Rassie Erasmus said there is plenty of cover for four injured players from his winning team, but he may call on Neethling Fouché.
The Springboks departed South Africa on Sunday with the same group who secured their thumping 67-30 win against Argentina in Durban on Saturday, with coach Rassie Erasmus saying they may only add Neethling Fouché to their 33-man squad, should Thomas du Toit’s ankle injury be severe.
If scans prove unfavourable for the recently injured Damian Willemse (hamstring), Cheslin Kolbe (shoulder), and Ethan Hooker (ankle), Erasmus said he would replace them with players already in the squad.
The Bok coach said despite the nine-try thrashing, and the Boks now topping the Rugby Championship log, if they didn’t beat Argentina again in Twickenham on Saturday, it could be “just another Rugby Championship”.
‘We still have to win’
“We’ve won nothing yet in the Rugby Championship,” said Erasmus though the Springboks lead the table with 15 points, ahead of New Zealand (14), Australia (11) and Argentina (nine) going into the final round next weekend.
“I know we are ahead on the log but you know how tough these Argentinian mindsets are. So we still have to win next week.”
The Springboks were especially good in the second-half at Kings Park, tightening up their errors and scoring six tries.
Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was sensational with three tries (one from a kick-and-chase and two from finding gaps) and slotting 10 kicks out of 11. His individual 37 points were a Springbok record while he also created Kolbe’s redeeming try with a cross-kick to the wing.
It made up for Kolbe’s “brain fart”, Erasmus said, after the wing unintentionally performed a goal-line dropout, in trying to get the ball to one of his kickers, which Argentina scored a try from while the Springboks were walking back to their line.
“We really didn’t try and open it up from the beginning,” said Erasmus, adding that New Zealand’s win over Australia showed them they were right planning to grind the Test out against Argentina, as showed in the penalty kicks they took early on.
“We just wanted a win, we knew we could always try get five points next week.”
Springboks may call on one player outside of squad
But after the Boks found momentum they took it, and now Erasmus has shown faith in the same group despite some injuries.
Firstly, Erasmus said Boan Venter and Marco van Staden operated well with the late injury to Ox Nche.
Secondly, he probably wouldn’t look outside his squad for the recently injured. He said Makazole Mapimpi, Handré Pollard, Grant Williams, Vincent Koch and Nche would likely be available next week, slotting in as either straight replacements or via rotational changes such as Williams shifting to wing.
But if needed, he could call on tighthead prop Neethling Fouché for Du Toit. Fouché has only played two games for the Boks – coming off the bench against the Barbarians in June and starting against Georgia in July.
The Springboks also have the scrum star Wilco Louw and Vincent Koch to cover tighthead.
