Boks won’t show mercy but Rassie wants a strong Wales for the sake of rugby

The merits of this weekend’s Test between Wales and the Springboks are in question as it falls outside of World Rugby’s designated Test window.

That means Regulation 9 comes into effect, essentially giving clubs priority over their players. So, the Springboks and Wales have had to negotiate with individual players and their clubs to be released for the fixture.

It has led to a hugely depleted Wales team, during the worst run of results in its history, left to face a still vastly experienced Bok team despite many player absences.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has 140-cap veteran lock Eben Etzebeth on the bench. That, in a nutshell, sums up the yawning chasm between the teams.

The Boks aren’t without some issues of their own. They literally only had 24 eligible players — 25 if you count assistant coach Duane Vermeulen — which Erasmus did.

The 39-year-old Vermeulen, who does many of the contact sessions with the team in training, is still capable of a small cameo at the highest level if needed.

The two-time World Cup-winning No 8 is officially on standby if a loose forward, or any player outside the front row for that matter, is injured in the warm-up.

But the real concern is that Welsh rugby is at such a low ebb. Even if these youngsters put up a great fight against the Boks, the bigger picture for rugby in a country associated with the oval ball game is still worrying.

In Steve Tandy, Wales have a smart, innovative coach, not unlike Erasmus himself. He knows that this weekend’s challenge is about performance and respect, rather than the result.

He won’t expect mercy from Erasmus and the Boks, and he won’t receive any, either. Similarly though, the forward-heavy Bok side, with a 7-1 bench split, won’t pull into the Principality Stadium and simply expect to win.

But result aside, the bigger picture of rugby as a sport is seeing Wales being competitive again.

It wasn’t that long ago they took the Boks to the wire in the semi-final of Rugby World Cup 2019, which South Africa won 19-16.

Last week Wales showed some shoots of growth under Tandy’s new regime, ultimately losing 52-26 to the All Blacks, but not before giving them a scare.

Inexperience

Obviously, the Wales bench — especially the forwards — are going to find the going tough against the Boks.

Wales’ five forward reserves have a total of seven Test caps between them. The Boks have seven forwards on the bench, with a combined 325 Test caps, despite two props with four caps between them.

Ironically, Erasmus suggested that targeting the Boks’ inexperienced props in Zach Porthen and Asenathi Ntlabakanye might be where Wales could make inroads.

“We’ve got two caps, two caps… okay then there’s Eben (Etzebeth) with 140 caps. Then there’s six caps, and so on,” Erasmus said.

“But Zach (Porthen) is covering loosehead. I think they will target him. Zach is a tighthead and we’re taking a chance on him as a loosehead with only two caps.

“So that’s why we put Bongi (Mbonambi) there. He’s a really experienced player.

“I know Steve (Tandy). We’re not close personal friends, but I know the detail he puts into opposition, analysing what they do on defence, what they do in attack, what they do in the breakdown.

“And hell, if you go and watch the (New Zealand) game, at 50 minutes it was 24-21 and they almost broke away with that one try. I know Wales has an underbelly where there’s fire there.

“And he’s a good coach. Maybe the youthfulness of their team means they’ll say ‘What do we have to lose? Let’s throw the ball around. Let’s put the thing up in the air. Let’s get the ball in and out of the scrum.’

“Quick tap. I think they’re going to speed it up a hell of a lot, because we’ve got some heavy boys in the starting line-up, and if I was them, I would really try and speed up the game. That’s my guess.”

Change quickly

Erasmus and former Bok coach Jacques Nienaber showed that things can quickly turn around with the right clarity and meaning. The deflated Boks they inherited in 2018 became world champions in 2019. They did it with largely the same group of players that lost 57-0 to the All Blacks in Albany in 2017.

Tandy has a similar job on his hands, and what better way to make a statement than to scare the world champions. In 1998, a touring Wales team lost 96-13 against the Boks at Loftus. Erasmus played in that match.

A year later, Wales beat the Boks 29-19 in Cardiff — the first time the Boks ever lost to Wales. Erasmus played in that Test too.

The Welsh changed coaches between those two matches in the late ’90s, bringing in New Zealander Graham Henry. Their fortunes turned quickly and dramatically under a brilliant coach.

“I don’t think it’s going to be anything like that (the 1998 game). I think it’s going to be a grind,” Erasmus said of the clash against Wales this weekend.

“And what do these guys have to lose other than manning up, putting a marker down and saying here we are against the Springboks. I think that’s what this Wales team is going to do. I played in that game, but then the next year we lost. So that’s how quickly it changed. I can’t remember much about that 1998 game.

“I’ve always found the Italians, the Welsh and the Argentines as the kind of people who don’t give up,” Erasmus continued. “I don’t understand what is going on in the Welsh setup, I do not understand the politics and what works and what doesn’t work.

“I enjoy the Welsh culture, I love the horses in front of the bus, I like the band, I like how they make the build-up, it’s always been a nice fixture. Since 2018 we’ve been coming here regularly and we hope to win the game and fly home with our heads high, but the Welsh will certainly try to stop us.

“I love the Wales setup. Even though I was part of the team that first lost to Wales, for me there’s something about the Welsh people.

“I’m not sucking up. I said it about Argentina and Italy. There’s not a lot of people here. But if you go outside, you see some things of South Africa.

“Not everybody is wealthy and living a fantastic life, but they’re grinders. I can’t tell you about the structures and politics, but I can name so many players — like Dan Biggar — or the guys I played against: Mark Taylor ran over me in 1999.

“When I coached Munster, the Scarlets were tough, tough games to play. I just think whatever’s wrong off the field — I don’t know what it is — you certainly have the guts, the players and the willpower.

“That will come right. I don’t know what’s wrong there. We need a strong Welsh team. They just have the tradition of loving to play the game.” DM

Teams:

Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Rhys Davies, 4 Ben Carter, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Gareth Thomas.
Reserves: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Christian Coleman, 19 James Ratti, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Ben Thomas.

South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Ethan Hooker, 13 Damian de Allende, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Reserves: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Zachary Porthen, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Ben-Jason Dixon, 22 Kwagga Smith, 23 Cobus Reinach.

Date: 29 November
Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 5:10pm (SuperSport)
Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (England), Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)