Former Springbok star prop Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira strongly believes building squad depth and blooding youngsters should be a top priority for national team coaches ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The Boks will kick off their 2022 season against Wales in an incoming three-match series from July 2 before they move on to the Rugby Championship against the All Blacks, Wallabies and Argentina.
That Welsh series will also mark the start of SA’s preparation for the Rugby World Cup in France next year, where coach Jacques Nienaber’s Boks will be aiming to defend their title.
The defending champions are in Pool B with Ireland, Scotland, Romania and the winner of the Asia/Pacific 1 playoffs.
While the Boks will still have several players who won the 2019 world showpiece in Japan, they will be missing quite a few stars who have since retired from the sport, including the legendary Beast.
Nienaber has had at least two alignment camps in Durban and Cape Town.
There were talks of certain players who were not selected for the camps, such as Bulls’ skipper Marcel Coetzee, 30, and the young Evan Roos of Stormers despite being in good form.
But Roos cracked the nod, as he was part of the second alignment camp in Cape Town after he was snubbed for the first one.
Without entering the hot debate of who should not have been left out, Mtawarira believes the crucial thing for the technical team led by Saru director of rugby Rassie Erasmus is to create depth for Boks ahead of the World Cup by blooding young and promising players.
“I think probably what we need to focus on right now is creating depth. I believe obviously the coaches and I know Rassie and Jacques have a great plan,” Mtawarira said.
“So we need to build the squad and make sure there’s a lot of youngsters getting enough experience going into the World Cup year.”
“We need to blood them especially now when we face the Welsh,” he insisted.
“We need to see guys like Aphelele Fassi, Damian Willemse, just to name a few, and they need to be starting and getting a lot of game time.
“That’s where big squads are really important because when you get a big injury you need to have a player that’s going to step in and do the job.
“Squad depth is super important, and I know Rassie and Jacques will be focusing on that this year.”
However, Nienaber has been quoted in the media since late last year to early this year saying there will be no time to experiment ahead of the World Cup.
That gives the indication that he is only prepared to stick to the tried and tested players, which might work against Mtawarira’s suggestion.
The former Sharks stalwart also raised a key point of properly managing the older players, as they have a much bigger role to play in the success of Springboks in France.
Beast believes if those players are overworked it might serve no point to take them to the World Cup.
“Managing the older guys and making sure they don’t get exhausted or run out of steam is crucial,” said the former player who now sits on the board of Sharks and is a client of Roc Nation Sports International.
“A guy like Duane (Vermeulen) is going to have a big part to play at the World Cup, so I think there’s a need to manage him and make sure he is at his peak when he gets there and not overplayed.”
Mtawarira also believes the Boks’ current forward pack has the potential to win SA the World Cup again.
“On the field, I think we’ve got the best set piece in the world and there’s no pack that can come up against us and get one up on us. We probably need to sharpen that and use it as a massive weapon like we did during the 2019 World Cup,” he said.
The tournament will start on September 8 2023, and the final will take place on October 28 2023.
