Former Springboks boss Nick Mallett believes a Greatest Rivalry series lesson is behind Rassie Erasmus’ decision to go full metal jacket against Italy.

With bigger Nations Championship games awaiting South Africa in the following weeks away to France and Ireland, the temptation existed for the head coach to rotate his team for this Saturday’s clash with the Azzurri and give an opportunity to some of the six uncapped players in his 37-strong squad.

However, he has steered clear of including fresh faces for the November opener in Turin and Mallett has suggested the reason can be found in the recent series victory over the All Blacks.

The Springboks eventually celebrated a 3-1 success against their arch southern hemisphere rivals, but the tour didn’t start as they would have liked as they were beaten in the opening Test in Johannesburg.

‘We’re sort of preparing a 23 for four games in a row…”

That loss, reckons Mallett, is the explanation as to why Erasmus has chosen his strongest possible team to tackle the Italians, even though Gonzalo Quesada’s side come into the match having lost all three of its games last July in the Southern Series leg of the Nations Championship.

Appearing in the latest edition of Talking Boks, Mallett said: “What I believe, having looked at this team, is that first loss against the All Blacks on the Greatest Rivalry tour was perhaps because of a lack of cohesion in the team.

“We’re going into France and Ireland, and it looks like we’re sort of preparing a 23 for four games in a row. He [Erasmus] has mentioned it would be nice to get some of the young guys onto the field; perhaps he will with injuries.

“But if everything goes to plan and we play well in this game, get our five points, I can’t really see him putting in a changed team or a much-changed team against France and then Ireland because it is the first time we have had this competition.

“The interest will build once people understand what it represents. To finish top in the southern hemisphere will be outstanding and to play that final game, which counts for two points as opposed to all the other games that count for only one, is a big feather in the cap of the Springboks.

“Rassie has changed his ideas a little bit about this. The northern hemisphere tour used to be to blood some youngsters and mix it up, but it looks like he is going with the best team possible despite a couple of guys missing.

“(Eben) Etzebeth obviously, (Andre) Esterhuizen, (Cheslin) Kolbe. One would argue (Handre) Pollard would have been on the bench anyway. This is really a full metal jacket team, and I’m really looking forward to this next month. We have got four amazing games to look forward to.”

The opener in Turin will see a first start for lock Salmaan Moerat since South Africa hosted Italy in Port Elizabeth in July 2025. Neck and toe injuries ruled the 28-year-old out of selection for this year’s opening leg of the Nations Championship and the Greatest Rivalry series, but he is now set to earn his 12th Test cap and Mallett is excited to see what might unfold.

“Rassie has got a very clear idea of who his No.5 lock, the middle of the lineout and caller, is and who is his Bakkies Botha, his Etzebeth, his hitter of rucks and cleaner of rucks, big tackler.

“Salmaan Moerat definitely falls into that second category, the Bakkies Botha one. I know people say they don’t see a hell of a lot of him on the field, but the reason for that is he does a tremendous amount of the dirty work, the maul setting up, the defensive efforts against a maul.

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“His tackle stats are always extremely high, and his ruck cleaning is always vicious. I mean it’s vigorous, so much so that he has been concussed many times. He is a guy who is extremely physical and sometimes his body leaves him down because he hasn’t got that extra 10, 15 kilogrammes that a guy like Cobus Wiese has, or Bakkies Botha or Etzebeth.

“He has to really work hard. He is an athletic lock, but he plays like they do [Botha/Etzebeth]. The point about having his last chance: Rassie wants to give him another opportunity and it balances his pack nicely.

“He is the type of front of the lineout lock that works well with a guy like (Ruan) Nortje, so whether he carries on after this tour will depend a lot on his physical capabilities. He has had lots of concussions and has had lots of injuries. His bones haven’t stood up to a lot of the force and impacts that he takes on the rugby field.

“I wish him well. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with this guy. He is absolutely a wonderful human being; he is a brilliant captain, a guy who the players look up to. He has got a wonderful, wonderful personality and that stands for a lot as well.

“If you go through this team, you are getting really good guys selected for the Springboks, guys who don’t cause trouble, guys who commit themselves to the team effort as opposed to individual brilliance and that’s pretty much a large part of the success of the Springboks over the last five, six years.”