Morgan Bolton
There was an audible gasp from the Loftus Versfeld faithful on Saturday night when Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus rang the changes in the second half.
With 30 minutes left to play and the Boks leading by the now-infamous 13-8 scoreline the margin of defeat suffered to the Irish at the Rugby World Cup last year the coach made the call and substituted his entire starting tight five, and his captain.
In one decisive action, the Bok coach replaced Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert and Siya Kolisi for Gerhard Steenekamp, Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch, Salmaan Moerat, RG Snyman and Marco van Staden. Some 16 minutes later, the combined arms of the new pack ravaged their Ireland counterparts, shoving their opponents into oblivion in one of the most beautiful sights in rugby to record a penalty try that secured the 27-20 victory.
After the first Test, Erasmus explained the thinking behind the risky decision of unleashing the entire Bomb Squad in one go.
