Sometime in the inaugural Vodacom United Rugby Championship season at a post-match press conference in Cape Town, a visiting Welsh team captain was effusive about the effort his side had put in during a losing cause against the DHL Stormers.
He spoke about the quality in the home team and mentioned how well one of his players had stood up in the individual battle he’d had with, in the skipper’s words, an established Springbok. That Stormers "Bok" was the utility forward Ernst van Rhyn.
Those of us in the press conference room looked at each other quizzically. There was a silent agreement not to correct the misconception. Van Rhyn, now with the Sale Sharks, was a South African age-group captain, but he hasn’t played for the Boks. He’s a long way, in this country, from being an established international player.
In fact, Van Rhyn was only ever really a regular in the Stormers team when there were injuries. Although he captained the side occasionally, there were other players ahead of him in the two positions he played, lock and blindside flank.
This anecdote is not to denigrate Van Rhyn. The point of it is that if he had been born in Wales or been qualified for most of the Six Nations teams, the now 26-year-old probably would be an established international player. He is that good, but there is so much depth in this country, particularly in his positions, that the road for him to progress from Junior Bok captain to playing for his country was blocked in a way it wouldn’t have been in many other countries.
The Bok squad announced by Rassie Erasmus for the Castle Lager Incoming Tours is reflective of the depth this country possesses that makes it possible for overseas coaches and captains to automatically assume that uncapped players must be Boks. Even established Boks.
THE TWO LOUWS ARE CASES IN POINT
Elrigh Louw, the excellent Vodacom Bulls loose-forward, is a case in point. In fact, there are two Bulls players with that surname who are good examples. Elrigh has been capped by the Boks, but he is not an established international. If he was playing in most northern countries, or in Australia, I’d wager he might just be first choice there. In South Africa, he can’t even make an extended squad.
And that’s not to criticise Erasmus either. There are just so many good players in Louw’s position, and position might even be the operative word when we talk about Louw. We don’t know if Cameron Hanekom, who ended up playing much of the URC season at No 8, where Louw was previously, would have been in the squad were it not for his hamstring injury.
Hanekom though is an example of a player who was not on the radar this time last year but now, after one really good season for the Bulls, is a name on many people’s lips when it comes to potential Bok No 8s. There might be others who will emerge in the coming seasons. At this point of the last World Cup cycle, no one had heard of Canan Moodie, who’d be one of the first players to be selected now if he was fit.
That Evan Roos, who won several awards for his performances as the Stormers No 8 in that first season of URC, has only played a few tests for the Boks up to this point is reflective of just how deep the well of loose-forward depth in this country is.
Roos would have played many international games by now for most other countries, but here he was behind Duane Vermeulen and Jasper Wiese, both top-quality international No 8s, and of course, Kwagga Smith, who has long since become an established member of the Bok matchday squad, can play off the back of the scrum too.
NORTJE WOULD MAKE MOST TEST SQUADS
Given that there were 39 names in the group announced on Tuesday, there are several other players in the same category as Louw. Such as his franchise captain Ruan Nortje. It was thought the Stormers’ Ruben van Heerden, who plays the same position as Nortje, was unlucky to be excluded from the initial squad.
But at least Van Heerden is on the standby list. Nortje, who has been excellent for the Bulls and would also certainly be in the matchday squads of most other nations, has been overlooked completely. Erasmus will be envied by many of his adversaries for being able to do that.
Make no mistake, there is plenty of ability in the locks that have been called up - Eben Etzebeth is the best No 4 lock in the world, Salmaan Moerat has great potential to be his successor in years to come, RG Snyman is already a double World Cup winner, Franco Mostert is a double World Cup winner. And let’s not forget Lood de Jager, such an influential player when he is present. He’s not there because he’s injured, but he hasn’t retired from the sport. Another injured player worth mentioning is Munster’s Jean Kleyn.
THE OTHER LOUW
Not that lock and loose-forward are the only positions where Erasmus has depth to be envied. The area he is particularly spoilt for choice in is the front row, specifically tighthead prop. Wilco Louw is the other Louw referenced earlier. The Ceres-born strongman destroyed an international opponent when he helped the Bulls lay the foundation for their epic win over Leinster in the URC semifinal. He’s on standby, but he’s not in the squad for the Ireland series.
Some of his would-be opponents would find that confounding were it not for the high regard with which Frans Malherbe, Erasmus’ first choice in the position, is held. Vincent Koch was excellent when he got a rare starting opportunity in last weekend’s match against Wales. Then there’s Trevor Nyakane, while Thomas du Toit was a revelation to the English media in his first season for Bath.
With Steven Kitshoff injured, the depth at loosehead isn’t quite the same as it is at tighthead, but Gerhard Steenekamp was another member of the much-improved Bulls scrum that enjoyed an outstanding URC season. Du Toit plays there too, and probably will be deployed in that role in the Irish series. Nyakane has also been used at loosehead with a positive impact in the past.
Having players who can prop on both sides of the scrum is seen as important by Erasmus, and it is, and presumably, his ability to play both hooker and prop is what got Jan-Hendrik Wessels his call-up.
Wessels wasn’t used much this past season by the Bulls and is behind Johan Grobbelaar, also in the squad, and Akker van der Merwe, in Jake White’s pecking order at hooker at the Bulls. Van der Merwe is probably a better specialist impact player, but few would argue against Erasmus’ belief that Wessels has international potential.
Andre-Hugo Venter was part of the initial Bok squad but the son of the legendary former Bok loose-forward Andre is still listed as a backup. Dropping out of the squad doesn’t necessarily mean that the weeks Venter spent with the Boks in camp were in vain. At the time of writing, Erasmus has yet to be questioned on his selections at a press conference, but you can anticipate that when he is he might say that players like Venter have been given a grounding now in readiness for deployment later in this World Cup cycle.
LOTS OF YOUNG TALENT COMING THROUGH
Venter is young, as are several of the players either in the current group or among the standby players, and it is good to see the Stormers’ young outside back Suleiman Hartzenberg in the standby group. When he wasn’t in the squad that gathered for the Wales test, there was some surprise that he was overlooked but clearly, he is on Erasmus’ radar. That is good, because in a season or so he’s going to be world-class.
As is another young Stormers player, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who is unsurprisingly retained in the squad after his cool performance as a replacement at Twickenham that included a penalty kicked from a prodigious distance soon after he’d come onto the field. Jordan Hendrikse was nervy in his first game for the Boks but he is on the standby list and now has the experience to draw on if called up again in the future. Which he may well be.
Pivot was long a problem area for the Boks, in terms of depth, but with Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok now established as the first choices, with the selection going forward probably revolving around horses for courses considerations, there is a clear succession plan taking shape below them.
Don’t forget Damian Willemse, currently injured, has played a few games for the Boks at No 10, and Hendrikse and the Sharks’ Siya Masuku, not used when the world champions went to London, are on standby behind the current trio of Pollard, Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
FORGOTTEN MAN IS JAN SERFONTEIN
Everywhere you look, you could come across names that could be there but aren’t. One player who has never played for the Boks in the Erasmus era but if you watch videos of French club games still looks to have it is Jan Serfontein.
Possibly the best Bok player when Allister Coetzee was the coach, Serfontein is a gifted centre and yet can’t get a look in ahead of Damian de Allende and Andre Esterhuizen, while Willemse also plays much of his franchise rugby as a No 12, as does Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Perhaps Serfontein should return to play for a local franchise in order to remind everyone what he can do. He was the star of the future when he was the star player of the SA under-20 team that won the Junior World Championship on home soil in 2012.
Many of the fringe players in the squad can probably expect to see action against Portugal in Bloemfontein on 20 July, but with 27 World Cup winners in the group, the Boks looked well-equipped for the Irish challenge. Kitshoff is an absentee from the front row that started the World Cup final and Vermeulen is retired and Wiese is injured. Otherwise, the rest of the pack is there, and ditto the backline with the exception of Willemse and pending a potential fitness assessment on Cheslin Kolbe.
Lukhanyo Am had just been returned to the squad before that final after being ruled out of the trip through injury, so he didn’t feature but he is in the mix now as backup to the excellent Jesse Kriel, who’s star has risen in the time the 2019 World Cup winner has been away.
Springbok squad for Castle Lager Incoming Series:
Forwards: Phepsi Buthelezi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Thomas du Toit (Bath), Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks). Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls), Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Siya Kolisi (Racing 92), Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Salmaan Moerat (DHL Stormers), Franco Mostert (Honda Heat), Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92/Hollywoodbets Sharks), Evan Roos (DHL Stormers), Kwagga Smith (Blu Revs), RG Snyman (Munster/Leinster), Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls), Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls), Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers).
Backs: Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles), Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins/Hollywoodbets Sharks), Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers), Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), Wilie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls), Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers), Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers), Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions), Edwill van der Merwe (Emirates Lions), Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks).
Players on standby:
Forwards: Jean-Luc du Preez (Sale Sharks), Joseph Dweba, Neethling Fouche (both DHL Stormers), Celimpilo Gumede, Elrigh Louw, Wilco Louw (all Vodacom Bulls), Ntuthuko Mchunu (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Ruben van Heerden (DHL Stormers), Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers).
Backs: Suleiman Hartzenberg (DHL Stormers), Jordan Hendrikse (Emirates Lions), Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Quan Horn (Emirates Lions), Siya Masuku (Hollywoodbets Sharks).