What tough choices await Rassie, Boks before World Cup?

SPRINGBOKS coach Rassie Erasmus knows he is heading towards a point in the journey to the 2027 Rugby World Cup where he will have to make some big calls as far as some of his senior stars are concerned.

- JOHN GOLIATH

It’s been clear since the end of the triumphant 2023 Rugby World Cup in France that some of the players who won back-to-back Webb-Ellis trophies with Erasmus may not make it to Australia in two years’ time. Some of the stalwarts of the South African game are close to the rugby twilight.

Over the last 18 months Erasmus has had bloated Bok squads and has handed almost 20 players their debuts during that time. This year, for the home Tests against Italy and Georgia, the Boks operated with a squad of almost 50 players, with different players getting a taste of Test rugby.

There has also been heavy rotation, with many of the senior players hardly playing full games. All of this is designed to manage workloads, but also expose more rookies to build capacity when those big decisions need to be made.

Erasmus says he is enjoying the talk and speculation around his squad’s age ahead of the 2025 rugby showpiece event. It tells him people are still interested in the Boks winning doing an unprecedented “three-peat”.