Erasmus admits indecision drove last-minute front-row switch as Springboks fall to France

Rassie Erasmus has admitted that indecision, rather than a specific tactical calculation, drove his decision to swap the Springboks’ starting and reserve front rows moments before Friday night’s Test against France in Paris — a match South Africa ultimately lost 21-19.

The late reshuffle moved Gerhard Steenekamp, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Thomas du Toit into the starting XV after all three had originally been named on the bench. The trio were then replaced before half-time by the men initially selected to start: Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw.

“We announced our team on Monday, but then we thought maybe we had to change something,” Erasmus said in his post-match press conference. “We waited until the captain’s run on Thursday to decide and even then, we were not sure if we should, but we decided shortly before the game, and it was mainly with testing that combination with the Rugby World Cup next year in mind.”

It is not the first time Erasmus has made a front-row change at the last moment. He did the same ahead of the Test against the All Blacks in Cape Town, where his reasoning centred on dry conditions favouring a lighter front row.

Despite the defeat, the Springbok scrum generated significant pressure throughout the match. France conceded 14 penalties in total, with the front row responsible for 10 of them. Reserve prop Regis Montagne gave away four penalties alone and spent 10 minutes in the sin bin as a result. South Africa scored two tries from lineout drives — one each to Wessels and Marx — but could not convert their set-piece dominance into a winning margin.

“France played really well and we didn’t, so I can’t find a lot of excuses,” Erasmus said. “They took their opportunities when they got them and we didn’t.”

The Springbok coach was candid about the moments that cost his side. “It’s probably a cliché, but I definitely think we had enough opportunities and there were simple tries we could have scored with one last pass, and perhaps one or two wrong decisions, such as not kicking for the corner and rather expecting the referee to give four penalties in a row,” he added. “In front of a crowd like this you might feel you have dominance, but it’s just human not to keep on penalising the home team if they’ve already got a card or two. But in the end, it comes down to the fact that they played well, and we didn’t.”