Boks may have to change plans for Gqeberha Test, says Rassie

After a lacklustre 42-24 win over Italy in their incoming series opener at Loftus on Saturday, the Springboks may have to change their plans heading into the second Test in Gqeberha this coming weekend, according to coach Rassie Erasmus.

The Boks were overwhelming favourites for the match after naming a strong team and coming up against a weakened and inexperienced Italy side, missing a number of their star players through being left at home and injury.

But instead it was the European visitors who impressed the most, defending like demons over the game and fighting back from a 28-3 half time deficit, to eventually trail 35-24 at a late stage, before the Boks made it safe.

Changing plan

Before the match Erasmus had already told the majority of the players who would be in action in the second Test, but admitted on Saturday evening that things might now be a bit different as they decide who to start and play off the bench to try and get the best result in the coming match.

“Internally we’ve announced the 13 or 14 players that will definitely get a run next week, and that we’d build the bench or starting line-up around those guys,” explained Erasmus.

“We won’t discard those guys but some of them might move to the bench, and some of the real standout players (in the first Test) might start again. So the make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us.

“You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half. But it’s a team that’s fit and passionate and we have to make sure that the team that we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes, it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.

“We have to pick nine guys to go with the others we have (already chosen), and decide whether they start or come off the bench. Damian de Allende has a bit of a hamstring (niggle) but luckily, we don’t have any (big) injuries, just a few bruised egos.”

Italy defence

Italy’s rush defence managed to stop the evolving Bok attack in its tracks for the most part, despite the home team running in six tries, and ran in three tries of their own in the second 40 to win the second half, which left Erasmus scratching his head at what he called a very frustrating performance.

“It was frustrating because we had a really lekker week. The guys got really into it (training), things went well (in the build-up), and it was nice and physical. But I think we as coaches sometimes make a mistake with that,” said Erasmus.

“We felt we were really ready for this game, but you need to drive it even more when it’s going so well during the week. So it wasn’t just the players who made mistakes, but us as coaches as well who didn’t push the right buttons.

“We can’t just point fingers at them (the players). So we will have to relook at everything. But also give Italy credit, hell they manned up, buckled down and really gave it to us, and we should have handled that a lot better. We as the coaching staff will need to get that right.”