The plan behind Rassie Erasmus’ 12 changes and 5/3 bench split for England

Fresh from the 32-17 win over Scotland in Edinburgh this past Sunday, in what was the first game of the end-of-the-season tour, lock Eben Etzebeth, prop Ox Nche and hooker Bongi Mbonambi are the only players to have kept their place in the starting line-up.

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Erasmus says this has been part of their plan for this tour.

''The thinking was done three weeks ago, prior to us getting into the plane. We have been rotating the whole year, trying to create depth and quality in our depth and also caps experience so that if we get two or three injuries then the third guy is not totally new to the system and knows our system. We are also trying to get versatile players who can play more than one possible,'' said Erasmus.

Speaking comfortably from the training base in Teddington, just a stone's throw away from the Thames River, Erasmus also revealed why the world champions have returned to the five-three forwards and backs split following the much talked about seven-one split last weekend.

''I'm talking under correction here, but I think out of all the teams - England is the only team that does not have the six day turnaround and our six day turnaround is in the England week. For us to make sure that we can handle their kicking game, which seems to be something they fall back on an their defense will have a heavy toll on our back and that why we went with the five-three split and hopefully our forwards are fresh from not playing them 80 minutes, so that was the thinking,'' added Erasmus.

Bulls tight head prop Wilco Louw is also returning to the Boks starting line-up for the first time in more than three years.

Having come into the team as an injury replacement, Erasmus says this is part of the plan to give a lot of players a chance and see what they have to offer.

''I think again, if you look at what we are trying to do there without making the Springbok jersey cheap, we always know when a player plays there. Hopefully it can not just be a one test match or two test match, I know he's got eight to ten or something like that already. But, if you look, Frans is not a lighty anymore - is not young anymore, we are really trying to prolong some guys' careers to see who can make it to the next World Cup, and that we will have to rorate. Now we have the opportunity to see what Wilco has and we thought this could be a good game for him to get a chance'' he expressed.

In the last two matches, England have also found the going tough in the last quarter, especially in the last game against Australia, where they battled to manage the game in the last five minutes, resulting in a 42-37 loss. But Erasmus was more diplomatic when looking at this situation.