Erasmus leaves door open for late changes with five Springbok injury updates

Rassie Erasmus may have named his matchday 23 to face the All Blacks in game two of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, but he says there are a couple of changes that could yet be made.

It remains unclear whether captain Siya Kolisi will be fit in time to play, and superstar winger Cheslin Kolbe is hanging under a similar injury cloud.

While Kolisi’s name appeared on the team sheet, it was listed alongside Paul de Villiers, with a slash between them, signalling that the latter would step in should Kolisi not recover from his hamstring injury in time. Meanwhile, Kolbe’s name was left off the team sheet entirely, with Kurt-Lee Arendse named on the right wing.

The coach explained what it would take for the star duo to come back in and gave five more updates at his Johannesburg press conference on Monday.

“So Siya still had a niggle yesterday; we obviously want to get him into the team,” Erasmus said. “But he has to get through today’s training; that’s why he’s shlashed with Paul. If he comes through, he’ll replace Paul, and Paul moves out of the team.

“That’s why Pieter-Steph (du Toit) is staying captain, but if Siya gets through, we might make a change there. We just want to make sure that if Siya doesn’t get through, then at least we have a captain on the day.

“Then, Cheslin, it’s more than just cramps. It’s not even the hamstring anymore; it’s a little bit of an ankle as well. It might be a late change with Cheslin if he really recovers well. But at this stage, I don’t think it will be, so that’s why we announced the team like this.

“Ben-Jason (Dixon) has some concussion symptoms that he picked up last week. Boan Venter and Quan Horn are playing for the Lions tomorrow, so they won’t be part of our team. And then, unfortunately, Canan (Moodie) pulled a hamstring, and Grant (Williams) got an ankle injury. Those are the guys that are out.”

South Africa’s inspirational captain, Kolisi, missed the Test series opener with the hamstring problem, allowing De Villiers to play his first game against the All Blacks. Erasmus said the 23-year-old’s performance deserved to be rewarded with another start, but there are crucial parts of the game where Kolisi’s experience have proven irreplaceable.

“For me, Paul played really good, there’s no reason why we should keep him out,” Erasmus added. “But Siya is our captain. Pieter-Steph is doing an outstanding job, he’s really playing well.

“Siya’s got some strengths, one of which is the attacking breakdown; he’s really good at sorting that out fast, which was an area we struggled with. There were lots of times that we played really badly and not because they did anything illegal; we just couldn’t get them out of the breakdown when we were in really good attacking positions. Siya’s really good at that.

“He’s also really good at getting us width on defence; him and Pieter-Steph together, we call it ‘The Gates’, they are really well organised in the defensive set. That was definitely something which we lacked.

“But Paul will just get better. He’s only played four matches.”