Ken Borland

With the first-choice Springbok pack hit by injuries, it makes little sense for the squad for the British and Irish Lions series to be loaded with outside backs, but that’s exactly what coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus have done.

Their 46-strong Springbok squad contains eight outside backs, the most well-stocked department of all with one more player than either the loose forwards or props. The allocation of seven loose forwards includes Duane Vermeulen, who suffered what looked like a serious ankle injury at the weekend, and amongst the six locks named for the series, two of them – Lood de Jager and RG Snyman – are still injured.

There are two utility forwards included in Jean-Luc du Preez and Rynhardt Elstadt, but the cynical might surmise that the outside backs have been overstocked in order to get the transformation numbers up – there is only one White player amongst the back three in fullback Willie le Roux.

“Local derbies are like Springbok trials and when you play strength versus strength week in, week out, like the Rainbow Cup has been, then you expect a number of injuries. So every weekend has been quite nervous for us, fortunately there haven’t been too many injuries, but there are many niggles in the squad. We’ll have to reassess after the first couple of weeks.

“But the good thing is our local players will be used to physical rugby, which will be a big part of the Lions series. The big question is when is a player 100% ready for Test rugby, when do we experiment? We play Georgia twice, but we have not played together since the World Cup, so we don’t want to experiment there,” Erasmus said.

Erasmus admitted that he was not optimistic that Vermeulen will be available for the Lions series, and the uncapped Jasper Wiese is likely to replace him at eighthman, with the World Cup winning coach saying the 25-year-old’s form for the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership cannot be ignored.

“Duane has to be doubtful with his ankle. He’s on his way to Cape Town for scans. I spoke to Jake White [Bulls coach] and it looked bad. For Duane to limp off so early in a match is very unusual, so we are fearing the worst,” Erasmus admitted.

“But Jasper Wiese can play eighthman and we cannot ignore the form he is in, he was outstanding in the Premiership and he knocked the door down weekly. He is explosive and we’re really lucky that he’s versatile, he can play openside as well.”

In just 14 Premiership appearances, the former Free State Cheetahs player has made 701 running metres, beaten 54 defenders, has a 90% tackle success rate and has made eightline-breaks.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised his new-look outfit for an excellent performance as they beat the Lions 33-21 at Ellis Park to set themselves up for a virtual semi-final against the Bulls in next weekend’s final round of the Rainbow Cup.

Needing to win with a bonus point to keep their hopes alive, the Sharks fielded a team with 10 changes to their starting line-up and scored five tries to three to hold off a Lions side that showed impressive tenacity and intent, but struggled at the breakdowns and at lineout time.

“It was a massive challenge with all the changes and Covid disruptions, and it’s never easy coming to Ellis Park and beating a Lions team that is on the up and playing some superb rugby. But we have worked hard on the things that were not working in our game and it was a really pleasing performance by the pack and the backs did well with the platform laid for them.

“I knew that there would be no lack of energy because there were a lot of excited youngsters champing at the bit to play. Manie Libbok and Boeta Chamberlain haven’t played for a while, Werner Kok was in a different position, Makazole Mapimpi was back and unbelievable, and Anthony Volmink was outstanding at fullback. This result gives us a lot of confidence,” Everitt said after the game.

While Everitt will have the services of all his players in the Springbok squad for the decisive match against the Bulls in Durban next Saturday, if the Sharks make the Rainbow Cup final then their resources are going to be stretched extremely thin with nine players away in the national camp.

“The depth of the squad will be tested, but on the other hand it’s great for those players to get the opportunity. We’ll choose our strongest possible team for next weekend because we are in with a very good chance of making the final. We need to score four tries and win the game and we haven’t lost yet to the Bulls in the last year at Kings Park.

“We know the Bulls have improved and they always find a way to win, especially when their bench comes on. We lost our last match against them at Loftus but you need to put the whole game in perspective. We just unravelled in the last 20 minutes and they scored four soft tries,” Everitt said.

The city of Pretoria was in shock on Saturday night as three Bulls players who many considered to be dead-certainties for the Springbok squad to take on the British and Irish Lions were omitted from the 46 players announced by SA Rugby.

Inside centre Cornal Hendricks and loosehead prop Lizo Gqoboka have both been instrumental in the Bulls’ rise to dominance in domestic rugby, while Marcell Coetzee, after five dazzling years with Ulster, made a much-hyped return to local rugby in the match against the Stormers. And he certainly lived up to expectations with a bulldozing display that made up for Duane Vermeulen leaving the field injured.

Hendricks’ omission is the most interesting, with director of rugby Rassie Erasmus admitting the inspirational 33-year-old would have been chosen were it not for the continued doubts the SA Rugby medical staff have over his heart condition, which led them to cancel his national contract at the end of 2015. This is despite Hendricks enjoying two thoroughly healthy and productive years at the Bulls.

“The form Cornal is in, everyone can see that there must be some other reason for not choosing him. We have been scratching our heads over him and his medical condition and he is still very much in consideration. But it’s not up to myself or Jacques Nienaber [coach] to take a medical decision, he must be cleared first by our medical team.

“We spoke nicely with him a couple of weeks ago. The moment we get the green light then we can pick him, but we have to wait for the official word. Neil Powell is waiting too because he wants to take him to the Olympics with the Springbok Sevens,” Erasmus said.

The 46-man Springbok squad is a bit light at inside centre, with Damian de Allende and Francois Steyn the only players who have been regularly wearing the No.12 jersey.

Erasmus said Coetzee was certainly in contention for the squad but they were concerned that he had not played since March due to injury. But locks Lood de Jager and RG Snyman are both still injured and have not played for just as long but are in the squad.

De Jager fractured his femur in early April and Snyman has not played since August 2020 after rupturing his ACL and then picking up an unrelated knee injury last month.

“The difference is Lood and RG have won the World Cup and the Rugby Championship, they have played 20 Tests with us and we know them. We know how to get them fit and we’ll know if they’re sharp,” Erasmus said.

Gqoboka has become one of the darlings of Pretoria with his strong scrummaging and powerful ball-carrying, but Coenie Oosthuizen, who last played for the Springboks so long ago he might need a visa, and Ox Nche have leapfrogged him into the Springbok squad.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber admitted Gqoboka was unfortunate, but pointed to him arriving at an alignment camp last week with his foot encased in a moon-boot. Bulls coach Jake White had said earlier in the week though that Gqoboka should be okay to play next week.

Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus said on Saturday night that he is comfortable with nearly 50% of the Springbok squad for the British and Irish Lions series being based overseas and he believes the South African public will be okay with so many ‘prodigal sons’ as well when they see how well they play.

The 46-man squad announced on Saturday night includes 22 overseas-based players – seven from England, eight from France, five from Japan and two from Ireland. While many of them are seasoned Springboks and World Cup winners, eyebrows will be raised at the inclusion of debutants like Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Jasper Wiese, and an out-of-sight, out-of-mind player like Coenie Oosthuizen.

Especially when it seems they are taking the place of locally-based stars like JD Schickerling, Marcell Coetzee or Lizo Gqoboka, who have been shining in South Africa.

“I think we ended with a pretty even split between overseas and local and I think the public should still associate with the overseas players. They will definitely appreciate them when they see how well they play. It’s been wonderful to see youngsters step up in South African rugby, like locks and scrumhalves, but we cannot afford not to have these guys from overseas.

“The only guy the public might not know is Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg of Montpellier. He’s in the squad for a specific reason and that’s because Franco Mostert is our lineout caller but if we have one injury we’re in trouble because Eben Etzebeth is not a No.5 lock. Some people might not know Rynhardt Elstadt, but he’s won the European Cup. Jasper we couldn’t ignore because he has been outstanding in the Premiership, he knocked the door down,” Erasmus said.

The Springboks will spend their first three weeks together in the sun but freezing cold of Bloemfontein. Coach Jacques Nienaber said the coming week will see the players filter into camp as their club commitments are completed, with only a half-a-dozen expected on Monday and a dozen by the end of the week.

But by their second week in Bloemfontein, almost everyone should be there. Erasmus confirmed that all the locally-based players will appear for their franchises in the final round of Rainbow Cup games that will decide whether the Bulls or the Sharks make it to the final against the winners of the European competition. But they will not be available for that final on June 19.

While Siya Kolisi has been confirmed as captain, his next-in-command Duane Vermeulen will be travelling to Cape Town to have scans on the ankle he twisted playing for the Bulls against the Stormers.

“Duane has to be doubtful with his ankle. He’s on his way to Cape Town for scans. I spoke to Jake White [Bulls coach] and it looked bad. For Duane to limp off so early in a match is very unusual, so we are fearing the worst,” Erasmus admitted.

Overseas based players in the Springbok squad – Lood de Jager (Sale, England); Dan du Preez (Sale, England); Coenie Oosthuizen (Sale, England); Jean-Luc du Preez (Sale, England); Kwagga Smith (Jubilo, Japan); RG Snyman (Munster, Ireland); Joseph Dweba (Bordeaux, France); Rynhardt Elstadt (Toulouse, France); Eben Etzebeth (Toulon, France); Jasper Wiese (Leicester, England); Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg (Montpellier, France); Vincent Koch (Saracens, England); Malcolm Marx (Kubota, Japan); Franco Mostert (Honda, Japan); Damian de Allende (Munster, Ireland); Faf de Klerk (Sale, England); Elton Jantjies (Pau, France); Cheslin Kolbe (Toulouse, France); Willie le Roux (Verblitz, Japan); Handre Pollard (Montpellier, France); Cobus Reinach (Montpellier, France).