Vusi Moyo's debut against Wales on Saturday made him the youngest player ever to wear the Springbok No 10 jersey — roughly six months younger than Patrick Lambie was on his debut — and Rassie Erasmus says the position has never been better stocked.
Moyo started the 43-0 win in Durban before being replaced by Manie Libbok in the 47th minute. Erasmus acknowledged visible nerves but was broadly satisfied with the 20-year-old's performance. "He definitely played well. You can see there were nerves. I don't know if other people would see that — however, that's normal," Erasmus said. "He is a really accurate kicker, he kicks off really well, but then you get into a Test match like this with a lot of people. When the ball is wet, and suddenly you don't kick it into the corners... and then after the first or second Test match you're tired because the pressure gets to you. I think he handled it extremely well."
Erasmus confirmed the swap was managed rather than forced: "You could see in the second half his tyres were getting pap, and that is when we made the swap."
The context for Moyo's selection was straightforward — both Handré Pollard and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu were unavailable, and Erasmus did not want to move Damian Willemse into the position. "We did not want to start Manie. At the end of the day, we had two flyhalves out, and we wanted to see Vusi as the next flyhalf."
Both Pollard and Feinberg-Mngomezulu are expected to be available for the Rugby Championship opener against Argentina in Buenos Aires on August 8. Erasmus confirmed Feinberg-Mngomezulu will feature against the Pumas, while Pollard has recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered against Scotland.
On the same day Moyo debuted in Durban, Yaqeen Ahmed was starring in the Junior World Cup final in Georgia, where the Junior Springboks beat France 16-5 to claim the title. Erasmus indicated Ahmed had been in his thinking for the Wales match before the Junior Boks' final run made that impossible. "We already felt so bad keeping Vusi here, and they couldn't play him in the final. Yaqeen is another wonderful player — we would have loved to have had him in the mix as well."
Erasmus confirmed a squad of 26 will travel to South America for the Argentina fixture, while a group of 15 to 16 players remains in South Africa with coaching staff to begin preparations for the Rugby Championship clashes against New Zealand.