Young players will bring ‘exuberance, excitement’ to Bok team — Erasmus

For the second time this season, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has opted to make wholesale changes to his team from one week to the next, but it is not tier two Portugal the world champions will face this weekend, but the Wallabies.

The last time Erasmus made so many changes to his team, for the Boks’ Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein last month, the world champions – even if they were missing several big-name stars – won 64-21.

Rookies

Now, ahead of the second match in the Rugby Championship, Erasmus has again opted to see several fringe Bok players take on the might of the Wallabies, who’ll be smarting after their 33-7 defeat to the Boks in Brisbane last weekend.

But what an opportunity lies ahead for the likes of Aphelele Fassi, Morne van den Berg, Ruan Nortje, Salmaan Moerat, who’ll captain the team, as he did against Portugal a few weeks ago, Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels – all players with only a handful of Test caps.

Also, for the second week in a row, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Elrigh Louw, who also only have five Test caps each, get another chance to impress at flyhalf and eighthman respectively.

The experienced Lukhanyo Am, surprisingly at inside centre, Makazole Mapimpi and Thomas du Toit are also back in action for the Boks.

World Cup winners

However, this is no rookie Bok side. There are several World Cup winners spread across the matchday-23, with the bench especially stacked with stars, including both Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok.

“There are 14 World Cup winners in the squad,” said Erasmus after naming his lineup.

“We didn’t pick a team to lose. This is not an up-in-the-air selection … we’ve picked a team to win. We’ve been training against each other for some time, we’re a big squad, and some guys need a rest.

“I fully trust the guys we’ve picked. I’m not nonchalant about the game this weekend or disrespectful towards Australia. If these guys played against the Bok team of last week they’d give that side one hell of a go.”

Nortje and Van den Berg will make their first Test starts after previously only playing off the bench.

“The younger guys will bring exuberance and excitement, and I’m sure they’ll learn from the older guys,” said Erasmus.

“We’ve got a lot of experience on the bench, guys with calm heads, but it’s good for the younger players to build at this level, to feel comfortable and try win a Test match for us.”