{"id":89483,"date":"2025-09-10T17:33:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat"},"modified":"2025-09-10T17:48:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:48:53","slug":"erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat","title":{"rendered":"Erasmus Focuses on Squad Depth After All Blacks Defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The Springboks’ goal always is to win Test matches, but despite the bitter feeling of defeat in Saturday’s crunch clash with New Zealand at Eden Park, coach Rassie Erasmus is still determined to broaden his player base ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

South Africa’s 2019 and 2023 World Cup successes were built in large part on squad depth. Performances this year have been largely underwhelming, and on Saturday in Auckland when they lost 24-17, they were their own worst enemies with an error-strewn display.<\/p>\n

Erasmus has made seven personnel changes and two positional switches for Saturday’s second clash with the All Blacks in Wellington. He said these were not only in reaction to that disappointing showing, but also with the bigger picture in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been paradise if we\u2019d won last weekend and still made the changes we planned,\u201d Erasmus said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many players get the chance to face New Zealand away. After this game, the only other opportunity will be after the [2027] World Cup, so the idea was to win and also expose some guys to the pressure of facing the team ranked No 1 in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did not shy away from the poor performance but said it was not all down to the players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know a lot of players didn\u2019t perform well, and plenty of coaches, myself included, didn\u2019t coach well last week. One positive was how the game ended. The guys who came on brought energy and fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 15 minutes we were 14\u20140 down, but they [New Zealand] only scored another 10 points after that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still lost, and that\u2019s the bottom line, but the impact off the bench made me think about bringing in energetic players who haven\u2019t played here before.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main goal is to build squad depth. That means introducing youngsters alongside senior players, giving them opportunities at different venues and positions, and seeing how they develop under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key return is No 8 Jasper Wiese, who has completed a suspension he picked up for a red card against Italy in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Jasper back is a massive plus. He probably won\u2019t play the full 80 minutes, but it\u2019s great to have him in the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always been one of our standout players, and for a big Test match like this, we\u2019ll need him.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Springboks’ goal always is to win Test matches, but despite the bitter feeling of defeat in Saturday’s crunch clash with New Zealand at Eden Park, coach Rassie Erasmus is still determined to broaden his player base ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup. South Africa’s 2019 and 2023 World Cup successes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":89482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-89483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nErasmus Focuses on Squad Depth After All Blacks Defeat - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Springboks' goal always is to win Test matches, but despite the bitter feeling of defeat in Saturday's crunch clash ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Erasmus Focuses on Squad Depth After All Blacks Defeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Springboks' goal always is to win Test matches, but despite the bitter feeling of defeat in Saturday's crunch clash ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-10T17:33:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-10T17:48:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757513874.674943.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"846\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Erasmus Focuses on Squad Depth After All Blacks Defeat\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-10T17:33:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-10T17:48:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat\"},\"wordCount\":416,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757513874.674943.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/erasmus-focuses-on-squad-depth-after-all-blacks-defeat\",\"name\":\"Erasmus Focuses on Squad Depth After All Blacks Defeat - 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