Madman? Maverick? or Magician?
These are the questions I see asked in New Zealand about Rassie Erasmus’s Springboks selections for the last month. It makes for an interesting chat.
Madman? Of course. His career as a player, his innovations as a coach, and his being as a person, speak to this in the most accommodating way.
Maverick? For sure. Anyone who has followed his introduction to the Springboks in 2018 will know this.
Magician? Definitely!
Again, anyone who has followed the Boks’ surge from seventh in the world rankings in 2017 to No 1, and back-to-back World Cup winners, and 2024 Rugby Championship winners, will tell you, for sure Rassie is the magician in team selections, in player management, and in taking the nonsensical and turning it into the obvious.
But where the Kiwis may just have a point is (I am not saying they do, but they may have) is that they hit the handbrake on the Boks praise singers with just one question: “Are they battle hardened and ready for Eden Park, Auckland, on September 6, where the All Blacks have not lost in 50 Test matches, winning 48 and being held to a draw on two occasions?”
The All Blacks last lost at their fortress in 1994, when France beat them with an 81st minute try. Two months later, they drew with the Springboks 18-all. The Boks scored two tries to nil, but six penalty goals saved the Kiwis.
The British & Irish Lions, in 2017, drew 15-15. This time the All Blacks scored two tries to nil. In between every team has suffered.
If ever a Springboks match 23 can win at Eden Park for the first time since Danie Craven’s 1937 Springboks, it is Rassie’s Boks.
The kicker is whether the Boks are magically conditioned for that Test or underdone?
Erasmus, in the past month, has made 10 changes to his starting XV in every one of his four matches — three of them Tests and the season opener a non-Test against the Barbarians.
This week, Erasmus picked a 37-strong squad to prepare for the Rugby Championship opener against Australia at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Of those players, all of whom were with the Boks for the past month, just nine have played more than 50% of the 320 minute on-field game minutes. That’s five out of 17 backs, and four out of 20 forwards.
Does it surprise you that 14 of the 37 have played less than 24% of those 320 minutes? Does it surprise you that Jasper Wiese (54 minutes against Italy in Pretoria and 20 against Italy in the second before being red-carded) has played the most minutes at No 8 in the last month?
Kurt-Lee Arendse, on the left-wing, started three of the four matches, and played 240 minutes. No one else played as many minutes.
Madman, Maverick or Genius? I am referring to the coach.
A few years ago Erasmus sent the bulk of his preferred XV to New Zealand to rest and prepare to smash the All Blacks in Auckland, while his support players stayed in Pretoria and proceeded to hammer the Wallabies.
A week later, these big name Boks in Auckland got smashed in the first 20 minutes, and did not have enough current Test match minutes to start well. The All Blacks were 17-0 ahead in as many minutes and the strong Boks finish was not enough to prevent a 15-point defeat.
It is the one moment Kiwis refer to in the hope that the All Blacks can preserve their 50 Test unbeaten run at Eden Park on September 6.
When we look at the growth of players in the last month, it is more perception — and like — than fact, because no player has played enough minutes to have changed an opinion.
Evan Roos got 24 minutes and got the bullet. Ethan Hooker got 24 minutes and got a squad hug.
Erasmus is a gambler and three one-point World Cup wins in the play-offs of the 2023 World Cup rewarded the maverick in Erasmus.
This is 2025, and the narrative is no less questionable and potentially no less rewarding.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.