Rassie relishing Bok battle for URC crown

Rassie Erasmus says Saturday’s Vodacom URC final will showcase the development and opportunities for local and overseas players competing for Springbok selection.

The Croke Park showdown features 13 Bulls squad members called up to recent Bok alignment camps, while two-time world champion RG Snyman – a former Bull – starts in the second row for Leinster.

Erasmus named a 55-man Bok squad last week including uncapped Bulls utility forward Cobus Wiese, overseas-based hooker Marnus van der Merwe (Scarlets) and No 8 Juarno Augustus (Northampton). Eighteen of the players currently ply their trade in Europe and Japan.

Bulls director of rugby Jake White has questioned the number of overseas-based Boks and the impact on player depth in the Republic, and Erasmus addressed the matter on Thursday.

MORE: Jake likes to play down Bulls – Cullen

“If you look at the players that we’ve selected for the Springboks [from overseas], I think you’ll find very seldom that a player is younger than 26, 27,” Erasmus said during a Bok conference. “I think Jasper [Wiese in 2021] must have been one of the youngest players that we’ve picked from abroad, I think he was 24 or 25.

“When Juarno was actually called up now… yes, he was World Junior Player of the Year but that was 2017 or something like that. We don’t encourage a young player to go over there and think we’re going to pick you from there.

“I think if you go through our list, there’s very few young players that actually get picked from there.”

The two-time World Cup-winning tactician highlighted how player movement creates opportunities for emerging talent, citing Wiese and Bulls skipper Ruan Nortje as beneficiaries of Snyman’s departure to Munster in 2019.

“If you just look at the Bulls team this weekend, there’s at least 13 Springboks playing. When Northampton beat Leinster [in the Champions Cup semi-finals], there were not a lot of English players in there,” Erasmus said.

“The Bulls can beat Leinster this weekend; is it then a bad thing if Ruan came through because RG and Lood [de Jager] are not playing there? Ruan showed us what he can do, and Cobus Wiese is there.

ALSO: Bulls aim to turn SA fans into URC diehards

“If you look from the other side of the coin, and for example the Bulls: is Kurt-Lee [Arendse] from Pretoria? Who are the Bulls players who are actually from Pretoria? Doesn’t that really take a lot from the Stormers team?

“It would be fantastic to see all of those Springboks and other guys [win the URC]… Sebastian [de Klerk] is knocking really hard on the door so then there’s another few Springboks in the making for us,” he added.

“So it’s not an argument, it’s just a different way of looking at things.”

Jesse Kriel, two-time World Cup winner with 79 caps currently playing in Japan, emphasised the benefits of overseas experience.

“If you look at a coach like Jake, he’s also coached in Japan for five years,” the Bok centre said. “He’s coached over in France for another couple of years, which probably made him a better coach.

“From my personal point of view, and I know a lot of the other guys share similar thinking processes, when you go over there you play with Fijians, Tongans, New Zealanders, Australians, Welsh guys, English guys and you learn different things from everyone.

“Being over in Japan is a lot less distractions than being back in South Africa. The guys that come back from overseas always come back into camp pretty focused and willing to work hard.”

Photo: Shaun Roy/Sportsfile via Getty Images