Rassie Erasmus has moved to settle any nerves among his fringe players ahead of Saturday's test against Argentina in Buenos Aires, making clear that those on the periphery of his squad are already part of his Rugby's Greatest Rivalry plans.
While the test offers a platform for returning injury cases — Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Morne van den Berg, Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie among them — Erasmus was explicit that players such as Bulls loose forwards Cameron Hanekom and Elrigh Louw, and lock Cobus Wiese, are not auditioning for places.
"Those fringe guys don't need to play themselves into the squad — we'll definitely use them somewhere during the Greatest Rivalry," Erasmus said. "They might not play in the first test, or might play fifty minutes of it, depending on how Lood and Franco come through injury and form."
Erasmus framed the RGR tour's demands as the key driver behind his thinking. Four back-to-back tests against New Zealand across seven weeks, plus midweek matches, create an attrition rate he likened to a World Cup pool stage — and one he expects to be harder. "After pool matches teams always struggle to find enough fit locks, loose forwards and flyhalves," he said.
On the Argentina test itself, Erasmus was keen to shut down any suggestion the Boks are looking past Los Pumas. "If you're an Argentinian coach or player and you hear us talking about the All Blacks series in this press conference, it would be a slap in the face," he said. "They've given us our biggest hiding ever since we've coached this team — wanting to beat Argentina in Argentina is genuine, not stubborn."
He added that for both the returning stalwarts and the fringe players, the primary objective is identical: win the test and execute the team's tactical plan. "I don't think the margin of winning, if we do win, is the important thing," Erasmus said.