SPringbok coach Rassie Erasmus has confirmed flyhalf Handre Pollard will be fit to travel to Baltimore for the finalt RGR Test.
Image: AFP
Rassie Erasmus has revealed that the Springboks will have several key players back in the mix when they share a charter flight with the All Blacks to Baltimore on Sunday for next week’s fourth and final Greatest Rivalry Test.
The unusual arrangement will see the two fierce rivals travel together to the United States, with Erasmus admitting with a smile that it will be a “bit weird”.
But the bigger news for the Springboks is that Damian Willemse, Handré Pollard, Grant Williams and Canan Moodie are all expected to be on board and available for selection for the potentially series-deciding clash.
Willemse, who left the field with a hamstring strain midway through the second Test in Cape Town, is expected to recover in time.
“Damian Willemse’s hamstring strain is not serious, so he should be on the plane to Baltimore,” Erasmus said.
“Handré, Grant and Canan will travel and be ready for selection next week.”
With the series level at 1-1, Erasmus believes squad depth and fresh legs could prove decisive as both teams enter the final stages of a gruelling campaign.
The Boks have already used 30 players in the first two Tests and could have called on their entire squad by the time the series reaches its climax.
“In the first two games we’ve used 30 players,” Erasmus said. “So it’s already a lot of guys that chopped and changed.
“I guess by the last game we would have used 36, and that’s almost our whole squad. There will be four players, I think, who will not get a run in this series.”
Erasmus also believes the Springboks could have an advantage in terms of freshness.
He said his analysis showed the All Blacks’ leading players had accumulated significantly more playing time since Dave Rennie took over ahead of the Nations Championship in July.
“I looked at the minutes the New Zealand players have played over the last six weeks and I looked at the minutes we played over the same period, and we’re probably, per man, 60 minutes less than them,” he said.
“So hopefully punch-drunk won’t come into this game.”
However, Erasmus knows the Boks will have to finish stronger than they did in the opening two Tests.
The Springboks surrendered momentum late in both matches, with discipline proving particularly costly.
“The penalty count in the last 20 minutes normally goes against us, and that’s something that sways the momentum a bit,” Erasmus said. “That’s mainly our fault.
“We got yellow cards in the first Test match and, again, the yellow card in the last eight minutes (of the second Test) when Lood de Jager went off.”
Despite those concerns, Erasmus is confident the Springboks have the resilience to survive the physical demands of the series.
He pointed to the 2023 World Cup, when South Africa won three consecutive knockout matches by a single point despite facing shorter turnarounds than their opponents.
“The teams that played against us had seven-day turnarounds and we had six-day turnarounds. We were flat, but we managed to pull it through, and in most of those games we picked back-to-back teams,” he said.
And Erasmus believes the current Greatest Rivalry series is following a familiar pattern.
“I’ve been involved with the Lions series in 2021 and way back in ’96 with the Springboks as a player, and the series only really gets really, really competitive when you start getting injuries in week three, four,” he said.
“Normally the decider is the fourth game.
“I know a lot of people said 4-0 and 3-1, but I thought it would always go down to the wire in the last game.”
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