The Springboks' planning for the opening four matches of the international season made a satisfactory start, said Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus after the victory over the Barbarians at a rain-swept DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.
Erasmus said that the selection for the opening phase of the season had been decided some time ago as he looked forward to the Castle Lager Incoming Series against Italy (two Tests) and Georgia. The Boks beat the BaaBaas by 54-7.
“We won’t get carried away with this performance,” said Erasmus.
“Certainly, some of the newer guys showed us that they can do it at this level, but we’ll layer them in.
“We know who is going to play in Italy one and two, and certainly by the end of the Georgia game, which will be a grind, we’ll have a group of 45, 50 that have had some game time.”
The Springboks scored eight tries to one as they opened their season in a match played in rain that intermittently swept across the stadium.
“We came in here to be bold and positive and not let the conditions affect us and keep the ball in hand and I thought we looked dangerous on turnover ball,” said Jesse Kriel, who led the side in the absence of the injured Siya Kolisi, who withdrew on the eve of the match.
“I thought we looked dangerous when we got the ball into guys like Aphelele Fassi, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe’s hands. They’re special rugby players, they can make something out of nothing, and we saw that today.”
Erasmus said that the team were looking forward to the drier conditions that can be expected in Pretoria on Saturday in the first Test against Italy.
“Some of the half gaps and some of the line breaks we made would have stuck if the weather had been drier” he said. “We can’t wait to play on a dry pitch and improve on our attack.
“We want to get better, the next three matches we’ll be trying to focus on us before we hit the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.”
Erasmus deployed inside centre Andre Esterhuizen as a replacement loose forward in what he described as a new hybrid role, which had been in the planning for some months.
“You can have two ways of looking at it,” said Erasmus. “You can have a forward covering a back position like Kwagga Smith covering wing, and you can have a back covering a forward position, like Andre covering flanker.
“You can call him a hybrid player, but he is a backline player who can also play in the forwards now. He has been training with both the forwards and the backs, and I must say Felix Jones handles his load very well in how much he does with the forwards and how much he does with the backs.
“We started chatting to him about it five months ago, but he is a backline player who can also play forward.”
Erasmus also praised the form of Lood de Jager, making a long-awaited return at lock: “The condition that he had was almost career-ending, but when we did the fitness testing three weeks ago, he was exceptional.
“His body might be 32 or 33, but he has had some two or three years ‘rest’ in the last couple of years, and I think that showed. I also thought Jean Kleyn went deep into the game very well. We’re very glad Lood came through it, and we have some nice depth at lock now.
“Overall, it was a satisfying performance. It was a good hit out, but now the test matches start next week.”