It doesn’t matter what matchday-23 coach Rassie Erasmus selects, it’s likely to be a well-balanced side, with plenty of experience.
No Siya Kolisi, no Pieter-Steph du Toit, no Frans Malherbe, no Steven Kitshoff … no problem.
None of these players will feature for the Boks in the team’s first two matches this year and in the case of Malherbe, he might not play at all this season, while Kitshoff has in fact retired from rugby.
And though it’s disappointing that Kitshoff is no longer in the mix and injuries and setbacks cause players to miss out, including Damian Willemse for the whole of last season and Faf de Klerk for a big chunk of it, the reality is the Springboks have got so many quality players in their system it doesn’t matter anymore what team Rassie Erasmus puts out.
It’s been said before, but it’s worth saying again: Does Erasmus even know what his strongest team is?
That is the beauty of where the Boks are again, two years out from the Rugby World Cup.
Besides the obvious first-choice men such as Cheslin Kolbe, Ox Nche and Du Toit, who are the Boks’ best fullback, flyhalf, scrumhalf, No 8, lock pairing, tighthead prop, hooker?
Springbok rugby has not been in a more healthy state
Of course, those players who have been in the Bok set-up for a while now and have tons of experience and have lifted two Webb Ellis Cups, like Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi, to name a few, are still very much in the picture and possibly among the first-choice picks, but will they still be that in two years’ time?
No one ever questions a Bok team anymore. Ever.
Last week’s side that faced the Barbarians had a good look about it, this week’s team to take on Italy is just as exciting, and so it will be next week and the week after that. And none of those match-23s will be the same. And, no one even bats an eyelid when a new captain is announced.
Winning regularly, including two World Cups, has helped Erasmus gain the public’s trust, and he can pick just about any team he wants now and rugby fans will believe in it and back it. The Boks could simply not be in a more healthy state.