There were so many questions answered as the Springboks experienced the watershed moment the team selection was set up to achieve in Wellington at the weekend, but coach Rassie Erasmus does have one or two things to mull over as he considers his options going forward.
The Boks flew back from New Zealand on Sunday and will have a few days off before regathering in Durban on Thursday before they start to prepare for the final leg of their quest to retain the Castle Lager Rugby Championship trophy. The Boks, now second on the log, just one point behind the Wallabies, will face Los Pumas at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday, 27 September before the return clash in London a week later (4 October).
One of the big questions answered in the 43-10 win over New Zealand at the Sky Stadium in Wellington was the one over Damian Willemse’s ability to reprise the role he plays as an inside centre for the Stormers at international level. There shouldn’t have been too much doubt as he has played well for the Boks as a flyhalf (in 2022) in the past but if there was any lingering doubt it was swept away in Wellington.
Yet he wasn’t at 12 for the entire game, and slotted in and out of that position once fullback Aphelele Fassi had to be replaced towards the end of the first half because of an injury that looks likely to keep the Sharks player off the field for some time. He was wearing a moon boot as he watched the rest of the game from the sideline, which is never a good sign.
ESTERHUIZEN DELIVERED TOO
Andre Esterhuizen, lest it be forgotten, was really good for the Boks at inside centre when they built up a big lead in the first 20 minutes against the Wallabies in Johannesburg at the start of the competition and he reminded us again in Wellington what he is capable of.
But there is a different dimension that Willemse can bring at inside centre with his playmaking abilities, his ability to make split second decisions on the gainline, and his experience as a flyhalf and a fullback may also have a positive impact on whichever player wears the No 10 jersey alongside him.
While starting flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was really good before he had to leave the field because of a failed HIA assessment, Manie Libbok’s appearance on the field might have been fortuitous for the Boks as he and Willemse have played a lot of rugby together in the 10/12 axis at the Stormers and won a URC title together in 2022.
The question now is - if Fassi is out, does Erasmus eschew the chance to bed Willemse in as a No 12, at the very least give him a chance to gain more experience there, or does he move him back to the fullback position where he started the last World Cup final and has played most of his rugby at international level?
The other obvious option is to return to Willie le Roux, but that doesn’t look like a long term solution. The Carling Currie Cup is hardly a competition with sufficient quality to choose from for test rugby, but the Lions’ Quan Horn is considered the next cab off the rank for the Boks when it comes to fullbacks and he was good in his team’s semifinal against the Boland Kavaliers. In fact, he was the man of the match.
Erasmus does have other options from within the squad. Assuming he has gotten through the concussion protocols by then, Feinberg-Mngomezulu can play fullback, as he did for most of that aforementioned Ireland game in Durban last July. That is assuming Erasmus wants to stick with Libbok at flyhalf after his excellent performance as a replacement in Wellington.
Erasmus does have enviable options at flyhalf, where of course you also have to factor in Handre Pollard. Fullback, with Fassi down, and assuming he might want to give Willemse more game time at 12, is a different story.
SUFFICIENT COVER FOR LOOD
Lock is another area where the Bok coach has enviable options so while Lood de Jager’s injury, which looked like a leg injury, might rule him out for a bit, that should not cause quite as much of a headache as the fullback conundrum might. Eben Etzebeth didn’t play in Wellington and Kings Park is his home field these days, and RG Snyman was outstanding as De Jager’s replacement.
Ruan Nortje has also with his most recent performances removed any doubt over his ability to develop into a world class No 5 lock.
Regardless of where Erasmus goes in his selections, his team now has momentum. The magnitude of the win in Wellington should have finally cancelled out the memory of the 38 unanswered points conceded in the 38-22 defeat to the Wallabies in Johannesburg at the start of the competition and the statement win has delivered the momentum that should make them competition favourites.
The Championship this year has been the gift that just keeps giving and while the game in New Zealand was one-sided, both of the fourth round games were high quality, watchable affairs played at great pace. The strength of the southern hemisphere game is starting to be acknowledged in the north, remembering of course that the Wallabies were one referee call away from beating the British and Irish Lions in their series in Australia.
BLEDISLOE CUP GAMES KEY
Much will depend in the Bledisloe Cup games on how New Zealand rugby reacts to the humiliation suffered in Wellington. The first of the All Black/Wallaby clashes will be at the Kiwi fortress of Eden Park, where the All Blacks haven’t lost since 1994, and both teams will be under pressure - the Wallabies because they weren’t that flush against Argentina and can’t afford to replicate their trend of starting slowly against the All Blacks, and the All Blacks because the Wellington experience will demand a strong response.
The two teams then head to Perth, and if the Boks do what they should be expected to do in Durban in their next game, everything should still be on the line that day. Whether the later game that Saturday at Twickenham will be the competition decider will depend on the Perth result and whether the Boks win with a bonus point in Durban. Regardless of what happens, it has never been as tight or as exciting as this and the pressure will be on the Boks heading to Kings Park, where Argentina made history in 2015 by scoring their first ever win over South Africa.
The recent Argentina performances, which include wins over the British and Irish Lions, the All Blacks and Wallabies, should mitigate against the old South African stumbling block against that team - complacency.