Springboks CANNOT Afford To Lose Their AURA | Chris Jones On Rassie's ASTOUNDING Depth Ahead Of Tour

Chris Jones, Times, Times Online, rugbypass.com. Two rounds done at the Nations Championship, as well you know.

And I'm looking for your thoughts, Chris, on what you saw over the weekend.

Rankings right now.

Who is the best team in world rugby? Well, we know that, but I suppose between two and five there can be arguments.

I want to start with South Africa again.

It's not that far away.

It's only a few weeks now before the rivalry tour begins, and the All Blacks facing such a tough ask over there.

46 missed tackles, 12 line breaks.

That's the stat that just comes screaming out of the page at you.

But from what you saw, what did your eyes tell you about that game against Scotland?

It told me that they'd made 10 changes, uh, and, uh, you can imagine that now they've made 10 changes again for Wales.

Uh, there is some kind of thought behind this, even though it's coming out of Rassie's very unique brain.

I get the distinct impression this, that, that, that for South Africa, this Rugby Championship campaign is purely a warm-up for your test series with them, and that he's trying out the, the few bits he hasn't tried out before now to be in a situation where he knows exactly what his, uh, his first, second, third, uh, number 10s, for example, are.

Uh, uh, his wingers.

H- his endless numbers of locks.

Uh, because if you look at that list of, of injured players currently not available, they're some of the biggest names in world rugby.

Now, when you're playing the number of tests against the All Blacks that they will be playing, it's the same for you guys, and I hope you're going to take a massive squad with you, is that the number of injuries are going to pile up.

And so you are going to rely on people, uh, who only have, as, as, as you saw, you know, 12 of that team against Scotland only had 10 caps.

So phew, it's just, that is a really, really big gamble against a Scotland team that performed really well, despite having made the journey that Wales, uh, make.

You know, you fly over to Argentina and you fly into, uh, South Africa.

That takes a toll in itself.

And so Scotland were rightly pleased with the way they performed, but it was their best team.

So, you know, it's the best team against second-stroke third South African team.

So these, these are all aspects you've got to take into it.

But, uh, you know, he's picked a new outside half again, uh, Moyo, for, uh, for, for the Welsh game.