Rassie shows his hand for All Blacks Tests: ‘Nobody has to be cut’
· Citizen
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus will not cut his squad for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series against the All Blacks over the next month, while he has in actual fact called up veteran utility forward Deon Fourie
Erasmus was speaking after the Boks ground out a 17-10 win over Argentina in a one-off Test in Buenos Aires on Saturday, where a number of players returned from injury, while some fringe players gave a good account of themselves.
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Asked whether the impact of the bench players, which helped the Boks come out on top, would complicate the selection of the squad for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, Erasmus explained there was no need to trim it.
“We don’t want to trim the squad. The squad is currently around 40 players. We have 15 guys in South Africa and toured with 26 here (in Argentina), that’s 41,” said Erasmus.
“So we’re not going to trim the squad. New Zealand are touring with 44, so we would rather add more guys to the squad to get the numbers up to 44. So, nobody has to be cut.”
Fourie, the veteran 39-year-old who plays loose forward and hooker, was called up by Erasmus on Monday. He only made his return to action in last Friday’s match against the All Blacks in Cape Town after a lengthy injury spell on the sidelines.
Fourie won the World Cup with the Boks in 2023, after playing most of the final at hooker following an early injury to Bongi Mbonambi. Malcolm Marx had been ruled out of the tournament after the first pool match.
In the picture
Former squad members Evan Roos, Embrose Papier, Andre-Hugo Venter, Jaco Williams, Ruben van Heerden and Ntuthuko Mchunu, who were released back to their respective franchises after the Nations Championship, may thus also still be in the picture for the upcoming series.
Roos, Venter and Mchunu all featured for the Stormers in the RGR tour game against the All Blacks on Friday, while Vusi Moyo is in the Sharks team for Tuesday’s match and Papier will likely be in the Bulls team for their match on Saturday.
However, there are a few injury concerns that will have to be addressed, including Ox Nche, Franco Mostert, Vincent Tshituka and Bok captain Siya Kolisi, who injured his hamstring against Argentina, and it will be interesting to see if they make the cut.
Erasmus said after the Argentina match that they would be assessing the squad and gearing up for the first Test at Ellis Park next weekend as soon as they landed back in South Africa.
“The team selection on making the right team for the first Test match is only two weeks away,” said Erasmus.
“We’ve obviously got 15 guys at home that are already preparing for that, not saying they’re going to start definitely or be in the match 23. We just had to get a lot of players on this side through some match fitness.
“So in the next two weeks we’ll have to look at our injuries and then we’ll pick the team that we hope can try and beat New Zealand in the first Test match.”