Erasmus flags four Springbok injury doubts after South Africa demolish England 45-21

Rassie Erasmus has flagged a four-man injury concern after South Africa swept England aside 45-21 in the Nations Championship at Ellis Park, with the Springboks already having lost captain Siya Kolisi and lock Eben Etzebeth before kick-off.

Kolisi was ruled out with a hamstring issue and Etzebeth withdrawn following a head knock on the eve of the match, handing prop Paul de Villiers a debut and Cameron Hanekom a rare start. Despite those disruptions, South Africa ran in seven tries in a commanding victory — only to emerge with fresh concerns over tighthead Ox Nche, who came off early with a knee problem and is likely to miss next weekend’s clash with Scotland, and centre Andre Esterhuizen, who was replaced after taking a blow to the neck in a tackle.

Etzebeth and Kolisi will continue to be monitored ahead of the Scotland fixture, leaving Erasmus managing a growing casualty list with the Rugby World Cup less than a year away.

The Springboks coach, however, drew a positive from the enforced reshuffling, noting that the changes dropped the team’s average age from 31 to 27 and gave fringe players valuable Test minutes.

“Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to slot players in and out,” Erasmus said. “It’s tough not to play Siya when Paul is coming through and Marco [van Staden] is coming through, and you ask yourself where are you going to play them. But we have a saying — ‘it will come to us’. We believe in that, but certainly we have to make big calls this year to be 100 per cent sure when we go into the World Cup next year that we’ve tested our depth, and today destiny took charge of that and it worked out the right way.”

Erasmus also acknowledged a nervy half-time moment after South Africa’s 17-0 lead was cut to 17-14 by the break, with the coach admitting the dressing room was haunted by memories of last year’s collapse against Australia at the same ground.

“We did have flashbacks to last year,” he said. “It’s easy to say after you win that you learn from mistakes, but the chat at half-time was definitely: ‘boys, we’ve been here before and we know how it feels if we don’t rectify things in the second half.’” The Springboks responded emphatically, pulling clear in the second half to record a final margin of 24 points.

Pieter-Steph du Toit captained the side in Kolisi’s absence and was deployed at lock — a position he has not filled for some time — adding to the list of improvisations Erasmus will reflect on as he plots South Africa’s World Cup preparations.