Former Springboks centre Jean de Villiers predicts that Rassie Erasmus will surprise Argentina with his team selection for the Rugby Championship rematch at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Erasmus’ charges marched to an impressive 67-30 victory over Los Pumas in Durban in round five of the tournament and will now face off against the same opposition in the final game of this year’s competition with their title on the line.
In a rare occurrence, the Springboks head coach made only a handful of changes to his matchday 23 from the game before – when South Africa handed the All Blacks their biggest-ever defeat – with most of the alternations made due to injury.
Rassie to shock Pumas
De Villiers predicts that for a third match week in a row, Erasmus won’t make sweeping changes but doesn’t rule out a shock call.
“Rassie sticks with the current team and probably goes with a 7-1 and does something that no one is thinking about at the moment,” the former captain said on the Good, Bad and Rugby AUNZ podcast.
“I can’t seem him going away from the team that started at the weekend, apparently there were quite a few injuries like Cheslin Kolbe, Ethan Hooker, Thomas du Toit, who have niggles, so they might not be available for selection. But then again, the depth that he has been able to create in that squad puts you in a position where guys slot in seamlessly.
“But in terms of the team that started, I can’t see a lot of changes. It also just seems that the bench is really making an impact.”
While starting fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu stole the show at Kings Park, scoring a mind-boggling 37 points, which included a hat-trick of tries, De Villiers reserved praise for replacement playmaker Manie Libbok.
The former midfielder believes that the number 10 has been key to the improved performance of the bench in recent matches, which only furthers his assumption that Erasmus won’t make changes.
“We speak about Sacha’s performance, but when Manie Libbok came on, he was fizzing the ball, and the attacking nature of the team was totally different with him on the field,” he added.
“When you have a base like that and a pack going forward that is so dominant, it’s brilliant for a backline player. To then bring a guy like Manie on, it’s such a fortunate position to be in.”
Erasmus will name his team for the final round of the Rugby Championship on Tuesday afternoon.
There has been one change to the squad ahead of the squad’s departure to London, with Lood de Jager coming in as cover for second-rower Franco Mostert, who remained in South Africa due to a family bereavement.
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