Flight delay may offer Rassie needed chance to consider selections

The Springbok flight home from their 41-13 win over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday night was cancelled, which meant the World Cup champions stayed over in London on Sunday night and did not arrive back in South Africa on Monday morning as anticipated.

Flight delay for Springboks.
More here: https://t.co/QwgvOhGAcl pic.twitter.com/qT43r6Ftw4

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 24, 2024

What was initially going to be a Sunday announcement of the Bok squad for the Ireland series, which kicks off at Loftus on 6 July, was first delayed until Monday and now it will be made on Tuesday. Which may prove fortuitous for coach Rassie Erasmus, as he should have a lot to mull over as he looks to call in players previously unavailable and cut players who were part of the initial 35-man group.

The good news for Erasmus before the Wales game was Kurt-Lee Arendse’s return to fitness. The World Cup winning wing played for the Vodacom Bulls in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship final loss to Glasgow Warriors and would be an almost certain inclusion if he is fit.

What that means for Edwill van der Merwe, who alerted the international audience to the fact that he is very much an Arendse clone and yet another South African wing with pace to burn and incredible X-factor in a debut that featured an excellent individualistic try as well as well as several other good touches is hard to say.

Cheslin Kolbe was also an injury doubt two weeks ago and did not feature in the Twickenham game that got the Boks’ 2027 Rugby World Cup cycle off to a solid yet not perfect start. The prognosis changed after Kolbe saw a specialist and he is understood to be in a race against time to be ready for the first game against Ireland.

Whether there will be space in the Ireland squad for Van der Merwe if both Arendse and Kolbe are fit to play is something we will have to wait until Tuesday to find out. The point though is that Erasmus is spoilt for choice, with the problem being more who to leave out rather than who to include.

VAN DER MERWE SHOWED HIS ABILITIES

Van der Merwe certainly showed in his first 80 minutes in a Bok jersey that he is international quality, not that should be news to anyone who has seen him excel for the Emirates Lions over the past few seasons after moving up from the DHL Stormers.

It is likely Willie le Roux, who missed out on the URC final due to concussion, will also be back for Ireland, which leaves an interesting question hovering over Aphelele Fassi. The Hollywoodbets Sharks fullback’s attacking game is beyond dispute but it was in other aspects of fullback play that Erasmus would have wanted to see him tested.

The Welsh certainly complied on that score, hoisting several high ball bombs and contestable kicks onto Fassi, and he produced a faultless performance in fielding them. Well, except for the one rather awkward take where he stuck his leg out and he was yellow carded as it was deemed dangerous play. The speed with which the bunker decided it didn’t merit a red card said everything about how ridiculous that decision from the referee Chris Busby was.

It was when Fassi was off that the Boks lost a bit of momentum, with the inexperienced Welsh team being competitive in the second quarter and coming back to within one point of the Boks at halftime after they’d earlier trailed 14-3. Erasmus might have welcomed that as he needed areas of his team’s game tested and it is always good to start a buildup to an important series knowing you have work to do and some fine-tuning to do.

SACHA SHOWED GOOD NERVE

Lions flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse experienced a nervous debut but should not be discarded as an option for the future, but he could find himself sidelined for the Irish series. Not that he will be expected to play against Ireland, but Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu made more of an impact with his calm display, most notably from the tee, when he came on for Hendrikse as the game reached the last quarter.

Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok, the two flyhalves used at last year’s World Cup, were not used against Wales but should be the two players that will be turned to for the Ireland series, with maybe one other pivot retained for back up. Both Hendrikse and Mngomezulu have utility value, Mngomezulu a bit more so and that could give him an edge.

Siya Masuku is another flyhalf in the Bok squad not used against Wales and whether he stays on or not will depend on how he has impressed in training.

Evan Roos made a few mistakes at No 8 but generally was good against Wales even though the Welsh, who are used to the impact he makes for the Stormers in the URC, appeared to make a special effort to prevent him getting the Boks momentum. Which cues the other thing Erasmus would have had to do this past weekend, which was to watch the video of the URC final.

Cameron Hanekom, who unlike Roos is yet to be capped for the Boks, was the man of the match in the Bulls’ semifinal win over Leinster but was anonymous until he was replaced in the final. Glasgow’s back row pretty much dominated their opponents in the game, but Marco van Staden should be one of the Bulls called up when the squad is announced on Tuesday.

WILCO CREATES CONUNDRUM AT TIGHTHEAD

Erasmus could face a real conundrum at tighthead prop, where he is particularly spoilt for choice. Vincent Koch, making a rare start in the No 3 jersey at international level after accumulating most of his Bok caps as a replacement, was outstanding and played a big role in the scrum ascendancy that wasn’t always rewarded by the referee. Frans Malherbe played as a replacement and not for nothing is rated by many as the best player in his position in the world.

Neethling Fouche, who had a great URC season for the Stormers, was part of the squad called up a few weeks ago but did not feature against Wales. There again, Erasmus did say after the selection for the Wales game some Stormers players weren’t considered as they’d only returned to training after their URC quarterfinal exit in Glasgow several days into the Pretoria training camp.

Trevor Nyakane was not available and should be added, so it leaves a question over what Erasmus is going to do with Wilco Louw, a player who has been a massive influence for the Bulls after moving back to South Africa from England.

Another Bulls player who could be in the reckoning for a call up is their captain Ruan Nortje, who has delivered everything that should be asked of a lock in the past URC season. But then RG Snyman is one of the overseas based players that has to be accommodated.

There are several other overseas based players in addition to the players who were unavailable due to the Bulls’ participation in the final, including World Cup winning captain Siya Kolisi, who was an interested spectator at the Wales game. There have been reports from overseas that Kolisi, now playing in France, has been a bit out of condition, something Erasmus said he would assess when saw Kolisi.

There is surely no question of Kolisi being dropped, either as a player or as captain for he is such a figurehead of the Bok team, but if it is found that the overseas reports are true and he requires a fitness crash course before being ready to play international rugby, he might not be involved in the immediate Bok challenge, which is the Ireland series.

If not, Pieter-Steph du Toit captained the team well against Wales, while Bongi Mbonambi would appear to be the natural leader if he starts at hooker.