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Andy Onyeama-Christie on brink of Saracens exit as new club emerge
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Erasmus threatens to rip up Boks selection plan after 'very frustrating' win
By Ian Cameron
Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has admitted his frustration with South Africa’s inconsistent performance against Italy and signalled that the pre-planned squad rotation for next week’s second Test in Gqeberha could be scrapped.
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The Boks ran in six tries in a 42-24 win at Loftus Versfeld but laboured through a second half in which Italy finished the stronger, clawing back the scoreboard after trailing 28-3 at half-time. Erasmus, who had previously indicated that 13 or 14 new faces were set to feature in the second match, now says that selection plan is under review.
“I guess it’s a positive that we scored six tries but we’re frustrated,” the Springbok coach said. “I didn’t pick up in the week that this was the way we were going to perform but it’s all fixable – but it’s definitely frustrating.”
South Africa appeared to have broken Italian resistance early in the second half with their fifth try, but the disallowed score for obstruction seemed to halt their momentum. From there, Italy hit back with two second-half tries to finish with a flourish.
“It was a very frustrating game,” said Erasmus. “We knew they would man up, and they certainly manned up in most departments; scrums, mauling, defence, attack – it was a proper Test match.”
Erasmus confirmed that many of the originally selected players for next week’s match may now find themselves on the bench rather than starting, while standout performers from the first Test may be asked to go again.
“Internally we’ve announced that 13, 14 players that will definitely get a run next week, and that we’d build the bench or starting line-up around those guys,” he said. “We won’t discard those guys but some of them might move to the bench, some of the real standout players who played today might start again.”
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The Bok coach acknowledged Italy’s physical effort and superior conditioning, warning that South Africa will need to be more durable next week.
“The make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us. You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half.
“But it’s a team that’s fit and passionate and we have to make sure that the team that we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.”
Erasmus lamented the loss of rhythm in the stop-start second half, which he felt drained the Boks of intensity.
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“When we were 28-3 up and we scored that try was disallowed for obstruction, I thought we might have them, but then we lost some momentum.
“I don’t think we have too many excuses and it certainly makes the selection for next week interesting – they could easily have come back into it at the end. They performed really well – we definitely tried to impose our game on them, and they didn’t allow it.”
“The frustration was not only about not dominating, but also that the game was stop-start, stop-start. It felt like we didn’t get any intensity in the second half.”
Still, Erasmus noted that despite issues in several key areas, the Springboks were able to score freely.
“The positives are that we won; that we scored tricks even with a maul that didn’t function, even with a breakdown that wasn’t great on attack, even with a counterattack that wasn’t awesome, we still scored six tries.”
With Damian de Allende nursing a minor hamstring strain and no major injuries reported, Erasmus suggested there will be difficult decisions ahead for the coaching group.
“We have to pick nine guys to go with the others and we have to decide whether they start or come off the bench. Damian De Allende has a bit of a hamstring but luckily, we don’t have any injuries, just a few bruised egos.”