Problem-solving Boks passed Ellis Park test

OPINION: The Springbok players and coaches should be lauded for their adaptability in the wake of a statement win against England at Ellis Park.

Last week, I wrote about the potential parallels between the Test against the Wallabies at Ellis Park in 2025 and the Nations Championship opener against England.

I wanted to know whether the Boks had taken the lessons of a 22-38 defeat to Australia to heart, or if they were doomed to repeat their mistakes against a dangerous England outfit.

The game has come and gone, and for many, the final scoreline serves as a sufficient answer to the question.

Indeed, who would criticise a team that scores seven tries in a 45-21 victory?

What was truly impressive was how the Bok group adapted in the lead-up to the game and over the course of the 80 minutes.

Injuries are a part of rugby, and there’s no room in the history books for an exhaustive list of players who were unavailable for a particular Test.

But in the wake of the demolition of England at Ellis Park, it’s worth reflecting on that list, as it casts the quality of the Boks’ performance in a new light.

Much was made about Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth’s late withdrawal, and the team’s loss of a combined 244 Test caps.

That loss, of course, needs to be viewed in the context of South Africa’s overall injury situation.

The Boks are currently without World Cup-winners such as Frans Malherbe, Trevor Nyakane, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, Jean Kleyn and Kwagga Smith, as well as other key players like Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Wilco Louw and Ethan Hooker.

Taking all of those absences into account, the Boks may have been forgiven for losing to England this past Saturday.

Openside flanker Paul de Villiers played his first Test, Cameron Hanekom – typically a No.8 – made his first start at blindside, and regular No.7 Pieter-Steph du Toit shifted to lock.

The changes were forced and may have compromised a less settled player and coaching group.

But on the day, the Boks rose to the challenge and eventually emerged with one of the best results of Erasmus’ tenure.

Considering there are more important clashes to come, in the Greatest Rivalry Series against the All Blacks and at the 2027 World Cup, Erasmus will be pleased that he received valuable answers about younger players like De Villiers, Hanekom, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Zach Porthen.

Overall, the team pulled together in what was a particularly tricky fixture.

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The performance was far from perfect, and to an extent, the team did repeat a few of the same mistakes seen in the loss to the Wallabies in 2025.

After racing to a 17-0 lead inside 20 minutes, the Boks were less disciplined and controlled in the second quarter.

England punished the hosts during that period, and by half-time, the Boks’ lead had been reduced to three points.

The key difference between the 2025 fixture against the Wallabies and the recent Test against England was the response by the Boks.

Erasmus and his coaches decided to change tack after the break. Despite a few line-out losses as well as a dearth of scrummaging opportunities in the first half, they doubled down on their set-piece strategy in the second.

From there, the players executed the plan to perfection. Malcolm Marx found his line-out jumpers and Ruan Nortjé and Pieter-Steph du Toit marshalled the maul to telling effect.

The Boks started to receive rewards for the sustained pressure exerted in these areas – and after winning the territorial battle, they converted the bulk of their 22m entries into points.

The hosts went back to the kick-chase tactics that proved so effective in the first quarter, and the return of Kurt-Lee Arendse from the sin bin certainly amplified this strategy.

Grant Williams’ box-kicking accuracy was complemented by an outstanding chase and aerial contest by Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe, Arendse, and Canan Moodie.

The best teams need more than one game plan to win consistently over the course of a season, and in some cases, they need more than one approach to win a big Test.

On Saturday, the Boks adapted their approach according to the game situation.

There have been questions about Manie Libbok’s ability to spearhead the Boks from the outset – after Feinberg-Mngomezulu made the No.10 shirt his own and Libbok played a role from the bench in 2025.

But Libbok’s option-taking was excellent on Saturday, and the Bok backline will take a lot of confidence from that performance.

Du Toit deserves a mention for how he stepped in for Kolisi and for leading a team missing so many experienced players.

The Boks lost another veteran when Ox Nché was forced from the field in the ninth minute – and the untimely injury threatened to compromise South Africa’s scrum strategy.

But the team and the coaches adapted.

Replacement Gerhard Steenekamp put in a big shift before he was substituted for the utility front-ranker Jan-Hendrik Wessels in the 65th minute.

Erasmus used three loosehead props over the course of the game, and backed Marx to play the full 80 minutes at hooker.

Erasmus went into this clash without a host of Bomb Squad regulars, and there were a lot of questions about how he might fill the gaps left by Snyman, Smith and others.

When Kolisi and Etzebeth withdrew at the last minute, Erasmus was forced to reshuffle his bench again, with Ben-Jason Dixon covering lock.

Erasmus juggled his front-row resources in spite of the early Nché setback, and the Bok scrum actually got stronger as the game progressed.

When Dixon was unleashed from the bench, Du Toit moved back to his preferred position of blindside flank.

The Boks won the gainline and breakdown battles in the second half, and as a result of the pressure, England leaked penalties.

In spite of the late reshuffle, the Bomb Squad made a statement against the visitors’ “Pom Squad”.

While England haven’t been at their best in recent months, their bench was at the heart of the team’s 11-game winning streak in 2025, and worthy of all the plaudits.

The numbers tell part of the story of what happened on Saturday. The Boks won the second half 28-7, an emphatic margin, even by their recent standards.

Erasmus may be more pleased with the fight shown by his charges after the break.

That spirit was certainly missing when the team lost to Australia in 2025.

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On Saturday, the Boks lifted their intensity and accuracy levels to blow England off the park, turning a convincing win into a rout.

There is plenty to polish in the lead-up to the Greatest Rivalry Series – which will include four brutal Tests against the All Blacks in as many weeks.

But what the performance against England showed is that South Africa have the depth to survive significant setbacks.

In an ideal world, the Boks will go into that series against New Zealand with most of their stars fit and firing.

The reality is that they may be forced to play some, if not all, of those games without a clutch of key players.

At the very least, Erasmus will have to rotate his squad over the course of that series to avoid physical and mental burnout.

With the above in mind, Erasmus will be pleased that a few fringe players passed the test against England – and will hope for another set of statement-making performances against Scotland and Wales in the coming weeks.