Rassie Erasmus, the Springbok coach, said he is reconsidering his planned selections for next week’s second Test against Italy in Gqeberha after being left frustrated by his team’s underwhelming 42-24 win in Pretoria. Erasmus had initially planned to rotate as many as 13 or 14 players into the lineup, but after the performance, he indicated that some of those plans might change. He emphasized that while those players would not be discarded, some might move to the bench, and standout performers from the first Test could start again. Erasmus stated:
“Internally, we’ve announced that 13, 14 players that will definitely get a run next week, and that we’d build the bench or starting line-up around those guys. We won’t discard those guys but some of them might move to the bench, some of the real standout players who played today might start again. The make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us… We have to make sure that the team that we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes, it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.”
Erasmus described the performance as “frustrating” and “disappointing,” noting that Italy’s young and passionate side exposed several areas of concern for the Boks. He concluded that the selection for next week is now “interesting” and will be adjusted to ensure a more complete performance over the full 80 minutes