Is there more to Rassie’s break from bold Tuesday team announcement?

Naming his team on Tuesdays, four days ahead of game day, is one of the breaks with convention that has helped place Rassie Erasmus in the realm of mavericks.

He marches to the beat of his own drum and no amount of frowning or incredulity alters his ways. 

When he named his team to play England four days ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final, a London-based journalist could not quite fathom why the coach would be so generous to allow Eddie Jones and Co. so much time to figure out the Boks. 

Erasmus explained that he had nothing to hide and that naming his team early was not a ruse. He would not change the side on the eve of the match and stressed the only position that was really up for debate was whether Cheslin Kolbe would be fit to take his place in the final after missing the semi against Wales. 

Kolbe of course went on to score a try that was the cherry on top of a superb Bok performance in the final, but I digress. 

The decision to name the team four days out is a show of confidence in the group as much as it a gauntlet-throwing exercise to the opposition. Moreover, it sends the message that everything in his realm is calm and settled. 

This week, as the Boks build up to their clash against the All Blacks at Cape Town Stadium, is different though. Injuries have beset the camp and if last week presented Erasmus and Co. with a few challenges in sticking to convention, this week is stretching them to the limit. 

On Saturday, Siya Kolisi (facial injury) and Kurt-Lee Arendse (concussion) were added to an already-long list of players who are either sidelined or are about to return to action. 

Locks Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert and RG Snyman, No 8 Evan Roos, scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, centre André Esterhuizen and wing Edwill van der Merwe are all sidelined through injury. Prop Steven Kitshoff and utility back Canan Moodie are yet to play for the Boks this year after recovering from injury. 

Lock Salmaan Moerat has also recovered from a recent knock and is expected to be up for selection this weekend. 

Still, the Bok coaching group have to deal with many moving parts. They need to make improvements on last week's performance, bleed talent for their long-term benefit, while managing workloads.

On that score Jesse Kriel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Bongi Mbonambi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ox Nche have had a heavy workload thus far in the international season.

One of the areas in which the Boks were caught short was the line-out. They opted for the untested combination of Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje in the second row and though they stepped off the field with their credentials enhanced, the Bok line-out didn't quite hit the heights one had become accustomed to. 

Though Du Toit started his international career at lock and Nortje has become one of the country's finest line-out exponents, one cannot take for granted they would hit the ground running as a pairing. The All Blacks, apart from when they are a few metres from their own try line, feverishly contest line-out ball. They hardly ever hand the opposition a freebie in that facet. 

The Boks are likely to address that with personnel switches and changes. Du Toit may well revert to the back row, with Etzebeth, if he is fit, returning to a starting position next to Nortje. 

They could do with an extra gear in the scrum too. The possible return of Kitshoff, his first since last year's World Cup final, could be a timely boost for the Boks. “We also had a look at the guys and obviously ‘Kitsy’ has only been back for two games. His second game back, I had a proper look at his game,” said scrum coach Daan Human about Kitshoff's performance for Western Province in their Currie Cup win over the Pumas. 

He stressed that if Kitshoff is in the squad, he is fit enough to play. 

If only that held true for the entire squad.