South Africa have more than enough players to choose from for their season-opening Springbok v Barbarians non-Test and SA ‘A’ v Zimbabwe matches in Gqeberha on 20 June, despite an extensive injury list and the entire Bulls squad being unavailable, head coach Rassie Erasmus said.
Erasmus outlined the state of preparations for the international season on Thursday afternoon, saying the teams to play those two games had already been selected.
He said the Springboks were hoping to win all their matches this season. That meant selecting their best-possible team to face England in their opening Nations Championship fixture on 4 July.
There, Erasmus said Bulls players, riding a wave of confidence from their URC final against Leinster, whether they win or lose that, would be immediately drafted into the camp.
Boks target perfect season
“We want to beat England, Scotland and Wales to be in the mix for the end of the year… We want a great start,” Erasmus said.
“The last time we played England [at Ellis Park, in 2018] they were 24-3 up at half time. We can’t give them a start like that again. We will pick our best possible team for the England match.”
In the meantime, the 50-odd player base comprises many uncapped youngsters and players normally on the fringe of selection, who will get a run-in against the Barbarians and Zimbabwe.
“We can mention a hell of a lot of [injured] players but that is not the situation. A lot of these players would not have made the matchday 23.”
He said Kwagga Smith and RG Snyman were the only regular Springboks with long-term injuries. Uncapped Bulls wing Sebastian de Klerk would also be unavailable until next season.
Otherwise, Kai Pratt, Marnus van der Merwe, Frans Malherbe, Trevor Nyakane, Ruan Venter, Deon Fourie, Jean-luc du Preez, Juarno Augustus, Morné van den Berg, Jordan and Jaden Hendrikse, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker, Henco van Wyk, Francke Horne, Salmaan Moerat and Bronson Mills were unavailable but expected to return at some point.
Springboks still have plenty of players available
Recently injured Grant Williams and Malcolm Marx are already fit, while Eben Etzebeth should return in time for England.
Cobus Reinach would also be ready for England but may be rested. Erasmus said players who have had a large load recently, such as Damian de Allende and Damian Willemse, may also be rested.
“We are still making our decisions there.”
Erasmus told the media that Springbok management did not agree with the narrative that they had an injury problem.
“So we can moan about them [being injured] but they also helped with squad depth so we can rotate…
“We have a hell of a lot of players which we don’t know how to give them game time currently.”
He said this was important as they used this season to balance their goal of winning every game with getting a good look at players who may be called on as back-up for next years World Cup in Australia.
