Rassie Erasmus has credited South Africa’s long-term player development structures for the Springboks’ ability to continually regenerate their squad.
While the world champions have lost several players to injury and are managing the workload of experienced campaigners, Erasmus believes the national set-up remains well stocked thanks to years of planning between SA Rugby’s high-performance structures and the Springbok coaching team.
“We work in tandem in South Africa. Since we’ve started the elite player development pathway way back in 2013, we started getting the rewards in 2019 and 2020, and then we got Covid,” Erasmus said.
The Bok coach believes the pandemic disrupted an entire generation of players, creating a noticeable gap in the current age profile of elite South African rugby talent.
“I think we missed a lot of players in that Covid era, who didn’t play Craven Week, SA Schools, didn’t go to the SA academy, didn’t play Junior Springboks.
“That is why I think you will see a gap in the age bracket between 22 and 26 in the Springbok set-up because those guys didn’t play rugby. A lot of them stopped and didn’t get contracts.”
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Despite that challenge, Erasmus says close collaboration with SA Rugby’s high-performance manager Dave Wessels and Junior Boks coach Kevin Foote continues to identify and fast-track emerging talent.
“We work very closely with Dave and Kevin, and then we do our depth chart and then we try and get guys as quickly as possible into the set-up, just to see the guy eye-to-eye.
“Does he feel comfortable what we’re doing? Does he understand what we’re saying and how should we approach those guys?
“Dave is great at that and Kevin is great at that.”
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Erasmus pointed to the depth now available in key positions, particularly up front as they gear up for their first challenge of the international season against the Barbarians in Gqeberha on Saturday.
“Apart from the junior guys who have just come in, Jan-Hendrik [Wessels] is not an old guy, Ox [Nché] is an experienced guy, Grobbies [Jan-Hendrick Grobbelaar] is playing great rugby. Malcolm [Marx] is 31 then we’ve got [Carlü] Sadie, Zach [Porthen], Wilco [Louw], Neethling [Fouché], Vincent Koch,” he said.
The lock position, viewed by some as an area of concern after a series of injuries, is another position Erasmus believes is in good health.
“At lock, everybody thought we were a bit thin. Of course we had a lot of injuries and experienced guys not playing, but there’s Riley [Norton] in the mix.”
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There was also encouraging news on veteran lock Eben Etzebeth, who is edging closer to a return.
“We’re doing the final fitness and strength things with Eben to make sure he’s ready for England, which he will be.
“Lood [de Jager] might be ready then, but a guy like Riley has really put up his hand.”
Photo: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images
The post Rassie: Bok production line is working appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Rassie Erasmus has credited South Africa’s long-term player development structures for the Springboks’ ability to continually regenerate their squad.
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