Keeping forwards fresh for England behind Erasmus’ team selection 

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus admitted that keeping his forwards fresh for their end-of-year-tour match against England next Saturday played a big role in his team selection for their game against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday (kick-off 6:10pm).

Erasmus was at his surprising best as he named a largely fringe team, with only Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Franco Mostert and Handre Pollard, and Eben Etzebeth who has been named captain for the match, considered frontline starters.

The rest of the team can be considered players just one place behind the preferred players in those positions, like centres Andre Esterhuizen and Lukhanyo Am, wing Canan Moodie, and eighthman Kwagga Smith in his 50^th game.

Erasmus also named what is now being termed as the ‘nuclear squad’, which is a 7-1 bench split of forwards to backs, which should see guys like Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese deployed very early in the second half.

“At the World Cup we also had a six-day turnaround before we played England (in the semifinal) and we relied heavily on our forwards,” explained Erasmus.

“Our forwards really struggled, and we almost didn’t pull that game through. We thought that if we go seven-one, we can split the load between the two packs.

“Kwagga is playing his 50th Test. Whenever somebody is playing on a special occasion, we try to make it special for them. When we decided to start him, we also decided to give a bunch of other players a start, with an eye on the future.

“We know what the guys playing off the bench can do, and Eben is naturally our captain because Siya is playing from the bench.”

Sole backline sub

Scrumhalf Grant Williams is the sole backline player on the bench, and he has a bit of versatility in him with him having played on the wing for the Boks before.

Other versatile players in the Bok backline include Moodie, Am and Handre Pollard, so players can shift around in a pinch, while Erasmus admitted Smith will also be covering the backline in case of an emergency.

Fullback Willie le Roux, who is playing his 98^th, and wing Makazole Mapimpi, could both also be on their final tour with the Boks, so this could be considered a bit of a farewell tour for both.

“Kwagga will be covering one or two positions in the backline just because he is a Sevens player and he can do that,” said Erasmus.

“With this specific backline, we feel there is not a lot of old men, except for Willie, who is two Test matches away from 100.

“We all know we’ve got (Aphelele) Fassi and Damian Willemse, who will go to the next World Cup. I told the backs, ‘Please don’ t tell me you are cramping on Sunday. I am not going to listen’.”