Latest cryptic Erasmus tweet hints at most daring bench experiment yet
It is fair to say that South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus is enjoying the hysteria surrounding his and Jacques Nienaber's bench selections, and he has had some fun with it.
South Africa have played around with their bench set-up so far this World Cup, deploying their usual 6-2 split against Scotland and Tonga, a traditional 5-3 split against Romania, and the talk of the town 7-1 split against Ireland. Even then, the 5-3 split had two scrum-halves in it.
Ahead of the world champions' quarter-final against France on Sunday at the Stade de France, Erasmus threw a post out on X that is dripping in mystery and is bound to add fuel to the already raging bench-debate fire.
The 2019 World Cup winning coach posted: "8+0. 7+1. 6+2. 5+3 = 8.
4+4 🤔"
Erasmus has already jokingly mentioned the potential of an 8-0 split on the bench in the past, but this is the first time he has mentioned a 4-4 split on the bench. In reality, the 7-1, 6-2, and 5-3 splits are the only options that will be used against the World Cup hosts, but there has been plenty of buzz around his post, with 1,000 likes and 100s of reposts.
Erasmus spoke this week how the Springboks' clean bill of health has offered them the luxury of choosing how to shape their bench, rather being dictated to by the players who are available.
"I think it would be a difficult situation if we only had two nines and one is injured," he said. "We don't have any injuries currently, everyone is fit. We can pick from Lukhanyo right through to Vincent Koch, everyone is available. We are very fortunate and that is why we haven't quite decided seven-one, six-two [forwards to backs ratio on the bench]. It's tough to announce the team.
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Which country do you think was instrumental in developing rugby in Argentina which then spun off into the rest of Latin South America? South Africa was touring Argentine in the 50's with their Junior Bok side on three months development tours. And they didn't do it to cultivare players for the Boks. Regarding Africa you are not taking into account that South Africa itself is an emerging nation. The rugby union has prioritised the development of rugby in South African rural communities with outstanding success.
It has taken 15 years to build the participation of rugby both in playing and watching. For South Africa on its own to build a viable international rugby competition in africa will take generations - not decades. New Zealanders seem to resent the fact that SA has doubled the income of the URC since their inclusion. If New Zealand Rugby hadn't insisted on have a disproportionate slice of the pie in Super Rugby, SA might not have fled the coop.
Go to commentsDon't think you've watched enough. I'll take him over anything I's seen so far. But let's see how the future pans out. I'm quietly confident we have a row of 10's lined uo who would each start in many really good teams.
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