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Boks can shine again in 2027, but SA Rugby must hold on to Rassie Erasmus
The director of rugby is the glue that keeps the Springboks together.
Rassie Erasmus is in hospital recovering after sustaining chemical burns. Picture: EPA-EFE/Kim Ludbrook
SA Rugby must do everything in their power to hang on to Rassie Erasmus for as long as possible, or at least until the next World Cup, in 2027.
The Boks will already be without Jacques Nienaber from next year and to lose Erasmus in two years’ time, in 2025, will not be good for the Boks, especially if they have aspirations of being World Cup winners three times in a row. And there’s no reason why the Boks can’t pull it off again in Australia in four years’ time.
They definitely can, and SA Rugby must do whatever they have to, to ensure the Boks are in the best possible shape and position to go for a fifth Webb Ellis Cup.
Key to this though is Erasmus.
I always found it odd that he’d been contracted to 2025, in the middle of a four-year World Cup cycle. Why decide to move on and change things then?
In demand abroad
While there are very capable and good coaches in the Bok set-up and many outside of it coaching in South Africa and all over the world, the reality is that for the last six years Erasmus has been the glue in the Bok team, guiding those around him and being at the forefront of the back-to-back World Cup wins.
And while there are many in the rugby world, including at the game’s headquarters in London who do not approve of Erasmus and his unorthodox and unconventional ways of thinking and doing, there are also many who rate him highly and want him in their camp, on their side.
Erasmus is a proven winner, and you can be sure the likes of Ireland and England, and maybe some other big unions, perhaps Australia even, would be willing to pay top dollar to get Erasmus leading their national team.
Heck, even the outspoken and highly critical Clive Woodward, who hardly had a good word to say about the Boks during the recent World Cup, has now punted Erasmus for England rugby’s top job, calling his rugby thinking “genius”.
SA Rugby have hinted Erasmus might go back to coaching the team for a while following Nienaber’s departure to Leinster, but best they secure him for the next four years, at least!
