The Boks have gone with a 5-3 bench split for their clash against the All Blacks at Eden Park, so won't have their 'bomb squad' to fall back on.
There is no “bomb squad” to count on for the Springboks when they take on the All Blacks in their blockbuster Rugby Championship encounter at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday (kick-off 9:05am SA time).
Coach Rassie Erasmus named his match 23 on Thursday, just a few hours after the All Blacks, and mirrored his New Zealand hosts by naming a 5-3 bench split between forwards and backs for the game.
The Boks have relied heavily on their forwards-dominated bench (“bomb squad”) to get them out of trouble over the past seven years under Erasmus’ reign, but over the past year they have been slowly trying to not be as reliant on those players.
In fact, this season, the Boks have only fielded a “bomb squad” in one match, in the first Test against Italy at Loftus, while they also named a 6-2 split for the second Wallabies Test in Cape Town, only for a late change which saw hybrid player Andre Esterhuizen come onto the bench.
However, against the All Blacks, the Boks have found considerable recent success with their forwards-dominated teams, so it came as a slight surprise to see them going with a 5-3 split for this weekend’s match.
Over their current four-match winning run against their fiercest rivals, the Boks have gone 7-1, 7-1, 6-2, but then most recently they went 5-3 in their last game, an 18-12 win in Cape Town last year.
Very similar teams
“I looked at the team they announced and the team we announced, and I think we’re both going with a 5-3 split, and what they bring off the bench and what we bring off the bench, I think it’s very similar,” said Erasmus on Thursday.
“There also hasn’t been a lot between us (with close results in past three games).
“There are no 6-2 splits. I think the team they selected has got a lot of guys that are biting really hard at the breakdown … Kwagga (Smith) coming off the bench (for us) and Du’Plessis (Kirifi) coming off the bench (for them).”
Erasmus continued explaining the similarities between the teams: “We’ve got a lock on the bench, they’ve got a lock on the bench, and a full front row, and like us a nine, a midfielder and a winger. I think both coaches, their management teams and coaching staff, are expecting a really tight game.
“I guess it’s the belief at the vital moments, and that’s always been the case the last couple of years. I know there was the big 57-0 by them a while back, and we had a big win at Twickenham. But in all areas of the game it is going to be very competitive.”
