On the eve of their departure to Australia, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says the door is still open for axed Stormers No.8 Evan Roos to get game time in this year’s Rugby Champions.
The Springboks leave for Australia today, where they’ll face the Wallabies in two Rugby Championship Tests on August 10 in Brisbane and a week later in Perth.
Sadly for Roos, he will be watching those games at home after Erasmus opted for Bulls ace Elrigh Louw as an option at No.8 alongside Kwagga Smith, who is also not a specialist in the position.
The decision left fans bemused, especially as the Bok incumbent Jasper Wiese is still suspended for foul play.
Erasmus, however, explains that dropping Roos has nothing to do with Roos’s form and more to do with his plans of building squad depth.
Of the decision, Erasmus says: “Evan is not out of the mix.
“But Elrigh, we also want to experience him against big nations because he was always part of our plans. He certainly did take a dip in form [last year] and he’ll admit that.
“We know what Evan can do and he is not thrown away because we still have nine Test matches this year.
“It’s [about] building squad depth and Evan certainly did not have bad games and we know he is [already] comfortable within the Springbok setup. Now we want to see what Elrigh can do.”
