Read more
A key mission for the Springboks this season is to continue broadening their squad depth, while keeping a winning culture in the team.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus faces another tough balancing act this season as the Boks continue to build towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Picture: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is planning another tough balancing act this season — that is of blooding new players, broadening squad depth, and keeping a consistent winning culture going, when the international season kicks off at the end of the month.
The Springboks start off with a match against the Barbarians in Cape Town, followed by the incoming series against Italy and Georgia in July. They then battle it out in the Rugby Championship from August, and finish their season with the traditional end-of-year-tour to the UK and Europe.
Last year over 50 players represented the Boks over a season that saw them lose just two games, against Ireland and Argentina by a single point, while winning the Rugby Championship and going unbeaten on their end-of-year-tour.
With them building towards the next World Cup, the coming campaign offers them another great opportunity to continue that good work and keep evolving, especially as a number of their players are heading towards the end of their career.
Repeat trick
“From our side we would like to do what we did last year. It is so lekker when the media and South African supporters start talking about the next World Cup and talking about our players, the average age of the team and the squad depth,” said Erasmus during a press conference on Thursday.
“It shows that they are really tracking us and where we are going. We are obviously also doing that. But even if we have players whose careers will end in 2026, you can’t negate the fact that is when their career will end and now take caps away from those players.
“So for sure we’ve got an eye on the World Cup. But as the old saying goes, if you look too far ahead you forget about the present. We want to try and win all of our games. That’s our mindset and it’s not being arrogant. But we definitely aren’t only using 25-37 players this year.
“The plan is to really broaden squad depth and experience. So not giving guys just one or two caps, but a good run. So that when we get to the next World Cup we have a large group of players with at least 15 caps (or more).”
The Boks are currently involved in a training camp in Johannesburg, which will continue until late next week, when the team will head off for Cape Town for their build up ahead of the Barbarians clash.
