Steve Hansen has weighed in on Erasmus's rotation strategy, and his verdict is essentially that South Africa are executing the same squad-depth philosophy the great All Blacks sides pursued — deliberately using Test matches to blood players rather than waiting for an ideal moment. His framing is telling: the Boks aren't managing depth as a contingency, they're building it as a strategic asset, with the confidence that comes from having four or five world-class anchors around whom less-experienced players can develop.
The Scotland win is the proof of concept. The Boks started with just 429 caps against Scotland's 628, five forwards with fewer than 10 caps, and still won 42-28 in a ten-try game. Hansen's secondary observation cuts through the noise too — Scotland dominated possession and contact metres, but the stats were meaningless against a team that converts efficiently and doesn't need the ball for long. With four uncapped players now in the matchday 23 for Wales, including Vusi Moyo and Carlu Sadie, the experiment is accelerating. The full piece is worth reading for Hansen's detailed breakdown of what genuine squad depth actually requires.