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29th May 2021
05:12pm BST

"I hope it's not our close [in-house] media that did it," Erasmus joked.
"Jacques and I were talking about the squad. We studied it and, hell, that's fast loose forwards, man. And it's explosive loose forwards. "I'm not sure if Courtney Lawes will back up flank/lock. I know Tadhg Beirne. I signed Tadhg for Munster, from the Scarlets. I know what he can do, in both. Then you look at the other loose forwards and, hell, the whole pack - the props are mobile and fast. "It's interesting the way he Gatland selected that squad. It’s almost a team that can play at the high veldt in winter at altitude. Those boys can move, and Simmonds specifically. He has made his mark, not from nowhere but he just stamped his authority and the way he was playing for Exeter, he was tough to ignore. I don’t know the selection policy but it looks like a really good pack to me."Nienaber, who took over from Erasmus as Springboks head coach after the successful 2019 World Cup campaign, added, "“If you look at Sam, it is well documented in terms of he is just improving his try-scoring record currently in the Premiership. "I guess Warren went with guys who are on form because of both of them [Simmonds and Watson]. And the hobbit one, I don’t know where that came from."
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