Comment by Mike Greenaway
UNQUESTIONABLY, the squad Rassie Erasmus is taking to Santiago next week can beat Argentina.
Still, if it doesn’t happen, he has planned a Rugby Championship crowning at Mbombela a week later.
Can you imagine the scenes as Springbok supporters celebrate in that magnificent stadium yet another trophy, this time the elusive Rugby Championship?
But the Boks will still have to win at least one of the two games to thwart Los Pumas.
The seven players head coach Erasmus is keeping in reserve for the Mbombela game are hooker Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe (prop), Pieter-Steph du Toit (loose forward), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (flyhalf), Damian de Allende (centre), Cheslin Kolbe (wing) and Willie le Roux (fullback).
How is that for a ‘Bomb Squad’ on its own?
But the reality of what Erasmus is achieving with his depth development is that the side that starts in Santiago on Saturday, September 21 (11pm SA time kick-off) will not look noticeably weaker than the one that played against the All Blacks in the 18-12 triumph in Cape Town last weekend.
Travelling to Santiago del Estero in Argentina is warhorse Eben Etzebeth, and he is set to earn his 127th cap, which will tie him with another great Springbok lock in Victor Matfield.
Anybody who doubts the shrewdness of Erasmus must contemplate how motivated the Boks will be to give Etzebeth a special day as he draws level with Matfield, and is poised to accelerate into the beyond as the most capped Bok by some margin.
Erasmus’ seriousness about the Argentina trip is backed up by no vacation for captain Siya Kolisi.
And it is nice to see a recall for Marco van Staden, who lost out on the Ellis Park game when Etzebeth came back into the squad through the back door from injury, and there is also a deserved place for Ben-Jason Dixon.
Erasmus is telling these younger players that they can still play their way into a permanent squad spot, even if they drop out occasionally.
Los Pumas fans will not feel short-changed by the strength of the touring squad, who gathered in Stellenbosch yesterday and will travel to South America on Saturday, as 19 of the 28 members played in either the 2019 or 2023 World Cup, or both.
The nine up-and-coming players who do not know what it is like to win a World Cup have proved themselves as contenders for a spot at the 2027 tournament in Australia.
Nobody will say the Boks are compromised by the inclusion of Aphelele Fassi, Johan Grobbelaar, Ruan Nortjé, Elrigh Louw and Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
These are players who have proved themselves this year as Erasmus has given opportunities against Wales and Ireland, and in the Rugby Championship.
There are star newcomers who have been left at home to take stock of their career development – notably Feinberg-Mngomezulu – but who will complain that the flyhalves on duty are Handré Pollard and Manie Libbok?
That pair were the starting flyhalves at the last World Cup.
Of the players being rested before Mbombela, Du Toit and De Allende deserve to be put on thrones and pampered. The shifts the two veterans delivered over the fortnight of the All Black Tests were phenomenal.
Du Toit was shifted between a series of positions as the Boks addressed a lock injury crisis, and he kept delivering Player of the Match performances.
De Allende was equally good, and he had to be relentlessly so because of the unavailability of André Esterhuizen, first to suspension and then to an injury at training at the Sharks.
In summary, the Bok squad travelling to play the Pumas is watertight, with match-winners and younger players hungry to prove themselves.
There is also a host of stars waiting in reserve for the Mbombela game, so I think the Boks will win both with ease.
Squad for Argentina
Props: Thomas du Toit, Vincent Koch, Ox Nche, Gerhard Steenekamp
Hookers: Johan Grobbelaar, Malcolm Marx
Locks: Eben Etzebeth, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Salmaan Moerat, Ruan Nortjé
Loose forwards: Ben-Jason Dixon, Siya Kolisi, Elrigh Louw, Kwagga Smith, Marco van Staden, Jasper Wiese
Utility forward: Jan-Hendrik Wessels
Scrumhalves: Jaden Hendrikse, Cobus Reinach, Grant Williams
Flyhalves: Manie Libbok, Handré Pollard
Centres: Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel
Outside backs: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Aphelele Fassi, Makazole Mapimpi
Utility back: Canan Moodie