Springboks v Portugal: Ranking the 7 debutants as 'magnificent ...

Following the Springboks’ 64-21 victory over Portugal in Bloemfontein, we ranked the seven debutants’ performances from worst to best.

It was a historic day for the two nations as South Africa and Os Lobos faced off for the very first time with Erasmus opting to blood several young players into international rugby.

The move certainly paid off despite the early red card to Andre Esterhuizen with all seven debutants enjoying fine outings.

The Springboks head coach was rather pleased by all the newbies’ outing stating in his post-match presser that it has made his squad selection talks for the Rugby Championship ‘interesting’.

We take a look at the debutants and rank them from worst to best.

Taking the tag as the ‘worst debutant’ is Lions’ outside back Quan Horn and really it is a mark as to how well the new caps performed against Portugal.

Horn was not bad in the slightest but what really counts against him in this case was his gaffe where he tackled the Portugal winger in the air and was rightly sent to the sin bin.

Putting that aside, the classy back looked at home in Test rugby and launched some wonderful counter-attacks from kick receipts. He was also one of the four debutants that crossed for a maiden Test try as he sped past the Os Lobos defence after a lovely through-the-legs pass from his club-mate Van den Berg.

The 23-year-old was fully deserving of his opportunity in the Green and Gold after a stunning season with the Lions and he will certainly add to his Test cap tally soon.

Next up is fellow Lion, Ruan Venter who also didn’t have a bad game in the slightest. The 21-year-old was somewhat of a surprise call up by Erasmus but certainly not underserving after displaying good form during the URC season before injury struck.

He got a healthy 20-odd minutes from the bench and was aggressive with every contact he made whether it be at the breakdown, on defence or with ball in hand.

Erasmus is clearly weighing up the options behind Pieter-Steph du Toit at blindside flanker and the future of the Bok second- row, and Venter is in the mix for both along with the brilliant Ben-Jason Dixon – who was unlucky not get the Man of the Match award.

Venter made just two tackles but the Boks weren’t asked to do much defending as they dominated possession while he also gained an impressive 20 metres from his five carries. He is another that we have not seen the last of in the Green and Gold jersey.

One of the two local boys making their debut in Bloemfontein, Andre-Hugo Venter followed in his father Andre Venter’s footsteps on Saturday as they became the 16th father-son combination to play for the Springboks.

Erasmus has made it quite clear that hooker is a position where the Springboks require some youth with Malcolm Marx now in his 30s and Bongi Mbonambi being 33 and Venter certainly gave a good account of himself against Os Lobos.

He found his jumper with every lineout throw and when he replaced Grobbelaar there was not a dip off in the power of the Springboks’ scrum – both huge positives in the coaching staff’s eyes. The 22-year-old also grabbed his maiden try in the Green and Gold jumper to cap off a stunning introduction into Test rugby while also gaining 20 metres from five carries.

Front-rowers usually have to bide their time in the club game before getting their shot at the international stage but Venter did not disappoint when he got his chance and while he may have to wait some time for his next opportunity, he will be back in Green and Gold.

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If you squinted your eyes on Saturday, you’d swear that Siya Kolisi was playing in the Springboks number six jumper again as Phepsi Buthelezi produced a powerful performance akin to that of the double World Cup-winning skipper.

Much has been made of the two flankers playing styles and it rang true once again in Bloemfontein as Buthelezi powered through his 58-minute performance thundering into rucks, hitting hard on defence and notched up his first Test try.

He gained over 27 metres with the ball in hand and looks to the manor born to replace Kolisi in the number six jumper in the years to come and right now is putting pressure on the Bok skipper.

Having not played a single match for the Bulls at loosehead prop this season there were major concerns around Jan-Hendrik Wessels starting in the number one Springboks’ jumper on Saturday.

However, he eased those concerns rather quickly with a strong scrummaging performance where he got the better of Portugal’s Diogo Ferreira. While he more than held his own at scrum time, the real area of the game where the Bulls’ utility front-rower shone was around the park as he flexed his impressive athleticism and pace for such a big man.

He was quick and accurate to the rucks and shone with ball in hand too gaining 17 metres from his six carries and completing two passes. Versatility is becoming increasingly important in international rugby and the Boks have a real gem on their hands in Wessels with his ability to seamlessly switch between prop and hooker.

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Much like Buthelezi, the Springboks look to have founded a like-for-like Faf de Klerk replacement in Lions’ scrum-half Morne van den Berg.

The Springboks coaches spoke glowingly about the pocket rocket number nine in recent weeks with the 26-year-old impressing in training and after replacing Cobus Reinach on Saturday, he delivered on the hype.

He combined well with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu from the second the pair stepped onto the pitch and hardly looked fussed by the occasion of making his Test debut in front of a jampacked crowd.

More often than not he made the correct decision on attack and kicked and passed well throughout his performance. He was rather unlucky about the ‘use it’ call that resulted in a scrum but other than that slight blemish it was a superb first cap which also saw him produce a moment of magic with a Carlos Spencer inspired through the legs pass to send Horn charging over the line.

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MORNE VAN DEN BERG ???? QUAN HORN #RSAvPOR pic.twitter.com/SIPiwfFK7E

— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) July 20, 2024

Of the seven debutants, hooker Johan Grobbelaar was arguably the most deserving of a first cap after several impressive seasons with the Bulls leading to training squad call-ups and until Saturday, never a debut.

But boy oh boy did Grobbelaar make up for lost time and show what he is capable of in the front-row for the Springboks. Marx and Mbonambi have set an incredibly high standard for the Bok number two jumper – something which has been built on after the stunning careers of Bismarck du Plessis, John Smit and so on – and the new addition to the great Bok hookers made his mark in Bloem.

The set-pieces ran superbly well throughout Grobbelaar’s first run out for the Boks while he replicated his Bulls form in the Green and Gold jersey with a brilliantly busy performance around the park hitting countless rucks, winning a turnover and a penalty, while also gaining 17 metres from his four carries and completing three passes and an offload. All-in-all it was a magnificent showing from the hooker.

Erasmus noted earlier this month that Grobbelaar is ‘clearly the third choice Bok hooker’ now but if he is able to build on this performance in the Rugby Championship, then perhaps he could well be a regular matchday 23 member.

He is bound to get a shot in the next game with Marx ruled out of the first Wallabies Test through injury. Either way, Erasmus has a wonderful headache on his hands.

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