VIDEO: Rassie reveals his Roos 'masterplan'
VIDEO: Evan Roos is still in Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus’ plans, although he will not take the field against Georgia in Mbombela on Saturday.
With the suspension of Jasper Wiese, following the Italy game and the host of injuries to the other top No.8s, many fans expected to see Roos’ name on the team sheet for this weekend.
However, Erasmus opted for Wiese’s younger brother, Cobus, to wear the No.8 jumper against Georgia, although Roos had a good 25-minute outing last weekend.
He made 11 carries for 35 meters and gave the Boks momentum late in the game.
There is always a method in Erasmus’ madness, and on Tuesday, he explained the thought process behind his team selection.
“Evan has had nine Test caps,” Erasmus said, adding: “He trains well and does well for us.
“We lost Elrigh [Louw], Ben-Jason [Dixon] at some stage, Duane [Vermeulen] retired, and Jasper is now out with a ban.
“We gave Evan eight or nine chances, and he’s training well. We can see that.
“We also want to see how a guy like Cobus will do at No.8, because we think he has potential there.
“It’s a long season. After four matches, the door is not closed for anybody.
“We’d like to see Cobus at No.8. We have a good feeling. He [Wiese] is also a good line-out option.
“Like anyone else, Evan is still in the mix, without a doubt,” he confirmed.
* Article continues below…
Erasmus went on to explain that players aren’t summarily dropped from the Springbok squad, but that it is more about giving everyone enough caps under the belt in the build-up to the next World Cup.
“We never drop people from our team. I don’t know if people don’t want to believe it – we [want to] get 12, 13, even 15 or 20 caps into Evan over the next cycle before the World Cup.
“And if we can get 10 or 12 caps into Cobus.
“That is why we have a group of 46.
“We see it as us getting used to each other in training sessions, match situations, and different combos.
“Because you are trying to win under pressure, but you are also thinking about the future.
“And the more we try out different combinations and guys swapping in and out, we think we will become a better team.”
Erasmus also talked about the new front row of Boan Venter, Marnus van der Merwe, and Neethling Fouche, who will all make their Springbok debuts this weekend.
Venter was called up to the squad in June as injury cover at prop, while fellow prop Fouche and hooker Van der Merwe, both had their first taste of Springbok rugby in the team’s 54-7 victory against the Barbarians.
“We’ve got some proper locks and loose forwards behind them, so it’s a balance of throwing the rookies in against a team that we know who, like us, enjoys scrumming.
“If you played in France and you ask a guy like Daan [Human] and others, there are a lot of Georgians playing there and they love scrumming.
“Last weekend against the Cheetahs, eight of their best players were either on the bench or not playing.
“So we know the three guys starting in this game will need the back five to make sure that they do OK, and no better test than in this game.”
NEW IN THE APP: Official World Rugby Rankings hub! Compare team rankings side-by-side, with data going back 20 years.
Download the RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now!
