Erasmus contemplates changes following shaky win against Italy

Rassie Erasmus, head coach of the Springboks, expressed his frustration following a “disappointing” 42-24 victory against Italy in the first of the Castle Lager Tour tests at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Despite scoring six tries to Italy’s three, Erasmus was dissatisfied with his team’s inability to build on a commanding 28-3 halftime lead, a performance he termed as “frustrating”.

“I guess it’s a positive that we scored six tries but we’re frustrated,” the Springbok coach said via the SA Rugby website. “I didn’t pick up in the week that this was the way we were going to perform but it’s all fixable – but it’s definitely frustrating.”

This lacklustre performance has led Erasmus to rethink his pre-planned selection for the second test, set to take place in Gqeberha next week. The Springbok coach noted that he would consider several changes in response to Italy’s tenacity and physicality throughout the match.

“Internally we’ve announced that 13, 14 players that will definitely get a run next week, and that we’d build the bench or starting line-up around those guys,” he said. “We won’t discard those guys but some of them might move to the bench, some of the real standout players who played today might start again.

“The make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us. You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half.

“But it’s a team that’s fit and passionate and we have to make sure that the team that we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.”

The Springboks appeared on the brink of breaking Italian resistance after their fifth try at the start of the second half, only for the visitors to stage a resolute comeback, exhibiting the spirit Erasmus expected of his men.

“It was a very frustrating game,” said Erasmus. “We knew they would man up, and they certainly manned up in most departments; scrums, mauling, defence, attack – it was a proper Test match.

“When we were 28-3 up and we scored that try was disallowed for obstruction, I thought we might have them, but then we lost some momentum.

“I don’t think we have too many excuses and it certainly makes the selection for next week interesting – they could easily have come back into it at the end. They performed really well – we definitely tried to impose our game on them, and they didn’t allow it.”

According to Erasmus, while the game was marked by their inability to maintain dominance, the Springboks still managed to secure the win, showcasing their capability to score despite a malfunctioning maul and ineffective breakdowns. With the next match approaching, Erasmus and his selection panel face a challenging decision on the squad composition.