Rassie Erasmus has explained his decision to recall the famed ‘Nuclear Squad’ after naming seven forwards on the Springbok bench to face Scotland on Sunday.
Erasmus opted for a split of seven forwards and one back on the wood for the November tour opener at Murrayfield, and made 11 changes to the starting team that beat Argentina in their closing Rugby Championship clash in Nelspruit in September.
TEAM: New-look Boks unleash Nuke Squad
The Boks boast a heavy bench with the front row of Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch and Gerhard Steenekamp, RG Snyman providing lock cover and Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese set to give the back row a boost.
Grant Williams, who provides cover at scrumhalf and wing, is the only backline player among the replacements.
Eben Etzebeth will captain the team, fresh from his record-breaking appearance at the Mbombela Stadium.
It is the first time this year that Erasmus has reverted to the tactic that helped the Springboks edge the All Blacks in the World Cup final in Paris last year.
The Bok coach confirmed that he aimed to mitigate a short week, given the Boks are set to tackle England at Twickenham on Saturday next week.
“To give a bit of context to it, it gives us a bit of an edge, with a bit of risk,” Erasmus explained.
“We know that we are playing England in six days. With this, we’re hoping that our forwards won’t be flat when they play against England. Each pack can play in each half, so that helps with the six-day turnaround.
“Kwagga is playing his 50th Test. Whenever somebody is playing on a special occasion, we try to make it special for them,” he added.
“When we decided to start him, we also decided to give a bunch of other players a start, with an eye on the future. We know what the guys playing off the bench can do.
“Eben is naturally our captain because Siya is playing from the bench.”
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
