Rassie Erasmus explains dramatic late Springboks front-row change before All Blacks Test
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Rassie Erasmus has explained why he changed the Springboks’ entire front row less than an hour before Saturday’s 33-26 victory over the All Blacks in Cape Town.
Ox Nché, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw had initially been selected to start the second Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
However, Erasmus switched the two front rows shortly before kick-off, promoting Gerhard Steenekamp, Deon Fourie and Thomas du Toit from the bench.
The Springbok coach revealed that a late change in the weather forecast prompted the reshuffle.
“We thought it was going to be wet, and that’s why we picked that front row,” Erasmus explained.
“The whole week, the prediction was it was going to be wet, and we thought then we’ll need our heavier front row for the first half of the game. We were always going to use two front rows.
“But then, closer to the game, the weather report said it’s going to be dry, and then we felt our front row that’s a little bit lighter would be better on the dry field.”
Fourie, who became the oldest player to represent the Springboks, was replaced by Marx after 35 minutes, with Nché introduced at the same time.
“Deon Fourie, he’s 39 years old, he’s played 65 minutes against the All Blacks in six weeks, so he was going to get tired. And you could see he missed the tackle when they scored a try. He did wonderfully; I thought he brought so much to the team.
“Also, we’ve got Ox (Nche), who, prior to the previous game, had played eight minutes. Then last week he played 45 minutes. Now, this game we wanted him, because he didn’t start, to get to 55 minutes.
“But that’s not decided before, because if the guys stay productive on the field, and they keep doing their job, then we pull it back and we do it at a moment where they’re not productive and helping anymore.”
Erasmus also insisted Cheslin Kolbe’s inclusion in place of Kurt-Lee Arendse was not an unexpected late change.
“He wasn’t a late change. On Monday, obviously we announced the team, and I said Cheslin is looking really good, and our policy has always been that if you can train fully on a Monday (then you can play), but we weren’t sure about that. Maybe I should have slashed him in the team announcement, and that would’ve gone down better.
“But Kurt-Lee knew, because our training session was only in the afternoon, and Cheslin did the whole training. So, it wasn’t a late change, but it was later when we announced that.”
