form of the 2007 World Cup and 2009 Lions series victories – fans are now feasting on gargantuan gourmet cakes with the most decadent of toppings on almost a weekly basis.

South Africans have grown accustomed to this level of success and have come to expect it, even in the matches that Erasmus has earmarked for rotation and development.

As the overall results suggest, Erasmus has struck the right balance often, claiming the win as well as valuable answers regarding different players and combinations.

When his gamble pays off, everyone celebrates the fact that the Boks are bold and ambitious enough to experiment with the future in mind.

When it backfires – as was the case against Australia in Perth – there’s an outcry as if Erasmus hasn’t used the self-same methods since 2018.

More than 20 players missing

Erasmus chopped and changed over the course of the Nations Championship Tests in July – using 43 players in total – and there were no complaints.

The Boks finished that block with bonus-point victories against England, Scotland and Wales, and with their development goals well and truly realised.

Paul de Villiers and Cameron Hanekom were among the standouts in those matches, and as a result, were given more responsibility in the games that followed.

Erasmus decided to push the envelope in the lead-up to the game in Perth, and his selections were shaped by the preceding four-Test series against the All Blacks – which took a toll on the first- and second-choice players.

Consider how many players were missing or unavailable for the clash against Australia, and you will understand why the Boks were not at their best.

First-choice players such as Damian Willemse, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Cobus Reinach, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi and Ruan Nortjé were rested, while Cheslin Kolbe, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Frans Malherbe and Trevor Nyakane weren’t considered due to injuries.

Match 23 regulars such as Manie Libbok, Grant Williams, Hanekom, Thomas du Toit, Deon Fourie and Gerhard Steenekamp also missed out. Another double World Cup-winner in Faf de Klerk – who remains on Erasmus’ radar – wasn’t considered for the tour.

Clearly Erasmus wanted to see how the Boks would fare in the absence of 20 or so regulars.

The result was a mixed bag as far as the performances were concerned, but the Bok coaching team will remember how many of the same players contributed this past July and against the All Blacks before recalibrating their depth chart.

De Villiers, Ethan Hooker and Morné van den Berg, for example, have been among the Boks’ most consistent performers this season, and a rare loss against the Wallabies won’t change the fact.

The right questions about depth

While the strength of South Africa’s player pool is irrefutable, the onus is on Erasmus to select the right mix of players before every Test.

One can understand why he would use a one-off  match in overseas conditions to test different combinations and to give the tried and trusted players a break. And yet on this occasion, Erasmus failed to strike the right balance across the respective combinations.

Last November, he backed newcomer Boan Venter to start alongside more experienced players in Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit in a crucial fixture in Dublin, and the trio destroyed the Irish scrum. Another fringe front-ranker in Johan Grobbelaar joined match 23 regulars Steenekamp and Wilco Louw in the second half.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu – then only 16 games into his Test career – was paired with the vastly experienced Reinach in marquee Tests against France and Ireland, and the halfbacks steered the Boks to two important wins.

De Villiers and Hanekom joined Jasper Wiese in the back row when the Boks faced England in July, and as much as the team changed before the fixture against Wales, veterans such as Reinach, De Allende and Kriel provided support for debutants like Vusi Moyo and Jaco Williams.

The team that started against Australia lacked the same balance across the combinations, and the upshot is that the starting XV left the bench with too much to do.

The Boks looked far better when the Bomb Squad was deployed after 47 minutes, and a potent mix of World Cup-winning forwards as well as the form halfback combination of Van den Berg and Feinberg-Mngomezulu was unleashed.

Erasmus got the mix wrong and has taken responsibility. It happens to the best of coaches, and again, it should be noted that it happens very rarely to this group of Boks, who have won 34 of their last 40 Tests.

It’s important to remember what some of these players have done for the Boks in the past. André Esterhuizen and Canan Moodie were the starting centre pairing when South Africa thrashed the All Blacks by a record-breaking (35-7) score in London in 2023.

Aphelele Fassi and Elrigh Louw were among the best-performing players in the 2024 Rugby Championship, which culminated in a title win for the Boks.

There’s a good chance that Erasmus will rotate his squad over the course of the tour of Europe in November, with the dual aim of managing his players and getting more answers before the all-important 2027 World Cup.

There’s an equally good chance that the strategy will be criticised by those who feel that the Boks should field their best combination every week – regardless of the player welfare demands of a never-ending season and the need to build for the future.

In contrast, those who have been following the group’s nine-year journey will appreciate what Erasmus is trying to achieve, and why this policy is both bold and necessary.

The Boks certainly have room for improvement, when you consider their failings on defence and at the line-out in recent Tests. They need to develop more experienced options at hooker and lock in the coming months, while Erasmus himself should take the selection lessons from the Perth loss to heart.

The situation is not the crisis it’s been made out to be, though, and it’s certainly not time to panic.

After all the team has achieved over the past nine years, a little faith in the process is surely not too much to ask. DM