Rassie Erasmus delivered on his promise, which was a match 23 picked before the first Test against Italy. Plenty of changes, but the player with the most to win – or lose – is Grant Williams. The Springboks No 9 jersey is open to selection ahead of the 2027 RWC in Australia, writes Mark Keohane.
Erasmus was clear in the post-match chat last Saturday. There would be changes, plenty of them, and it had nothing to do with first Test result, but in the context of the Test season the performance in Pretoria was significant. Good for some; not so good for others.
Regardless of the result, 42-24, an emphatic first 30 minutes and a subdued and indifferent last 30 minutes against the Italians in Pretoria, the match 23 was going to look decidedly different for the second Test.
Erasmus, frustrated at the inability of 19 World Cup-winning Springboks to put away Italy at altitude, bemoaned the mongrel in the finish and referred to his World Cup winners as regulars, if not necessarily first choice players.
He credited Italy’s youthful and energised match 23, missing eight regulars, but was not particularly impressed with his World Cup winners going through the motions in the final 30 minutes, conceding a 20 metre maul try and fortunate not to concede a few more tries in the final quarter.
Italy scored three converted tries and 24 points in total.
It was a C- performance from the Boks. At best.
Erasmus did not respond to the indifference of his match 23 in the first Test in finalising his match 23 for the second Test, but he has shown his intent. He gave his first choice World Cup-winning players, those available, the first go at Italy. Now he is given the next group a go.
He has made 11 changes to his starting XV and 17 to his match 23.
Much has been made of the depth within the Springboks. It is one thing to have it on paper, but Erasmus is putting it onto grass.
He is challenging the next group to tell him why the first group is not the chosen group for the big one against the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland on the 6th September.
The starting XV against Italy in Pretoria included six of the starting XV of the 2023 World Cup final in the backline and three among the forwards.
The likes of Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Stef du Toit were not available. And neither was tighthead prop Frans Malherbe.
For the rest, it was pretty much the run-on XV that won the World Cup. Given this background, Pretoria last Saturday was not good enough.
Just one of the World Cup run-on XV that beat the All Blacks in the 2023 final, being Pieter-Stef du Toit, starts on Saturday when another group gets a crack at Italy on Saturday and the biggest individual winner could be Williams at No 9. Not one of the No 9s has owned the position in the past season and a bit.
Williams has not played for the past three months. Du Toit has not played for six months. It has not stopped Erasmus from starting with two of his World Cup winners from 2023.
If anyone has anything to gain, it is Williams. If anyone has something to lose it is Williams. Of all the Bok positions, scrum half is the one that has no name on the back of the jersey leading into the Rugby Championship.
*Willie le Roux plays his 100th Test, having played his first against Italy in Durban in 2013. The Boks won 44-10.
This was the Boks match 23 and scorers on this day, a month shy of 12 years ago.
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Strauss, Engelbrecht, Habana, De Villiers, Basson
Cons: Steyn 5
Pens: Steyn 3
For Italy:
Try: Sgarbi
Con: Di Bernardo
Pen: Di Bernardo
Yellow cards: Bortelami (12th minute, repeated infringements) Basson (43 mins, high tackle)
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Alberto di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto de Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Martín Castrogiovanni, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Joshua Furno, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Tommaso Iannone.
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant referees: Nigel Hennessy (Wales), Blake Beattie (South Africa)
TMO: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
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