{"id":88194,"date":"2025-08-23T21:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/88194\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T21:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:05:10","slug":"i-think-eben-will-also-be-very-unhappy-if-he-heard-what-you-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/88194\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I think Eben will also be very unhappy if he heard what you say’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rassie Erasmus was quick to underline the impact of his bench after South Africa\u2019s 30-22 win over Australia<\/a> but joked that talk of using Eben Etzebeth<\/a> as a replacement would not go down well with the Springbok enforcer himself.<\/p>\n

The Springboks led 20-7 late in the first half after tries from Canan Moodie<\/a> and Kwagga Smith<\/a>, but Australia again refused to fold. <\/p>\n

Max Jorgensen pounced on a loose ball to score early in the second half before Brandon Paenga-Amosa\u2019s 68th-minute maul try closed the gap to a single point. James O\u2019Connor\u2019s missed conversion kept South Africa<\/a> in front, and when the fly-half pushed two further penalties wide in the closing stages, the Springboks clung on for a hard-fought victory.<\/p>\n

\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\n

New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n

View Top 50<\/a><\/p>\n

\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\n

New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n

Given the impact of Etzebeth, Rassie was asked about potentially using him off the bench going forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s a difficult one to call because what he brings in lineout and the pressure he puts on the opposition nine when he\u2019s box kicking, you kind of lose that a little bit when he\u2019s on the field,\u201d Erasmus said. \u201cBecause Eben is probably one of the fittest guys in the team and he can go really long at the same pace, where maybe he can\u2019t do it as deep into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you know, and I think Eben will also be very unhappy if he heard what you say now \u2013 that we\u2019ve got to play him off the bench.\u201d<\/p>\n

Etzebeth\u2019s presence was one of several influential cameos. Erasmus praised his forward reinforcements for adding composure as much as force.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Ruan did well. I think Lood did well when he came on. I thought Kwagga, apart from giving one or two penalties away, was really energetic. And Marco, as always, is up there. It\u2019s a pity, you know, with Hendrik back for the next game it\u2019s going to be an interesting team selection. So we\u2019ll see how that balance of the bench will work out. But yeah, I think those guys definitely brought what we wanted \u2013 maybe not just force in everything, but maybe some calm, well-timed hits as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a 36-man squad set to be named for the trip to New Zealand, Erasmus admitted fitness checks could complicate his plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be announcing a 36-man squad tomorrow evening. A few guys must do scans. We started with 46 in camp and only 32 trained yesterday. Luckily we had the numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selection headaches are nothing new for the Boks, but after Etzebeth\u2019s impact and the collective lift off the bench, Erasmus faces a particularly intriguing balancing act.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully Sunday evening or Monday morning we can confirm the 36.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rassie Erasmus was quick to underline the impact of his bench after South Africa\u2019s 30-22 win over Australia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-88194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}