Rassie Erasmus builds his perfect player using parts of 13 Springboks

Rassie Erasmus has named 13 different Springboks – eight forwards and five backs – after getting asked to build his perfect player. Featuring in episode seven of Rassie on Alles on the Springboks social media channels, the South Africa head coach gave a lengthy reply when invited to assemble his perfect player from the best parts of current Springboks players.

Frans Malherbe, Steven Kitshoff, Ox Nche, Kwagga Smith, Eben Etzebeth, Bongi Mbonambi, Malcolm Marx and Pieter-Steph du Toit were the forwards mentioned in his answer, with Manie Libbok, Willie le Roux, Handre Pollard, Cheslin Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi named as the backs.

Speaking on the clip, Erasmus said: “Build the perfect player? Yeah, the perfect player would probably be if you take the ‘I just do my job, trust me’ Frans Malherbe, and then a Kitshoff and an Ox with just pure power. The engine of Kwagga Smith.

“Manie’s confidence after making mistakes. Eben Etzebeth, everybody sees him just as this big lump of a man that demolishes guys, but there is so much thinking that goes on. The brain of Willie le Roux.

“Handre’s kicking game, and if you said, ‘Listen, I’ll lead the physicality’, then you will have a Bongi and a Malcolm. The feet of Cheslin Kolbe, the determination and the ‘I want to do it for South Africa’ of Mapimpi. You know Pieter-Steph’s commitment on physicality and skills.

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“As long as you are a warrior I will try and make the Springbok team work no matter what it costs, and I think I’ve left out so many names and all of these guys are warriors.”

This perfect player vignette was posted on social media in the build-up to South Africa’s second-round Rugby Championship encounter versus Australia in Perth this Saturday.

Having demolished the Wallabies in round one with a thumping 33-7 win on Brisbane, Erasmus named a Springboks team on Tuesday showing 10 changes to his starting XV. At the same time, he has also reconfigured his bomb squad, including just five forwards on the bench on this occasion rather than the now traditional six.

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