It’s been a near-perfect month of international rugby for the Springboks in preparation for a successful defence of the Rugby Championship, which starts mid-August. All that remains is an injury-free hit out against Georgia in which squad depth continues to be built.
July has been about squad depth for Rassie Erasmus and his long-term build towards the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
Erasmus has been insistent that he can build, think 2027 and win short term. Winning is a habit, and it is easier to introduce new players into a winning system.
Georgia, physically always a worthy opponent, especially in the set piece, will offer resistance, but they will be outclassed in player pedigree regardless of the match 23 selected for this one-off Test.
Erasmus, post Saturday, would have given every squad player game time, some more than others, but every single player has seen action from the season’s opener against the Barbarians in Cape Town, through the two Tests against Italy and the final Bok Test of July on Saturday.
The Bok coach would have used five fullbacks, with four starting and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s cameo last Saturday as a late substitute introduction. He has tried different wing combinations in all but two of the four matches. Equally the midfield and he has given Handré Pollard, Manie Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu starts at No 10.
Hopefully, this time the memory of being in South Africa will be more pleasant for the Georgians.
Grant Williams and Morne van den Berg have each got two starts at No 9, with veteran World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach introduced in the last quarter of those matches in which they have made the match 23.
The loose-forward options have also been many. Pieter-Steph du Toit is comfortably the first choice No 7 and he plays his second successive Test after a six-month absence and operation-enforced layoff. Siya Kolisi gets his first match of the four, having been rested for the Barbarians match and the two Tests against Italy.
Bok record-holder (in Test appearances) Eben Etzebeth is back for a second start in four, having also had limited game time in the United Rugby Championship for the Sharks, while hooker Malcolm Marx gets a rest this Saturday having been involved in the first three matches.
Erasmus has introduced new players and each new selection would have been capped by Saturday night. He has used Jesse Kriel and Salmaan Moerat as captains, restored Kolisi’s armband for Saturday and spoken of his confidence in Du Toit and Etzebeth’s ability to lead the Boks, as they have done in the past.
He has also said that players like Pollard and Feinberg-Mngomezulu had the rugby IQ and EQ to captain the Boks, given they had captained South Africa at junior levels.
Willie le Roux also became the eighth Bok centurion a week ago, with his 81st start at fullback one more than 102 Test World Cup winner Percy Montgomery’s 80 starts as a Test fullback.
The Boks and Georgia have only played once, in Pretoria in the warm-up to the British & Irish Lions series in 2021. The Boks won 40-9 in what was their first Test since winning the 2019 World Cup. Covid had put a freeze on the Boks and 26 of the squad contracted the virus after that match, which forced the cancellation of the second Test and meant the only match several of the frontline Boks played before the Lions three-Test series was the SA ‘A’ match in Cape Town.
Several of Georgia’s players, management and coaches were also laid low with Covid.
Hopefully, this time the memory of being in South Africa will be more pleasant for the Georgians.
They are a feisty lot and there is plenty of respect for their size and ability to be a menace in the collisions and at the scrums.
It will be a good physical hit out for the Boks, but the real Test stuff begins in August for the Boks and for the Wallabies it all gets real in Brisbane on Saturday when they host the first of three Tests against the British & Irish Lions.
Boks by 10 is always my call, meaning there is no question of doubting a Boks win, and in this instance the differential will be closer to 30 than 10.
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