Eben Etzebeth bomb squad: “You only have to play 45 minutes,” Erasmus told him
Eben Etzebeth has revealed how Rassie Erasmus first told him the Springboks were taking the bomb squad to its most extreme form yet — a 7-1 bench split — before their record 35-7 win over New Zealand at Twickenham in August 2023. The story lands three days before the sides meet again in the first Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Speaking on The Fan Van, the road-trip series on the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict YouTube channel, the 141-cap Sharks second row said he found out almost by accident. He had missed South Africa’s Wales warm-up and was working his way back to fitness when Erasmus stopped him in a gym foyer — not in a team meeting, not on a whiteboard.
“That Sunday I went to the gym and he was sitting there in the foyer, and I walked past him. He’s like, ‘Are you ready this weekend?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, coach.’ And he said, ‘Okay, good — because you only kind of have to play about 45 minutes, because we’re thinking of going 7-1.’ I just shook my head and laughed.”
Etzebeth wasn’t fazed. “I was so happy to hear it, because obviously the 6-2 was a big thing, and then we went 7-1, and I was like, this guy’s just different,” he said. “I’m so excited, because you can just go balls to the wall for 45 minutes and then you come off and the next guy does the job.”
The night the bomb squad was born
That August 2023 night at Twickenham was the first time Erasmus actually used it: seven forwards and one back on the bench. It worked. A 14-0 half-time lead became a 35-7 win — then a record margin over the All Blacks — a fortnight before the Springboks left for the World Cup they went on to win.
Etzebeth rates it above almost everything else he’s done against New Zealand. “There’s a couple — obviously winning the World Cup in 2023 — but I’m going to have to say the game before the World Cup, at Twickenham,” he said. “They’ve handed me some embarrassments
