The Springboks have signalled their intent of having a crack at the Nations Championship title, by picking a full-strength team to take on Italy.
Springbok loose forward Paul de Villiers (with ball) has become a key member of the Bok squad since making his debut against England earlier this year. Picture: Steve Haag – Nations Championship/ Getty Images
The Springboks are taking the Nations Championship very seriously, after coach Rassie Erasmus named a full-strength team to take on Italy in the first match of their end-of-year-tour in Turin on Saturday afternoon.
With them currently top of the South section log, equal on points with the All Blacks but ahead on points difference, the Boks know they have no room to slip up or they could be passed.
The top team in the South section will take on the top team on the North section log, which is currently France, on the Finals Weekend later this month, and those teams will battle it out for the Nations Championship title.
During their home run of Nations Championship games back in July, the Boks did not seem as serious about the new competition, after they heavily rotated their squad over all three matches and gave a number of players debuts.
Erasmus backed a strong team for their opener against England, but then rotated heavily for the matches against Scotland and Wales, but still won each game relatively comfortably with a bonus point, 45-21, 42-28 and 43-0 respectively.
The Bok boss also handed first Test caps to Paul de Villiers, who has since become a key member of the squad, Ruben van Heerden, Carlu Sadie and youngsters Vusi Moyo (20) and Jaco Williams (21), during those matches.
But now with the competition hitting the business end with three big away games before the Finals Weekend, the Boks look to be taking things more seriously.
Despite having a 37-man squad in Europe, and some fringe players expected to get some game time, Erasmus has gone with his strongest possible lineup against Italy, and it is unlikely that he will rotate much for their bigger matches against France and Ireland.
Everyone competing
“It’s a cup that everybody is competing for. We rolled the dice a little bit in that last game (one-off Test) against Australia (in September), and that didn’t go too well. But some guys got game time in Perth,” explained Erasmus when he named his team for this weekend’s match.
“However, now it’s three important games and, yes, the biggest competition is the World Cup next year. So, we are trying to build for that. But as a team you also want to try and be in the running for this Nations Championship cup when it comes to the play-offs or final round.
“So yes, we obviously are taking it seriously. We didn’t have a lot of training time like the other teams. We’ve been fortunate with about 10 to 12 Japan-based players who’ve been here with some of the coaches since last weekend. We had our first training session on Monday afternoon, so everyone is now on the same page.”
During Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks, Erasmus backed an essentially full-strength team in every game and explained that they were trying to simulate the same conditions of the World Cup knockout stages, and they may look to do the same over their next four matches.
“We are a year out from the World Cup and although one does want to experiment and try things, you also want to maintain momentum,” said Erasmus.
“I had a beer with Italy’s coach (Gonzalo Quesada) yesterday (Sunday) in London, and we all want to try combinations. But you also want the people to keep faith in the players and for them to trust you.”
The Boks’ match against Italy on Saturday kicks off at 1.40pm.
