Rassie Erasmus explains wildcard pick Quan Horn at flyhalf for Springboks

Even after nine seasons leading South African rugby, you never know what Rassie is cooking. The firebrand coach unexpectedly picked the Lions fullback and once-capped Bok in the ten channel, leaving fans and the production line of would-be Bok flyhalves scratching their heads. But a deeper look reveals method in the madness.

Horn was superlative for the Lions in the United Rugby Championship. He made ten clean breaks, beat 44 defenders and was ranked sixth in offloads. Off his hefty boot, he ranked first for 50/22s kicked and third in kicking metres. The 24-year-old also has an incredibly low error rate.

These numbers show that the Horne has the skillset required for a flyhalf and Erasmus recognises that. We also know how much the coach values versatility.

"We know he can play 15, but if he can play 10 and 15, hopefully that helps us with a 6-2 bench split in the future," he explained to the press.

"What he does for the Lions, maybe he doesn't have a 10 on his back, but he certainly comes into the mix a lot as first receiver.

"We really like the way he takes the ball to the line. He's an awesome defender, he's got a really great pass and he's not afraid if someone runs into that channel, and that's important for us."

But it's also needs must for the Boks. They are currently two pivots down with Handre Pollard in the URC final with the Bulls and Scha Feinberg Mngomezulu injured.

Added to that, Manie Libbok is coming off 14 Japan League D2 matches since December, where he went the full 80 minutes in most. Libbok was the top scorer in D2 with 165 points.

"Manie has played a lot of rugby in Japan recently and we want to manage him properly," revealed Erasmus.

"We must also see Handre get through the URC final without injury, while Sacha is currently injured.

"We learned our lessons. Last year, we played the Barbarians, or maybe it was Japan, and Ox Nche got injured. We probably didn't have to play him because he was already match fit.

"Then Jan-Hendrik Wessels got suspended and eventually we had to go with Boan Venter and Gerhard Steenekamp, who did really well. We're trying to avoid that situation with Manie."