Erasmus really has to take a long-term view
It is a sign of just what a blueeyed boy Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is that his selection of two players over the age of 36 for the European tour did not create more of a rumpus.
Especially considering the furious response Heyneke Meyer had to endure when he chose Victor Matfield, a World Cup winner, with 110 Tests to his name and fresh off a season of Super Rugby, in June 2014, at the age of 37.
Contrast that with Schalk Brits, aged 37, who announced his retirement from rugby earlier this year, and has started just one of his 11 Tests, and Gio Aplon, aged 36, playing in the Japan Top League, which is a mix of company employees and professional players, and who earned the last of his 17 Test caps way back in 2012.
But both Brits and Aplon have strong Western Province links and Erasmus used to be the director of rugby there, and SA Rugby is based there, and the Cape Town media are well-known for being particularly one-eyed when it comes to their own.
In Brits’ own words, “I went on holiday with my wife to Ibiza, we had chill-out time and that was a bit of a sabbatical so I thought, ‘why not join the Boks for three weeks?’.” Yes, why not? Talk about privilege.
The hooker is a wonderful guy and obviously good for team spirit, but should a glorified cheerleader really be taking the place of a player this close to the World Cup?
Erasmus justified Aplon’s selection by saying he had a great left boot and, in European conditions, he obviously wants to sustain the pressure on the opposition with a combination of a right-footed and
Ken Borland
a left-footed kicker at flyhalf and fullback. Aplon also spent several years playing for Grenoble in France.
But then he hasn’t chosen Aplon, even on the bench, for this weekend’s match against England. It sends an awful message to those players toiling away in our domestic competitions when Currie Cup stars like Curwin Bosch, Dillyn Leyds and Andries Coetzee (all more recent Springboks) are ignored for the likes of Aplon.
So it seems the veteran duo’s jobs, seeing as though neither will be involved at Twickenham this afternoon, are to talk to their team-mates about their experiences of European conditions. Isn’t that a coach’s role? And it’s not as if Brits and Aplon are seasoned internationals either; Malcolm Marx has already played more Tests than his supposed mentor.
By making such short-term selections, Erasmus shows he feels he is still being judged by results, but he cannot possibly be axed by SA Rugby less than a year out from the World Cup and especially after a 2018 campaign that has surpassed expectations.
By returning to the strengths of South African rugby – epic defence and playing off the opposition’s mistakes – Erasmus has turned the Boks’ fortunes around, providing hope that they will be competitive at the World Cup.
Providing the coach gets his selection right. Cape Town may be the capital of South African rugby, but with 19 of the 36-man squad being current or former Stormers players, questions need to be asked about the ugly spectre of provincialism rising again. It’s not as if the Stormers have exactly set Super Rugby alight in recent years either.
To ignore the explosive Akker van der Merwe, who vented his frustration at his exclusion with a Man-of-the-Match display in the Currie Cup final, and the powerful Jean-Luc du Preez, who simply overwhelmed Springbok tourist Sikhumbuzo Notshe, was inexplicable.
The World Cup is going to be played in very different conditions next year in Japan – warm weather and fast fields – and Erasmus needs to be focusing on players who are going to thrive there rather than worrying too much about results now in Europe.