mens
nations-championship
South Africa Head coach Rassie Erasmus played down concerns about his team’s age, saying it was a drum “everyone likes to beat”.
Erasmus named the Springbok squad to face off Italy in Turin on Saturday with 12 players over the age of 30 and believes the age of his squad is what “people are starting to talk about” rather than the results the world No 1 continues to produce.
Yet it has emerged as one of the main talking points surrounding the Springboks’ bid to secure a third consecutive World Cup title in a year’s time.
Speaking to the media this week, Erasmus appeared well-prepared to address such questions about the age of his players, pointing out that only a few changes to his squad are needed to bring down the average age of the squad.
Moreover, he emphasized that as long as the older players from his team continue to perform, he cannot leave them out.
“Everyone likes to beat the drum because the team is getting older,” said the two-time World Cup-winning boss.
“Unbelievable. It’s heart-warming when people from South Africa talk about whether the team is too old? The team that played five weeks ago against New Zealand he had an average age of 32, the team playing this weekend has an average of 29. So that’s two or three changes in the team, and that’s why I enjoy the South African fans so much.
“If you go with Krappies (Morne van den Berg) and Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu), and you go with Ethan (Hooker) and Canan (Moodie) and Kurt-Lee (Arendse) and Sebastian (de Klerk) and you go with Damian (Willemse), that team is 27 or 28.
“If you go with Cameron (Hanek), and you just make a few changes with Emmanuel (Tshituka) and Ruan (Nortje) and you go with Cobus Wiese, that team has 27.
“People are starting to talk not so much about our results and where we’re at, they’re talking about how long this team can go. And that’s been an interesting thing. It’s been hard to make sure we keep winning, but also bleeding some young guys. But we never quit young team there.
“I don’t know if it frustrates people, but it’s certainly slowly evolving and we know the players are getting older, but as long as they’re performing. I feel the older players have done that. Jesse (Kriel) continues to perform. Damian (de Allende) continues to perform. So you can’t not pick them.”