‘It’s unbelievable’: Rassie Erasmus hits back at Bok issue ‘people are starting to talk’ about

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has downplayed concerns over the age of his squad, saying it is the drum “everyone loves to beat.”

Erasmus named a Springbok squad to face Italy in Turin on Saturday containing 12 players aged 30 or over, and believes the age of his squad is now what “people are starting to talk about” rather than the results the world No.1s continue to produce.

It has nevertheless emerged as one of the main talking points surrounding the Springboks’ attempt to secure a third straight World Cup title in a year’s time.

Speaking to the media this week, Erasmus seemed well-prepared to tackle such questions about the age of his players, and pointed out that it only takes a handful of changes to his team for the average age of the squad to fall.

Moreover, he stressed that as long as the older players in his squad continue to perform, he cannot omit them.

“Everyone loves to beat the drum that the team is getting older,” the double World Cup-winning boss said.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s heartwarming when South African people are talking about are the team getting too old? The team that played five weeks ago against New Zealand had an average age of 32, the team that plays this weekend has an average of 29. So it’s two or three changes in a team, and that’s why I so thoroughly enjoy the South African supporters.

“If you go with Krappies [Morne van den Berg] and Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu], and you go with Ethan [Hooker] and Canan [Moodie] and Kurt-Lee [Arendse] and Sebastian [de Klerk] and you go with Damian [Willemse], that team is 28 or 27.

“If you go with Cameron [Hanekom], and just make a few changes there with Emmanuel [Tshituka] and Ruan [Nortje] and you go with Cobus Wiese, that team is 27.

“People are starting to talk not so much about our results and where we are, they’re talking about how long can this team do it. And that’s been the interesting thing. It’s been tough to make sure that we keep on winning but also blooding some young guys. But we’ve never put out a young team there.

“I don’t know if that’s frustrating people but that’s certainly us slowly evolving and knowing that players are getting older, but as long as they perform. I feel that’s what the older players have done. Jesse [Kriel] keeps on performing. Damian [de Allende] keeps on performing. So you can’t not pick them.”