Despite a strong performance against Argentina on Saturday evening, which should put Springbok eighthman Cameron Hanekom firmly in the picture for the opening Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test, head coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed Jasper Wiese’s status as the premier No 8.
Hanekom led the physical charge of the world champions in Buenos Aires, and his carries over the gain line and ferocious tackling helped lay the platform for the 17-10 victory. He was forced off with a knock late in the clash, but up until then, the youngster grabbed his chance of a rare start with both hands.
The Ceres-born loose forward also scored the try that sealed the game for the Boks, and he will hope that he’s done enough to make him part of the match-day conversation ahead of the opening Test at Ellis Park on August 22.
While Erasmus praised the performance of the loosie, alongside several other returning players like locks Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth, centre André Esterhuizen and Morné van den Berg, he emphasised that Wiese remains in the pound seat for the Springboks.
“Jasper Wiese is our clear number one No 8,” Erasmus said.
“Cameron really played well against an Argentinean side that knocked us over a few times. So, now we have another option there. Elrigh (Louw) also did well at stages, while we have Pieter-Steph (du Toit) and Paul (de Villiers) and Siya (Kolisi) is coming back. André (Esterhuizen) can play at eight for us, Marco van Staden as well.
“It is lekker to have those options and we will try to pick the 23 that we think can beat New Zealand hopefully. However, Cameron is starting to settle nicely into the team and he is calm and understands what we want to do. He is getting better with every game.”
The Springboks are blessed when it comes to their loose forward stocks, and it will be a tricky balance on who to select and who to leave out.
Another position in the forwards Erasmus and his assistant coaches will be happy about is lock. Yes, they were thin in that department on tour, but Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager came through unscathed in the bruising clash. That bodes well for the NZ series.
“Lood was really physical in the first 25 to 30 minutes, but then the pace of the game got to him because he hasn’t played in almost a year. Eben playing for 80 minutes, I thought we saw the old Eben again; he was physical, he carried the ball strongly and defended well. Siya played 20 minutes and was really dynamic with his carries and cleanouts.
“It was really windy and blustery, so it was difficult to control the box kicks for Krappies (Morné van den Berg). Sacha was also back after a long absence and he wasn’t as accurate with his things and you could see he got tired. Canan (Moodie) and Ethan (Hooker) also came through well.”
