Rassie Erasmus confirms 4 Boks ruled out of Wallabies rematch

Rassie Erasmus has confirmed the names of four front-line players who will miss South Africa’s second Test against Australia this coming weekend.

The Springboks had already torn up their pre-selected side for the Ellis Park clash in Johannesburg, but that reshuffle backfired as they surrendered a 22–0 lead in a 38–22 defeat. The result was the Wallabies’ first win at the venue since 1963 and has forced Erasmus and his staff back to the drawing board.

Erasmus, this Monday afternoon confirmed that Siya Kolisi, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Edwill van der Merwe and Pieter-Steph du Toit will not be in contention.

Speaking to SuperSport after the loss, Erasmus said:

“On selection, there are already four players injured who won’t play this weekend: Siya, Kurt-Lee, Edwill and Pieter-Steph are out, so that’s four changes straight away. If you build squad depth, anyone can say they are building squad depth, but if you lose, then you’re not really building depth, because that depth must be able to perform. And we didn’t do that this weekend. That doesn’t mean it was the players’ fault – it could be coaching mistakes, it could be mindset.

“So yes, there will be changes this week. There were always going to be, even if we had won, but because we lost our momentum, there are some guys who would have played this weekend who now won’t.”

Erasmus had already admitted that the Ellis Park collapse was “not a wake-up call” but “an embarrassment” given the manner of the performance. His coaching group have since reviewed what he described as a breakdown across “most departments in the second half,” with one error compounding the next as Australia took control.

“I think the players also went into a mindset which is something we did in the first Italy Test match, where you think now things are easy. But they were quickly reminded – all of us were – that Australia is a team that… it wasn’t luck how they performed against the Lions. We always knew that. But when you get easy tries like that, I think even at 49 or 50 minutes it was still 22-5, and then they worked really hard while we took our foot off the pedal.

“So no, it’s not a wake-up call. It’s embarrassment. Not the score, not because Australia aren’t good, but just the way we performed. All of us are very disappointed.

“As a coaching group, we always try to be honest. If one department does well, we all take credit. If all departments do well, we all take credit. And if one department doesn’t fire, then we’re all accountable. We’re not just one coach in one area. As one of the coaches said this morning in the meeting: if one department can complement the other, that’s how we want to do things together. But overall, in the second half, they outplayed us in most departments. One thing led to another – breakdown to defence, defence to attack – and there was a stage where we were just not in the game for the last six or seven minutes.”

The Springboks do expect reinforcements, however. Erasmus has previously said he anticipates Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe being available after both missed the Johannesburg Test through injury. He also hinted that South Africa could look at fresh playmaking options, with certain players short on confidence after the defeat.