SPRINGBOKS NOT EXPECTING A WALKOVER
SOUTH AFRICA head coach Rassie Erasmus believes Scotland have earned their place among the international elite — and insisted there will be little chance of a ‘walkover’ against their hosts in Edinburgh. The Springboks run out at Murrayfield tomorrow evening intent on further bolstering a massively impressive historical record against the Scots, having suffered just five losses in their 26 meetings. That includes winning their last five encounters, but Erasmus points to his own team’s streak-wrecking victory over New Zealand in Wellington just two months ago as evidence of how records can be broken. And he said the days when touring sides used to view the Scots as the ‘easy’ leg of their autumn trips to the Northern Hemisphere are long gone. ‘Without a doubt,’ insisted Erasmus. ‘I wouldn’t say that we as players and coaches always felt that when we played them. ‘I think the natural feeling outside the team, from media, from fans, supporters, would be that it should be a walkover — in the past. But now we all agree with you guys that we’re not sure who’s going to win this game on Saturday. ‘And I think that is well done by Scotland, for a country with the amount of professional players they have.’ Scotland sit sixth in the world rankings, just one place behind the Boks, Erasmus noting: ‘Teams three to six or three to seven in the world are pretty close to one another. Including Scotland and us, on the day anybody can beat anybody. ‘I’ll tell you if I believe in history. The All Blacks won 49 games at home — and then we managed to beat them in Wellington. ‘Things can change, easy. The last couple of seasons, we haven’t lost to France, but could have lost in the last couple of minutes (last weekend).’ Of more concern to Erasmus is Scotland’s home record of just one defeat in their past ten games at Murrayfield. The Springboks have made only two changes to the team who grabbed a late victory over France in Paris last weekend, the head coach declaring: ‘Scotland is too good a team to make too many changes. ‘And look at the record at Murrayfield, winning nine out of the last ten, putting 50 points past Australia, beating England proper, smashing teams… then going away to beat Argentina well on the road. ‘We know what we’re in for, a tough, tough game.’ Former Munster coach Erasmus singled out Finn Russell as an obvious danger man, saying: ‘Having coached against him (at club level), he’s mostly on song. And, when he’s on song, he’s hard to contain. ‘We know we’re going to face some well-coached, fit, energetic players.’
SOUTH AFRICA: Willie le Roux, Sbu Nkosi, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Aphiwe Dyantyi, Handre Pollard, Embrose Papier; Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx, Frans Malherbe, RG Snyman, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi (captain), PieterSteph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Thomas du Toit, Vincent Koch, Lood de Jager, Francois Louw, Ivan van Zyl, Elton Jantjies, Cheslin Kolbe.