Rassie set to make wholesale changes to Boks for Portugal Test

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said that they would be making wholesale changes for the third match of the Incoming Series against Portugal in Bloemfontein this coming weekend, after the Boks went down 25-24 to Ireland to draw their two-game series.

After clinching a 27-20 win in the opening Test at Loftus, the Boks were seconds away from sealing a two-nil series win when Irish replacement back Ciaran Frawley stepped up to slot a long range drop goal on the fulltime hooter to break their hearts.

Focus now shifts to the clash against the Portuguese, which will be the Boks’ last before they head Down Under for the start of the Rugby Championship next month, and Erasmus explained that he would be giving his main starters a break.

He is also hoping to see the kind of performance they got out of utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who replaced a concussed Willie le Roux early in the match on Saturday.

“Next week we will pick a very different team. We have announced that team internally. The guys who played tonight will help them prepare until Wednesday and then they will have a 10-day break,” explained Erasmus.

“We will bring in a few other guys and see if we can get out of them what we got out of Sacha today.”

It will be interesting to see if Feinberg-Mngomezulu will get a chance to start against Portugal and in what position, after playing off the bench in his three Bok appearances to date, at flyhalf against Wales and the first Irish Test, and at fullback this past weekend.

World Cup winners

A number of Bok World Cup winners are likely to come in for the game against Portugal including Manie Libbok, who didn’t play at all against Wales or Ireland, Makazole Mapimpi, Andre Esterhuizen, Trevor Nyakane and Cobus Reinach, while Canan Moodie and Lukhanyo Am should return from injury.

Other players in line for game time should include Aphelele Fassi, Evan Roos and Salmaan Moerat, while players from the extended Bok squad should also feature.

Looking back on the drawn series against Ireland Erasmus admitted that the Bok players and coaching staff were disappointed, but that it took a moment of genius to beat them in the end.

“We can sit here with a sad face and think of excuses, but the best team won on the day. We’re really disappointed and the fans will be disappointed. But this was like the past four games we have played against them, all the margins have been less than one score,” said Erasmus.

“But our main concern was that first half. We fought back from a long way at halftime and converted when we had to. We would’ve loved to beat them. In the end, it was a really good drop-goal. It was well-executed, and we couldn’t stop that.

“I thought we fought back really well in the second half, but it wasn’t good enough and that is why Ireland is one of the top teams in the world.”