Still no fetcher in Rassie’s team for battle against All Blacks
Rassie Erasmus still does not think it is necessary to play against the world champion with a specialist fetcher in his team and he could not find a place for Marco van Staden in his squad against the All Blacks.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has made some changes to his starting line-up to face the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.
Jesse Kriel moves to right wing in place of injured Makazole Mapimpi, while Handré Pollard will start at flyhalf and Malcolm Marx and Lukhanyo Am are also back in the starting line-up for the Boks’ final away match in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
Ross Cronje swaps places with Embrose Papier as the backup scrumhalf.
However, Erasmus still thinks that there is no need to choose a specialist fetcher as counter for the All Blacks’ strength – their brilliant play at the breakdown.
Statistics show that the All Blacks score the majority of their tries when they counter from turnover ball or with their brilliant ability in terms of ball retention on the attack.
Therefore, it makes sense to play with at least one specialist fetcher against them. A team like Australia have achieved great success in the past by even playing with two specialist fetchers against the men from New Zealand.
However, Erasmus chose to take on the All Blacks without a specialist fetcher in his starting line-up on Saturday, while he included the struggling Francois Louw on the bench. Louw is just a shadow of the player he was five years ago and he was one of the weak links in the team so far this year.
In contrast, Erasmus took the young Blue Bulls star Marco van Staden on the tour, but he was apparently taken along only to be a tourist and to hold tackle bags in training sessions, while he could have been a valuable asset for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup series.
Erasmus emphasised that the Springboks will have to reduce the amount of costly errors against New Zealand.
“We have to deliver a much-improved performance against the All Blacks. Keeping our discipline and retaining possession will be key, because New Zealand’s ability to counter from turnover ball is well-known. That means we have to be patient, our decision-making must be good and we have to capitalise on the opportunities that we create. The traditional rivalry between the two countries mean we can expect a huge physical battle,” said Erasmus.
The Springbok team to face the All Blacks in Wellington is: 15. Willie le Roux, 14. Jesse Kriel, 13. Lukhanyo Am, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10. Handré Pollard, 9. Faf de Klerk, 8. Warren Whiteley, 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6. Siya Kolisi (captain), 5. Franco Mostert, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Malcolm Marx and 1. Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16. Bongi Mbonambi, 17. Tendai Mtawarira, 18. Wilco Louw, 19. RG Snyman, 20. Francois Louw, 21. Ross Cronjé, 22. Elton Jantjies and 23. Cheslin Kolbe.
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