The Springboks ticked most of the boxes that needed ticking in the big win over the Barbarians that opened the southern international season in Cape Town, but it was their coach’s eagerness to stay ahead in the innovation stakes that may have been the biggest plus to take from the fixture.
𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 🇿🇦🔥
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South Africa start 2025 with a massive win 👏👏#SSRugby | #BARvRSA pic.twitter.com/4T4FcwqFbG
The Boks played perfect wet-weather rugby, in the sense that most of their playing was in the right parts of the field, yet there was also still enough attacking from the backline in the wet conditions to impress the Barbarians’ highly experienced and well-travelled coach, Robbie Deans. The New Zealander would have expected to lose in conditions that were completely alien to what the Barbarians needed to play their style of rugby, but he might not have expected to ship eight tries.
Deans spoke before the game about his opposite number Rassie Erasmus’ creativity, describing him as “the most creative coach in world rugby”, and we saw that in the second half when the people in the press box were initially a bit confused about how many players were on the field once the Boks made their substitutions.
Andre Esterhuizen, a specialist centre, was one of the players to go on with half an hour of the match to play, but when we didn’t see the two excellent centres, Damian de Allende and skipper for the day Jesse Kriel, leave the field, there was understandable confusion. Until, that is, the strongly built Esterhuizen packed down on the flank in the first scrum that was set after he came onto the field. And then stood in the lineout.
A BACK WHO CAN PLAY IN THE PACK
Erasmus has used a forward as a backline player before, with Kwagga Smith, a loose-forward who can play in every position in the back row, also being primed through his background in Sevens to play centre or wing, where he did once play for the Emirates Lions. This was the first time though that he had flicked the switch to unleash a hybrid player who was a back who can play in the forwards. We have seen Esterhuizen do that for the Sharks in an emergency, but this was a plan that Erasmus had hatched months ago and had wasted no time in putting into action.
“I chatted to him five months ago as I was thinking we needed a backline player who can also play forward,” said Erasmus after his team’s 54-7 win in the Qatar Airways Cup face-off.
“Kwagga is a forward who can play at the back, so I wanted to see if we could develop a backline player to play forward. We went into this game with a five/three split (between forwards and backs) on the bench, but if we have a backline player who also can play in the forwards now, it does give us an option if we go with a different split in future and we get backline injuries.”
EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE
For Esterhuizen, who definitely has the physical strength and physique to play forward and showed that during his time on the field, it was a no-brainer for if he is successful at developing into the hybrid role it is a way of guaranteeing himself more game time going forward rather than him having to sit out because De Allende and Kriel have become such a strong midfield combination.
André Esterhuizen on the flank 👀👇
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“It was a good experience, and a good attribute for the future. I’m definitely willing to learn and slot into a bit of a hybrid role,” said Esterhuizen.
“It will help me as a player and, obviously, it can help the team as well. We obviously spoke about it, and we came to an agreement. I said I would like to try it, and it gives you so many more options. I was actually just waiting for that conversation to happen sometime.
“It has been brought up in the past, and then just shrugged off for different reasons and by different people. But as I get older, you learn how you can slot in everywhere, and how you can get yourself in the team more constantly. You have to adapt as a player. I’m looking forward to what it can be, and what it can work out to be.”
The move does give Erasmus more bench flexibility, and as the Boks headed to Johannesburg on Sunday to start preparations for Saturday’s first test against Italy in Pretoria, it wasn’t unreasonable to wonder what else he might have up his sleeve over the next three weeks.
Erasmus paid lip-service to the idea that Italy will be a step up from the Barbarians, who, he admitted, had to play in the worst possible conditions for them, but the reality is that the initial part of the test season, which in addition to the two games against the Italians also includes the Nelspruit game against Georgia, does give him plenty of opportunity to experiment.
MOST OF WHAT WAS TRIED WORKED FOR BOKS
He and his assistants will have had reason to feel satisfied with most of what they tried against the Barbarians. Jean-Luc du Preez made a strong return to international rugby after a break of two years at No 8 before he limped off with an injury just before halftime. And his loose-forward partner Vincent Tshituka scored two tries and walked away with the man of the match award.
The selection of Asenathi Ntlabakanye for his first feel of the green and gold at tighthead prop revealed that there is still work to be done by the Lions player. The scrums started well, but for much of the first half the Barbarians gave as good if not better than they got in that phase and Erasmus, when it was suggested by a media person that Ntlabakanye had played really well, disagreed a bit.
“He was solid, not brilliant. There were one or two scrums he didn't dominate. We didn’t have a weak pack in this game, and it helped that he had Ox (Nche) and Malcolm (Marx) with him in the front row. He has a bit to go and a bit to learn still,” said the coach.
IMPRESSIVE RETURN FOR LOOD
A player who doesn’t have much to learn is Lood de Jager, who made an impressive return after a long absence, while the sharp, incisive play and good positional sense of the pacy scrumhalf Morne van den Berg was also a reminder of the options the Boks have in that position.
It will be interesting to see how many of the players who played in Cape Town will front again in Pretoria. Pieter-Steph du Toit has recovered fitness, and as he is one of the Japan-based players who needs game time to get him back up to speed, it would be surprising if he did not wear the No 7 in Pretoria. However, expect Tshituka to play in at least one of the three test matches.
It will also be interesting to see what Erasmus does at No 8, as Jasper Wiese is ready to play but Evan Roos is also in the squad in addition to Du Preez.
The Boks were initially pleased there weren’t any serious injuries, but it later emerged that wasn’t the case as Jean Kleyn was forced out of the squad on Sunday and will return to Ireland for rehabilitation. Erasmus won’t bring in an extra lock as he rightly contends he has enough depth in that position, with Cobus Wiese, Jasper’s brother, surely another player set to make his Bok debut very soon.
Saturday’s Qatar Airlways Cup result
Springboks 54 Barbarians 7
Next game:
First test v Italy; Pretoria, Saturday 5.10pm