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Springbok starters respond to disrespect jibes ahead of Wallabies
By Josh Raisey
Rassie Erasmus' decision to make ten changes to his starting South Africa side to play Australia on Saturday is not a decision that has been universally well-received.
The relatively experienced XV that beat the Wallabies 33-7 in Brisbane in round one of the Rugby Championship has largely been replaced by an XV possessing four players with a solitary cap and a further four with under ten for the round two rematch in Perth.
In response to the team naming, there have been accusations of disrespect in some quarters.
It is easy to see why Erasmus has made this decision- the Springboks are not only in the midst of a long international campaign, but the head coach always has one eye on 2027 and blooding in the next generation.
But for two of the more senior starters in the Bok's starting line-up, flanker Marco van Staden and centre Lukhanyo Am, this drop in experience has in no way brought a drop in motivation.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a disruption," the Bulls flanker said regarding the changes that have been made to the squad.
"I don’t think this team needs any more motivation than we currently have for this match.
“All of us want to use this opportunity, and we took a lot of confidence from training this week. The intensity was really up there, and we want to take that energy into the game.”
Though there are five players in the pack alone with under ten caps, four of them play alongside van Staden for the United Rugby Championship runners-up the Bulls.
This unity from playing week-in, week-out together in Pretoria has given the pack "confidence", he believes.
“Many of us have played together quite often at the Bulls, which certainly gives us confidence,” he added. “We’ve been working together well at training (in the Bok camp too), so we are excited about this opportunity.”
Am also stressed that though the starters may not have many caps to their names, the players have plenty of experience at franchise level.
“We are experienced at franchise level," he said. "Although some of the players don’t have many Test caps. We have quality leaders in this group, and the fact that some of them have only played a few Tests doesn’t mean they are less experienced leaders.”
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Latest Comments
Well Nick, you're on the money again.
As a player of league and union and follower and occasional coach at basic levels I can say it is if anything worse.
My take is that somehow or other once we had gone pro, and become a top 2 or 3 team (early naughties) the hubris took over.
At high levels (NSW and Sydney RU in my experience), the money that had previously trickled to things like coach the coaches and special days was redirected to "elite" players and (worst of all) previously unpaid board directors.
We were left with "I want to be a Wallaby" stickers!
There was an actual belief that we had become good because of some inate natural skill we had.
No acknowledgement of coaches or hard work or any activity at all outside of Private Schools.
The ant-league sentiment was palpable, and that alone drove kids playing in my son's West Habour Pirates team away from the game. They were told that they couldn't play League on Sundays and Union on Saturdays by the SRU.
Coaches (including assistant coaches like me) were told to force kids to go to Waratah games after their game. Coach the coaches was replaced by a SRU chap talking over us at training and telling the boys not to tackle low like "mungos", throw the lightest kid up in lineouts, not the tallest. There were many ridiculous things that the kids just laughed at.
The inability to pick out a good player or teach basic skills to anyone went with handing coaching responsibility at representative levels to chaps based on the school they went to, irrespective of whether they had ever played or ever coached.
The money with professionalism had the completely opposite effect to what it should have had when it came to trivial things like skills, coaching and selection.
Rave over...
Go to commentsBut Izack didn't stick around.
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