Erasmus to rethink Springbok selection

THE Springboks’ lacklustre performance in the first Test against Italy will have repercussions, with coach Rassie Erasmus stating that he will revisit his planned selection for this week’s second Test in Gqeberha.

- MIKE GREENAWAY

The Boks went into the Pretoria season-opener with high expectations after a promising warm-up against the Barbarians, but their 42-24 win was flawed. The Italians had left a core of stars at home, yet troubled the Boks in the line-outs and breakdowns, and were arguably the better side in the second half.

Last week, Erasmus said he had internally informed the players which of them would feature at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. But after several disappointing individual performances, the coach says he will revisit those plans.

“I guess it’s a positive that we scored six tries, but we're frustrated,’ the coach said.

“The buck stops with us coaches because we obviously did not prepare

the guys well enough. I didn’t see this performance coming. It is fixable, but it’s definitely frustrating”