RUGBY NEWS - Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus sits with a massive poser ahead of his team announcement this weekend for the upcoming tests against Wales and England.
Erasmus seems to have been robbed of one of his captaincy candidates in Warren Whiteley, who won’t be making his comeback this week for the Lions and remains on the sidelines for an undetermined time.
With Whiteley’s return in doubt, and the fact that he has not had any game time for almost three months now, Erasmus’ one clear candidate is on the sidelines, while a number of other injuries have made his job a lot more difficult.
Word from the camp is that the two teams will “dovetail” in that there will be six or seven players who will overlap between the two squads, while the majority of the team to face England in the first test will remain in South Africa while the rest head to the US.
But in terms of captaincy, there are a few options left for Erasmus, with no real candidate standing out at the moment.
The fact that Eben Etzebeth, who led the team last year, is still on the sidelines, further limits Erasmus’ options is one thing, but with the overseas test cap limit being discarded, a number of top players playing abroad could be brought back into action.
Duane Vermeulen is one natural candidate for the captaincy, especially in the lack of fellow contenders and the Toulon No 8 is known to be close to Erasmus, with the Bok coach plucking him from the Pumas when he was still coaching the Cheetahs.
