Rugby Championship Preview: Springboks
PART THREE: Johan Erasmus is renowned as one of the most astute analysers of the game, which makes him a good fit to be the Springbok coach.
However, it is his prowess as a selector that will be tested when he enters his first Rugby Championship – starting this week.
While there is no disputing his coaching pedigree, getting his selections right in the next two months is going to be crucial.
Erasmus faces challenges that no other coach has to deal with.
It starts with the 45 percent selection – habitually referred to as quotas or targets.
Erasmus is fortunate that the bulk of his non-white players are merit selections. However, there are question marks over a few of the players.
Then again, the same could be said about some of the white players.
However, to add intrigue, Erasmus also has a conundrum with his European-based players.
There are agreements in place that players like Francois de Klerk (Sale Sharks) and Willie le Roux (Wasps) will return to their clubs midway through the Rugby Championship.
The Bok coach can retain then for the full duration of the World Rugby-sanctioned competition.
But he says he will be a nice guy and ‘manage’ them – i.e. send them back to their English clubs.
Given that Bulls-bound No.8 Duane Vermeulen is not available at all – being tied to his Japan club for the rest of the year – there are some head-scratchers around loose forward, scrumhalf and outside back.
His midfield selection is also far from being a settled issue.
Now add the travel factor, the management of his player resources become a far more recondite decision.
Their tournament starts at home, but then they head to Argentina, back to South Africa, on to Australia, a short hop across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand and back to South Africa.
However, by the time they arrive in Wellington a month from now (September 15), they will be up against a well-prepared and rested All Black team – which only travelled to Sydney (a two-hour flight) and back to New Zealand.
By that time Erasmus will have lost the services of two of his key players from his two-one series win over England in June.
While the series win over England had plenty of promise for the battle-weary Bok fans – who had to endure two years of disasters under Allister Coetzee – there were enough warnings to ensure the South Africans remain grounded.
Argentina, first up – in Rounds One (Durban) and Two (Mendoza) – is Argentina.
The Pumas are a major threat, but you would be very worried if the Boks don’t win at least on home soil.
Australia in Brisbane – a venue where the Boks have only ever won once since their return from isolation – will be a tall order. By then travel fatigue and injuries could start taking their toll.
Then follow the All Blacks and by then the Boks’ challenge could be over.
The home Tests – Australia in Port Elizabeth and New Zealand in Pretoria – could be all about getting the building blocks in place for next year’s World Cup.
Erasmus continuously speaks about the ‘must win’ factor, but in reality, it is more about progress than being serious Rugby Championship contenders.
By Jan de Koning
@king365ed
@rugby365com
