MARK KEOHANE | The ascendant Portugal’s Test opponents are very much a Bok ‘B’ team

The contrived hype of Portugal’s historic first ever rugby Test against the Springboks should not betray what the occasion will mean to the visitors or those debuting for South Africa. It is after all an official Test match.

Portugal beat Fiji 24-23 in the 2023 World Cup and drew 18-all with Georgia, but they are very much a Tier Two nation, and the Springboks should smash them, regardless of the second-string makeup of the hosts.

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus this week sent 16 of his best players home to rest in preparation for the start of the Rugby Championship, but tried to put a positive spin on those fronting Portugal as being a Test team and not a Springbok ‘B’ team.

This one-off match has been given official Test status so one can’t argue that it is not a Test team. It is a team playing in a Test, but the merits of the strength of the starting XV and match 23 is not quite as clear cut.

Erasmus said if the Bloemfontein 23 played against Ireland in Durban a week ago, they would have been competitive. He lauded the depth and said there was little to choose between those who had been sent home to rest and those starting.

Good on him for his sense of humour in the wake of a crushing one point defeat against Ireland, which levelled the two-Test series one-all. Had this 23 lined up against Ireland, the visitors would have been expected to win by 20-plus points.

This is very much a Bok ‘B’ team. 

Portugal, on individual and collective strength, should not come within 40 points of the Springboks, who will probably start indifferently and end emphatically.

This Boks combination has never played together and many in the 23 have not played a competitive match for two months.

Individually, there are several class acts in the run-on XV, but there are also many making their Test debuts and combining in their specialist positions for a first time.

I’ve seen many Springboks midweek and Test teams play when the regular first choice players have been rested and they tend to struggle. It is as if they collectively are an afterthought and, often, in this type of match, the individuals try too much individually to make a statement to the national coach.

There are many firsts surrounding the occasion and the most significant is that a Muslim player will captain the Springboks for the first time. Salmaan Moerat, the Stormers lock and captain, is the 66th Springbok captain, and he is also the first of the famed Cape-based Moerat rugby family to be given a post-apartheid environment in which to flourish.

The older generation Moerats were denied the chance of playing for a unified South Africa because of apartheid and having Moerat the first player out for the Boks on Saturday is another victory for transformation within South African rugby.

Former Grey College stars Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Andre-Hugo Venter will get their first international minutes, fittingly in Bloemfontein, with Venter’s debut made even more romantic, in the rugby sense, because he and his father Andre become the 16th father and son Springboks Test combination.

Erasmus knows that the value of this Test is player game time because the quality of the opposition does not allow for questions to be asked. 

This Test will give no Springbok Rugby Championship answers. The players are in a catch 22. If they win by 40-plus points, it is to be expected because it is consistent with the bookies’ odds. If they don’t, some would wonder why not.

I’ve seen many Springboks midweek and Test teams play when the regular first choice players have been rested and they tend to struggle. It is as if they collectively are an afterthought and, often, in this type of match, the individuals try too much individually to make a statement to the national coach.

Hopefully Saturday can be an exception, and the Bok player in the centre trusts the one on his inside and outside to make the biggest statement as a collective.

Midfielder Lukhanyo Am, playing his first Test in 11 months, will want to prove his fitness and No 5 lock RG Snyman will want to assert line-out dominance.

Inside centre André Esterhuizen, affectionately dubbed Andre the Giant, will also want a bigger performance than against Wales at Twickenham a month ago.

Portugal will be brave and passionate and they will want to showcase they are a team on the rise and that the 2023 Rugby World Cup results were the start of their journey and not a false start.

Portugal, who lost 36-10 to Georgia in the final of Europe’s Second Tier competition earlier this year, beat Namibia 37-22 last weekend. To show how far they have come and Namibia have regressed in the past 34 years, the last time the two teams met in 1990, Namibia won 86-9.

Portugal’s rugby is being driven in the right direction, but there must be perspective and context in acknowledging that only two of their squad play in France’s Top 14 and that the other 15 French-based players operate in the lower divisions.

It is why a URC-dominated Springbok selection must be expected to win well.