Roos still in Springbok plans as Louw gets his chance Down Under

The Springbok eighthman battle is firmly heating up and although there was a lot of talk about Evan Roos being omitted from the Bok squad for the start of the Rugby Championship, and Elrigh Louw coming in, coach Rassie Erasmus insists that everyone is still in the mix.

After the retirement of Bok legend Duane Vermeulen after last year’s World Cup, and next-in-line Jasper Wiese being ruled out of the first six Bok games of the season due to a heavy suspension he picked up for a red card in the English Premiership, Roos was expected to get a huge chance to impress.

But despite starting two of the Boks‘ first four games of the season, he was then left out of the touring squad to Australia which seemed to indicate the coaching staff wasn’t too impressed and would now look at Louw, who has only made one Bok appearance this season, off the bench against Portugal.

Roos started the opening match of the season against Wales, and the game against Portugal, and although he didn’t do much wrong, he didn’t shoot the lights out and show the skill he is known for when playing for the Stormers.

He was also not trusted with the duties at the back of the scrum against Ireland, with Kwagga Smith, who is usually a famed member of the Bok ‘bomb squad’ given the starting reins in those two Tests, and he also didn’t bring as much fire as he usually does when coming off the bench.

Great opportunity

It will thus be a great opportunity for Louw, if he gets a chance to start in one or both of the Tests against the Wallabies Down Under.

“I think we have two full loose forward trios. Marco (van Staden) and Siya (Kolisi) can play six, Pieter-Steph (du Toit) and Ben-Jason (Dixon) can play seven and Kwagga and Elrigh can play eight. Elrigh can also play seven,” explained Erasmus of the loose forwards in the touring squad.

“Certainly Evan is not out of the mix. Prior to the Portugal Test match we told the guys, you get a chance here, go out and show your hand.

“With Elrigh we want to test him against big nations because he has always been a part of our plans, but he certainly did take a dip in form, and he will admit it himself. We know what Evan can do, and Evan is not thrown away, we still have nine Test matches (left this season).

“Like we did against Argentina away last year, we picked a lot of guys and a different team. It is about building squad depth and we know what Evan can do. He didn’t have bad games and we now can see he is comfortable in the Springbok setup, and we can give Elrigh a chance to show what he can do.”

The Boks leave for Australia on Wednesday morning and will arrive Down Under on Thursday, with them able to acclimate and make sure they are fully prepared for the Tests taking place on the 10^th and 17^th of August.