The Springboks have surprisingly used the 5-3 bench split in most of their games this season.
The famed Springbok “bomb squad” could be in jeopardy after coach Rassie Erasmus praised the impact of their subs, and the 5-3 bench split, after their 24-17 Rugby Championship defeat to the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday.
Over the past seven years under Erasmus, the Bok powerhouse forward dominated bench has become a staple of the team, with them going with a 6-2 split of forwards to backs on most occasions, while also dipping into the 7-1 split a number of times.
But this year has almost seen the “bomb squad” completely disappear, with the Boks going back to the more traditional 5-3 bench split in six of their seven games, while the 6-2 split has been used just once.
You could argue that the Boks have gone with the 6-2 a few more times if you count centre André Esterhuizen being backed as a hybrid player, and having come on at flank in two games for them this season, although maybe that’s now a 5.5-2.5 split?
Regardless, Erasmus was pleased with the efforts of his bench against the All Blacks, particularly praising the backline replacements, who made a decent impact in the second half that helped them fight back from a 17-3 deficit to be in the frame for a draw by the end.
Energy and fight
“I thought the guys who came on brought energy and some fight. I think we were justified going with a 5-3 split because the three backline players who came on really had a good impact,” explained Erasmus.
“Cobus (Reinach) settled things at the breakdown, Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) was electric with ball in hand, and I thought Ethan (Hooker) was really good in the air.
“So there were many things we got wrong, but mostly it was conceding those early tries (that was the difference) and thinking we could still win, although we almost pulled a draw out at the end.”
The Boks were down early in the match after conceding two tries inside 20 minutes, but fought back well as the game went on. Besides the backline replacements who came on and added energy to proceedings, forward substitutes Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Boan Venter, Wilco Louw, Lood de Jager and Kwagga Smith all also made a good impact when they entered the action in the second half.
Eden Park
Erasmus claimed that the Eden Park record, which has seen the All Blacks unbeaten there since 1994, and now spans 51 games, was not a heavy burden during the week and didn’t play a part in their error strewn performance.
“If we won we would have loved it and said we have won here for the first time since 1937. But then the next day life goes on and we play them again in six days’ time,” said Erasmus.
“So it’s the same with the loss. They kept their record, well done to them, they’re a great team. We always measure ourselves against them. When we came in [as new coaches] in 2018 our big thing was to beat New Zealand in New Zealand, and that will always be the biggest challenge for us.
“We have another go next week, and it wasn’t like we built a big theme around the Eden Park record. And there is still everything to play for. I think New Zealand is on 10 points, nine for Australia and us and Argentina are on five. So we are still in it.”
