VIDEO: Rassie hints at 'interesting' selections

Some Springboks will live to fight another day, others will most likely be replaced after a not-so-convincing performance against Italy.

Jesse Kriel will most likely not captain the Springboks in Gqeberha on Saturday.

Those are the main takeaways from the Springboks’ first Test against Italy last weekend.

The below-par performance has certainly given head coach Rassie Erasmus a lot of food for thought.

A dejected Erasmus was honest about his appraisal of the Springboks following their 42-24 victory over Italy at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday.

And while he applauded the fact that his side recorded a win, he reminded one and all that it was nowhere near the kind of performance he had expected from his charges.

The team for the second Test this weekend has already been communicated to the players internally last week.

However, Erasmus admitted there is every chance that some of his high-ranking team members might get axed.

That does not include scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, who delivered a stand-out performance, while Erasmus singled out Kwagga Smith as the only member of the Bomb Squad who stepped up to the plate.

It was revealed last week that captain Siya Kolisi would be ready after recovering from a stiff Achilles.

Pieter-Steph du Toit (shoulder), scrumhalf Grant Williams (neck), and wing Makazole Mapimpi are all expected to return to action this weekend.

Du Toit underwent shoulder surgery after the end-of-year tour before continuing his rehabilitation with Japanese club Verblitz. He has not been in action this season.

Erasmus made it clear that the reason for the below-par performance could not be laid at the feet of the players alone.

“It is not the players who make the mistakes, but rather us, the coaches, who didn’t press the right buttons or pull the right strings during the week.

“We can’t just point fingers at them.

“So we will have to relook,” he told reporters at the post-match press conference.

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While he dissected all the mistakes that happened on the day, he was gracious in giving credit to Italy for how they came together as a team to make life difficult for the highly regarded World Champions.

“Give Italy credit, hell, they manned up and they buckled down and gave it to us.

“But we should’ve handled it much better.

“Our coaching staff will get that right,” he promised.

The young and hungry Azzurri boxed above their weight, and it remains to be seen if they can do it two weeks in a row, as their coach, Gonzalo Quesada, stated there were a lot of bruised bodies in their dressing room after the game.

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Looking ahead at this weekend, Erasmus knows he has a lot to think about.

“Internally, we’ve announced that 13, 14 players will get a run next week and that we’d build the bench or starting line-up around those guys,” Erasmus explained.

“We won’t discard those guys, but some of them might move to the bench, some of the real standout players who played [in the first Test] might start again.

“The make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us.

“You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half.

“But it’s a team that’s fit and passionate, and we have to make sure that the team we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes, it must be a team that can go 80 minutes,” the Bok mentor bemoaned.

“We have to pick nine guys to go with the others and we have to decide whether they start or come off the bench.

“A guy like Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] will be back.

“It is just who will be the other nine, maybe playing with a guy like [Cobus Reinach] or Grant [Williams].

“We have to take stock of the injuries.

“Damian De Allende has a bit of a hamstring, but luckily, we don’t have any injuries, just a few bruised egos.

“Italy was gutsy. [Tommaso] Menoncello was brave, the No. 10 was brave, the nine was brave. All three loose forwards were brave.

“I think halftime, they made almost 120 tackles, and you think somewhere they will give in, but then they turn up the heat in the second half.”