Eddie Jones believes that Rassie Erasmus is rebuilding the Springboks rather than building depth.<\/b><\/p>\n
After winning back-to-back World Cups, the Australian veteran thinks that the transitional period is underway for South Africa, with the next generation pushing their way into the squad.<\/p>\n
Erasmus has repeatedly expressed the need to bring in new blood into the Green and Gold jersey, but at the same time has explained that the Springboks<\/a> coaching team would not push players out of the team simply because of their age.<\/p>\n For the clash in Cape Town against the Wallabies<\/a>, Erasmus has made 10 changes to his starting XV, in a vastly experienced matchday 23 overall.<\/p>\n The tried and tested combination of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel features in the centres, while double World Cup winner Handre Pollard at fly-half. Meanwhile, Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager have been included on the bench.<\/p>\n Springboks are in a transitional period<\/p>\n Commenting on Erasmus\u2019 selections, Jones<\/a> says that the Springboks are in a transitional period but will continue to lean on the experienced players to get results.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the starting 30 [both teams] from last week, I think seven are out with injury, so that\u2019s nearly 25% of the total players out through injury,\u201d he said on the Rugby Unity podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cYou then start to think, are we looking after the players well enough? This is a constant theme in rugby. The rugby year has become a 12-month calendar in a lot of ways, and particularly for the South African players who play in Japan.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s that part of it [all the changes], and the second part is that the Springboks are going through some sort of transitional period.<\/p>\n Springboks coaches \u2018don\u2019t have the right\u2019 to retire players as plans to avoid \u2018dark period\u2019 detailed by Siya Kolisi<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve had two successful World Cups, and because of that, they\u2019ve had players at the right age to win it. Those players who have been up for eight years are starting to get older.<\/p>\n \u201cSo they need to be thinking about how to replace those players, and I think Rassie has spoken about that in a way with how he talks about building depth, but they are they are rebuilding to an extent.<\/p>\n \u201cThis team\u2019s gone back to the old formula. De Allende comes back, Willie le Roux comes back, Pollard, Jean-Luc du Preez is the big, physical number eight. They\u2019ve gone back to a better calling lock, which has always been a traditional part of the Springbok setup.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes when you\u2019re rebuilding, you have to go back to the past to help you rebuild again. Losing that Test would have hurt them, and they\u2019ve gone back to a more tried and true combination that he thinks can do the job in Cape Town.\u201d<\/p>\n Eddie Jones claims Springboks \u2018prioritised\u2019 Cape Town Test and doesn\u2019t read \u2018too much\u2019 into Ellis Park defeat<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Big Wallabies development and what to expect in Cape Town<\/p>\n While the Springboks rebuild and transition, the Wallabies continue to grow under Joe Schmidt, and Jones pinpointed a major development highlighted by the victory over South Africa at Ellis Park.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you remember back to the first Test against the Lions, Joe congratulated the team at the end for the ability to stay in the contest, and he said 12 months ago they couldn\u2019t do that,\u201d Jones remarked.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s the big development of the team, being able to stay in the contest. For some players, it\u2019s their third year of international rugby, for others it\u2019s their second year. So they\u2019re starting to develop or have that experience at the Test level, and you only get better as a Test player by playing Tests and high-level Tests. So they are starting to accumulate that hardness, that toughness, to stay in the contest.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones hailed the impact the experienced campaigners have made on the youthful squad, singling out the likes of Nic White, James Slipper and Will Skelton.<\/p>\n \u201cThey got some good role models there. We\u2019ve spoken about Skelton; he\u2019s certainly leading that way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cSlipper has been good for them, been outstanding, and White has come back into the team rejuvenated and done a really good job.<\/p>\n