South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has revealed he is “saving” tighthead prop Thomas du Toit for their encounter with Ireland next week, giving Zachary Porthen “another chance” this week against Italy.
After starting against France in the Springboks’ 32-17 win, Bath’s du Toit has been rested for the trip to Turin, with 21-year-old Porthen wearing the No.3 jersey instead and Wilco Louw providing back-up from the bench.
Porthen will partner Boan Venter on the other side of the scrum, who was curiously substituted after only 30 minutes in Paris.
The Stormers tighthead made his debut against Japan at Wembley at the start of the Quilter Nations Series, but Erasmus conceded he “might struggle” against the Azzurri this weekend as he finds his way in Test rugby.
Then again, the head coach did add that they’ve “seen what he does against Gerhard [Steenekamp]” in training scrum sessions, which he believes are “harder than actual scrums in the game”.
Italy
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“Definitely we are saving Thomas [du Toit] a little bit for the Irish Test match, because we won’t have him after that when we play Wales because it’s outside the window,” Erasmus said after naming his team for this weekend.
“We felt Boan [Venter] is now on cap seven and he’s doing pretty well. Zach has played one match for us, but on the bench there is nice security in the two props who always play well together Gerhard [Steenekamp] and Wilco [Louw].
“Training can’t simulate match situations, but I think there’s certain areas like the scrums.
“Zach might struggle this weekend, we’re not sure. We’ve given him another chance because we’ve seen what he does against Gerhard at the scrum sessions. We try to make the scrum sessions during the week harder than actual scrums in the game. He’s getting better every week.”
