Rassie's days could be numbered
One of Springbok captain Bobby Skinstad's rivals, Rassie Erasmus, will not be in Port Elizabeth on Saturday to watch the rugby test against Italy.
Erasmus, along with the other non-playing Springboks - De Wet Barry, Gaffie du Toit, Dean Hall and Robbie Kempson - was allowed to go home. This after they were either dropped or injured.
Coach Harry Viljoen said Erasmus was being rested, but with the player not there, the coach averted a "situation" in a team littered with leaders, not all necessarily in support of Skinstad.
Erasmus could not be reached on Thursday, but there is increasing speculation on his future in the Springbok squad. He was off form against France and with Andre Venter back at flank and Andre Vos at No 6, Erasmus will have to dig deep to get a recall.
It's no secret that Erasmus does not see eye to eye with some team-mates. On the tour of Britain in 1998, Erasmus was one of those accused of maligning Skinstad.
With Erasmus on the sideline, the pressure is still on Skinstad to raise his own game and get a convincing win.
Punters have written off a win for Italy. Any sane person would do just that but Italy won't be push-overs.
They have two South African-born players in the 22: Lock Wim Visser and fullback John Antoni, who was born in Kenya, went to school with Trevor Halstead and was a student at the Rugby Institute in Stellenbosch.
Teams:
Springboks: Conrad Jantjes, Breyton Paulse, Robbie Fleck, Japie Mulder, Dean Hall, Percy Montgomery, Neil de Kock, Bobby Skinstad (captain), Andre Venter, Andre Vos, Mark Andrews, Johan Ackermann, Willie Meyer, John Smit, Ollie le Roux. Bench: Lukas van Biljon, Etienne Fynn, Victor Matfield, Corne Krige, Joost van der Westhuizen, Deon Kayser and Jaco van der Westhuyzen
Italy: John Antoni, Mazzimiliano Berziano, Luca Martin, Walter Pozzebon, Nicola Mazzavealo, Francesco Mazzariol, Alessandro Troncon, Carlo Checchinato, Aaron Persico, Fabio Ongaro, Mark Giacheli, Wim Visser, Andrea Muraro, Alessandro Moscardi (captain), Salvatore Perugini. Bench: Giampiero De Carli, Claudio Beltramini, Marco Bortolami, Andrea De Rossi, Phillipo Frati, Ramiro Pez and Giovanni Reineri
Referee: Joel Dume (France)
Kick-off: 5.10pm (live on M-Net)