The tl uncapped 'Springbok bolters': Who will pass the Rassie test in 2026?

A SQUAD of 49 players begin the Springbok alignment camp in Cape Town on Monday, with 11 of them wide-eyed newcomers as coach Rassie Erasmus looks to the future, but how many of those youngsters stand a realistic chance of being capped this year?

- MIKE GREENAWAY

We know from history that Rassie uses alignment camps almost as job interviews for youngsters who have shown they have Springbok potential. As busy a body as Rassie is, he can't be expected to have personally interacted with every young player putting his hand up, and that is why he invites them to these camps.

When it comes to the Springbok culture that is so wonderfully entrenched under Rassie ‘s stewardship, and which has been at the heart of back-to-back World Cup wins, the Bok coach is a shrink of Sigmund Freud status — no player gets through the Springbok door without passing the Rassie test.

Rassie invites the lyties and checks out if they have the “warrior” demean-our that he treasures, plus the “no-ego” status that is nonnegotiable. The coach could just as well put up a sign at the Springbok door dayind, “No Big Heads Allowed”