Rassie Erasmus has acknowledged the opportunity for lock Ruben van Heerden to stake his claim for Test recognition when the Springboks and Barbarians clash on Saturday, reports DEVIN HERMANUS.
Overlooked by Erasmus to face the Baa Baas, Italy and Georgia over the coming weeks, the uncapped Van Heerden is set to partner SA-born England skyscraper David Ribbans in the second row against the world champions at Cape Town Stadium.
This, despite the Stormers star being named the Vodacom URC’s Tackle Machine for 2024-25 after recording a league-leading 98% tackle success rate from 171 attempts during the regular season.
Erasmus, though, sees Van Heerden’s Baa Baas selection as perfect motivation for the 27-year-old, while recognising his threat to the Boks in their opening match of 2025.
Look, [Van Heerden] tackles like a machine, that we know, so he’ll be all over us. It will be interesting,” the Bok boss told reporters on Tuesday.
“He’s been at an alignment camp last year with us, so we probably have to do our lineout calls in a bit of a huddle before we get there. We obviously trust him not to tell them our calls. The other lock is also South African…
That team, if they get allowed to play the way they want – their thing is to play without pressure and entertain. Now, that can really backfire against you; I coached there.
“But what an opportunity for Ruben, because he’s been close to the squad but he’s never really got a look-in. So, he would love to play his socks off and show us, which is fantastic.”
The Barbarians squad features 18 players with Test experience, including retiring legends Peter O’Mahony and Cian Healy. Erasmus stressed the broader challenge posed by Robbie Deans’ lineup featuring All Blacks Sam Cane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Mark Telea
A few guys in the squad are retiring; lots of old heads. That’s why we’ve got some of the players with the big amount of caps, helping the guys who are younger in the critical positions,” he said.
“We won’t just focus on him [Van Heerden] because there’s so many great players, but he’ll know a lot of our stuff and yeah, he’s a machine on tackling.”
Bok loose forward Vincent Tshituka, meanwhile, is focused on himself rather than his formidable and well-known rivals.
“If I can be truly honest, I haven’t even got to think about them yet. My mind hasn’t even thought about the opposition and how they’re feeling just yet because I still have to take in what I’m feeling,” said Tshituka, who starts on debut in a seasoned forward pack.
“All respect to them but for me, my moment is where I want to be present and keep my focus For them it’s obviously going to be emotional. It’s a big game at this level, and towards the back end of their careers. I’m focused on getting over the emotion of the day and then just getting to work.”
