Boks still have work to do

Coach Rassie Erasmus’s approach to selection should improve the Springboks’ chances of success in Europe this November, after a second consecutive Rugby Championship title victory.

South Africa has ticked a number of important boxes since Erasmus took the coaching reins in 2018. As things stand, this group has won two World Cups, a British & Irish Lions series and three Rugby Championship titles — and sits at the top of the World Rugby rankings.

Since lifting the 2023 World Cup in Paris, the Boks have won 19 out of 23 matches (a win record of 83%) while experimenting with a more adventurous brand of rugby.

In spite of this quest for more consistent results, Erasmus has tried to blood new players and select teams that boast a balance between youth and experience.

Captain Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and several other veterans remain integral to Erasmus’s short- and long-term plans. Players aged 24 and younger, such as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Canan Moodie, Ethan Hooker and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, receive regular opportunities in big matches.

Forty-six players featured in the first 10 matches of the 2025 season, with Erasmus backing 36 over the course of the Rugby Championship, the four-nation competition involving Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.

Despite the Boks losing in Joburg (to the Wallabies for the first time in 62 years) and Auckland (to their old nemesis, the All Blacks), they emerged with a four-from-six winning return, as well as a second successive southern hemisphere title.

The significance of that achievement shouldn’t be downplayed.

For much of the professional era, the Boks saved their best rugby for the quadrennial World Cup and sacrificed matches in the intervening seasons in the name of development.

Thanks to Erasmus’s planning and player management, the Springboks are in a position to win most of their matches while still building towards the next World Cup, which will kick off in October 2027, with Australia the host.

The development of a new game plan continues to gather momentum, and most fans who watched the second half of the Rugby Championship will agree that the Boks have more than one weapon in their arsenal.

Erasmus took a calculated risk when he picked a much-changed side for the Freedom Cup decider in Wellington. The team scored nine tries en route to a record-breaking 43-10 win against the All Blacks. The Freedom Cup is the trophy at stake in matches between the two sides; South Africa retained it, having won it last year and shared it this year.

The Boks followed that result with a 67-30 victory against Argentina in Durban, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu spearheading an attacking masterclass.

South Africa went into the last game of the tournament needing a win against the Pumas to clinch the title. Erasmus resisted the urge to stack the team with veterans, giving several younger players the opportunity to prove themselves. The performance lacked polish, but the team came through with a 29-27 win, and Erasmus got his answers regarding several players.

It’s been a year of transition for Erasmus and the team. Some of the younger players were given more responsibility, and the Boks added yet another layer to their game plan.

It’s a more potent one than what they used in the 2024 Rugby Championship. The Boks made almost twice as many offloads this season, while leading the tournament stats for line breaks, metres made and — most importantly — tries and points scored.

There were times when they overplayed their tactical hand, as Erasmus admitted after the shock defeat by Australia at Ellis Park, but by the second half of the competition they appeared to have found the right balance between running and kicking.

Since former All Blacks flyhalf Tony Brown joined the management as an attack coach in early 2024, some critics have suggested the Boks might be abandoning their traditional strengths and ultimately their identity. And while they have played with more tempo and width over the past two seasons, they have continued to value gainline physicality and scrum dominance.

Under the tutelage of former Bok prop Daan Human, the scrum has gone to the next level — as seen most recently at Twickenham, where the Bok forwards steamrollered their Pumas counterparts to earn five penalties.

The Boks also continue to value their kicking strengths. The appointment of Brown has coincided with more kicks from hand and more aerial contests with garryowens. The players deserve credit for executing this strategy, whether kicking, chasing, or relaunching the attack after winning back the ball.

Erasmus has pointed out that the team remains a work in progress, in spite of what the results suggest. The statement serves to highlight the ambition of this group — who will look to become the first team to claim a hat-trick of World Cup titles in 2027 — and could double as a warning to future opponents.

In winning the 2025 Rugby Championship, the Boks broke a couple of records. If they continue on their present trajectory, they will be even better in the years to come.

Since the end of the Rugby Championship, the players have rejoined their provincial and club teams to compete in tournaments such as the United Rugby Championship. It won’t be long, however, before Erasmus recalls players ahead of a five-Test tour to Europe.

At the very least, the Boks should do enough in the coming months to finish the calendar year among Test rugby’s top six teams. If they secure a spot in band one for the 2027 World Cup draw, they will improve their chances of getting a favourable group for the tournament. The draw will take place on December 3.

Erasmus will have more immediate ambitions. While he will need to manage and rotate his players carefully over the course of the five weeks, he will be desperate to secure victories against France and Ireland in particular.

The tour opener against Japan at Wembley Stadium on November 1 has been billed as a rematch of the World Cup battle in Brighton 10 years ago. On that occasion, Japan, then coached by Eddie Jones, edged the Boks 34-32 in one of the biggest upsets in sporting history.

Since then the Boks have beaten Japan twice and will go into the next match at the famous football stadium as overwhelming favourites — even though the fixture will fall outside the official World Rugby Test window, which means some of the top Boks may be unavailable for selection.

As seen in the recent Rugby Championship, the Boks have the depth to cope with rugby’s regulations, and the team that starts at Wembley should not want for quality or experience.

The second match of the tour is a rematch of the 2023 World Cup quarterfinal in Paris. The French haven’t forgotten about the Boks’ 29-28 victory in that monumental playoff, and the game on November 8 will provide Les Bleus with a shot at revenge. The Boks haven’t lost to the French in Paris since 2005.

The match against Italy in Turin should provide Erasmus with another chance to rotate, keeping some of his star players fresh for the fixture against Ireland.

The Boks claimed a comfortable 2-0 series victory when Italy toured South Africa in July, but the Azzurri will welcome back a host of first-choice players ahead of the November Test window and should pose a sterner challenge.

At the start of the 2025 Test season Erasmus said the Test in Dublin could make or break the Boks’ year. A lot has happened since then and the coaches and players will be determined to make the next visit to Ireland count. The Irish have won four of their last five matches against the Boks and last lost to South Africa in Dublin in 2012.

If the Boks record wins in Paris and Dublin, they may go into the final game of the tour with the chance to finish with a record of five from five. Like the Japan match, this game will be staged outside the official Test window, and Erasmus and the selectors may need to box clever, but their recent results against a struggling Wales side suggest that another South African victory is likely.