Only All Blacks can experiment at will

If the Springboks’ poor showing in their return clash against Argentina didn’t leave the Mzansi rugby public seriously confused already, coach Rassie Erasmus’ statements following their 32-19 loss in Mendoza will certainly add insult to injury.

Before the match Erasmus boldly declared the Boks would be in the mix for Rugby Championship honours should they scrape a win in South America.

After the match he said he thought a win in Mendoza would give them time to test a few players against the Wallabies in their next match, but with that out of the window the Test in Brisbane has become a must-win situation.

Two questions. Is every match that doesn’t involve listening to the haka before kick-off not a realistic must-win match? And why the hell would you want to experiment away against the Aussies when you have started your campaign with back-to-back wins and consider yourself to be in the mix?

The only logical explanation I have is that Erasmus was so confident of a win in Argentina that he was putting the cart before the horse. All week the message out of the Bok camp was that they were not underestimating the Pumas despite beating them with relative ease in their opener in Durban. But judging by their body language on the field, it might have been more a case of being complacent than anything else. And a coach confessing that all his plans going forward have gone out the window in the wake of the defeat is certainly a dead giveaway.

But what is still really mystifying is why the original masterplan included experimenting in Brisbane? Erasmus experimented in his first Test in charge against Wales and then again in the dead rubber against England. So he already had the luxury of testing players in two out of his first four Tests in charge.

Surely the time for experimenting is over and the onus should be on selecting the best possible side for every match and then should you manage the impossible and win the title with a game to spare, or more realistically be out of contention with two matches remaining, take another stab at playing around.

Erasmus even stopped short of saying the masterplan accommodated for a loss in Brisbane.

“We thought if we won in Mendoza we could test a few players in Brisbane, which people don’t always want to hear because they want you to win every Saturday.”

If you are the All Blacks and can field a second-string outfit on any given weekend capable of beating any other international team in the world, you can test players at will, because the chances are highly likely that these players will fit right in anyway. But it has taken them over a decade to have this luxury.

At this stage, Erasmus’ prime XV has played only four matches together and will need to spend as much time in each other’s company on the field as possible leading up to next year’s World Cup. Fringe players will have to do with 20 minutes off the bench here and there and a starting berth in the odd dead rubber.

That is your best chance of winning, Rassie. You’re right, people want to see you winning every week because they are growing seriously tired of losing.