It’s said a lot that test rugby is a 23-man/woman game now. Which is
true. But no other country has really embraced that to the extent South Africa has. Rassie Erasmus has an almost NFL-like approach, having (nearly) two teams: The starters and the “Bomb Squad”.
The All Blacks have had much-vaunted benches before – the 2015 World Cup squad, for example, where Steve Hansen could call on the likes of Beauden Barrett and Sonny Bill Williams (both with more than 30 test caps at that point) – as well as the veteran hand of Keven Mealamu among others.
But the cycle of players moving overseas has meant that building the bench in recent years has been stunted compared with what the All Blacks were able to unleash nine years ago. The bench was badly lacking at Ellis Park, as South Africa’s substitutes took control.
A question ...
The unanswered question is whether Stephen Perofeta had been fit for the first test, would they have retained Beauden Barrett in the finishing role he did with such aplomb in the first two tests against England with Perofeta opening for the first 50 minutes? That selection seemed to suggest a nod to needing more in the final 30 – and they got it from Barrett, whose form against England became irresistible and he was put back into the starting side for Fiji and beyond.
Perhaps the mistake all along was thinking that the exceptional efforts warranted a start rather than instead thinking that that was the bench working exactly as it should, changing the game in the final half hour and creating the impact needed to push the All Blacks to victory.
An observation ...
Rassie Erasmus has built his bench over several seasons and could call on 286 caps of experience last week to the All Blacks’ 188 (most of those between Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Anton Lienert-Brown). But experience is one thing, the major move Erasmus has also made is the tricky task of convincing players like Malcolm Marx – who has a claim to being the best hooker in the world on his day – that the role of a finisher is just as important, if not more than a starter.
A suggestion ...
It goes against everything you’ve been told to this point as a rugby player that your approximate 30 minutes of game time is just as valuable as the blokes wearing the run-on jerseys getting a bigger share of the minutes. It’s a mindset shift to be content with that to largely be your lot in test matches, but it’s worked.
Erasmus hasn’t necessarily reinvented the wheel – just tweaked it. It’s similar to what Australian cricketer Michael Bevan did in the 90s when he became largely a specialist finisher in ODI run chases, knowing his 40-odd (or more when needed) was just as vital as someone making a bigger innings at the top of the order.
For so long a starting jersey has been seen as the biggest thing you can attain, but give the bench a funky nickname (the “Bomb Squad”) and jerseys 16-23 take on extra importance and a-team-within-a-team mentality.
A prediction ...
Scott Robertson indicated a few weeks ago that sometimes the bench are the first names on the team sheet. But he can’t magic up 100 more caps of experience (not without tweaking the eligibility laws, anyway) this year. You can’t teach that. But you can build it. And that is where Robertson needs to lead.
Springboks v All Blacks: Follow the match at nzherald.co.nz, and tune in for live commentary on Newstalk ZB, GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio
