Experienced Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx has explained how the world champions’ head coach Rassie Erasmus sold the idea of a Bomb Squad to his players in 2019.

The tactic has been a major contributing factor to the Boks’ success since 2019 and has resulted in them winning two Rugby World Cups and a British and Irish Lions series, with their replacements bench helping to clinch several victories.

The idea of the Bomb Squad is not only to deploy a forward-heavy bench with a 6-2 or 7-1 split but is also a mindset that the players in the starting line-up can give their all while they are involved in the action with the replacements picking up and bringing fresh energy when they enter the fray.

Boks’ top class forwards make Bomb Squad work

The Bomb Squad tactic has worked wonders for the Springboks, particularly because Erasmus has been blessed with a plethora of top class forwards which sparked the idea in 2019. “He (Erasmus) called us all in obviously and we had a conversation,” Marx told the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict show.

“It was more the front-rowers and obviously (he) spoke to us about what the plan is and what the reasoning is behind the plan and all of that. And then I don’t know if it was Flo (Francois Louw) or RG (Snyman) who came up with the name but yeah, we basically just embraced it.

“We were like, ‘Well, there’s guys that start and guys that finish the game’ and we’re the okes (guys) that had to try and come off the bench and try and make an impact or try and change the game in a positive way. Then that Bomb Squad thing just came out and it just sort of blew up a little bit.”

After initially catching their opponents by surprise by opting to field a forward-heavy bench with a 6-2 split in several encounters during their triumphant 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign in Japan, Erasmus went one step further with the daring tactic by employing a 7-1 split in some matches when the global tournament was held in France in 2023. Once again the gamble paid off as the Springboks lifted the famous Webb Ellis Cup again as champions.

7-1 bench split worked in 2023 World Cup final

South Africa used a 7-1 bench split en route to a narrow 12-11 victory over their arch-rivals New Zealand in that final in Paris but they first introduced that tactic during a warm-up game ahead of the World Cup against the All Blacks at Twickenham which the Springboks won 35-7.

Marx admitted that when they used the 7-1 split for that Twickenham game, it was one of Erasmus’ biggest calls. However, because the Boks had been trying several new ideas under their coach’s guidance over the years, they were willing to give that experiment a full go.

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“It was hectic, but because of the years before that when things had been trialled and all of that and it worked, thinking outside of the box and doing something different doesn’t always mean it’s a bad thing,” he said. “So, always when there’s new ideas and new things, we try and embrace it, we try and make it work the best that we can.

“We didn’t know what could have happened in the backline where maybe Kwagga (Smith) would have had to go to wing or something could have changed that differently. It’s risky but it’s worked.”