Victory remains Rassie’s priority

There was a spring in Rassie Erasmus’s step in Cape Town this week.

The Springbok coach spoke of opportunity rather than adversity, depth rather than depletion, and — perhaps most significantly — he made it clear that South Africa’s drive towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup will not come at the expense of winning.

If you don’t keep winning, you lose momentum. You lose momentum with supporters, within the squad, and around the Springboks. Winning will always remain our priority

—   Rassie Erasmus, Springbok coach

For all the talk of succession planning, squad-building and blooding the next generation, Erasmus remains uncompromising about what matters most: victory.

“If you don’t keep winning, you lose momentum,” he said. “You lose momentum with supporters, within the squad and around the Springboks. Winning will always remain our priority.”

It was a statement that captured exactly where the world champions find themselves at the start of another international season. The back-to-back World Cup and Rugby Championship winners must balance the expectation of winning three home Nations Championship matches, starting with England at Ellis Park on July 4, and the first All Blacks tour to South Africa in 30 years.

The Boks play the All Blacks three times in August and September, with the four-Test series completed by a one-off Test in Baltimore in the US.

No experimentation

There will be a soft introduction to the international season against the Barbarians in a non-international match in Gqeberha next Saturday, while an SA “A” match-23 will play Zimbabwe’s World Cup hopefuls.

Erasmus confirmed he will use the squad extensively, which is not to be interpreted as experimentation. He knows which players are first in the pecking order, second and third.

What makes this season even more exciting, outside of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, is how many of the South Africa under-20s have been included in the wider Springboks group.

“We’d love to go unbeaten,” said Erasmus. “Like the last year and the previous year, when we tried to go unbeaten but lost one, two or three matches. So we will always try to achieve that. That is our mindset.”

Some players need more game time because we believe they could become important for us. We’ll have to get more game time into some guys who don’t have enough caps for if we need them at the World Cup

—  Rassie Erasmus

Over the past two seasons Erasmus has introduced a wave of new players into the national set-up, expanding the depth chart and ensuring South Africa has genuine options across every position. Now the focus is becoming more refined.

“We’ve got a pretty good idea of the players who can take us to the World Cup,” Erasmus said.

“But some players need more game time because we believe they could become important for us. We’ll have to get more game time into some guys who don’t have enough caps for if we need them at the World Cup.”

Form integral to selection

Erasmus reinforced his belief in seasoned veterans like captain Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Kolbe, Damian de Allende and Handre Pollard, but said form would always be integral to his match 23 selections.

He also downplayed the injury situation, confirming the number of players unavailable for next weekend, but insisted there was no injury crisis.

“We’ve actually got a lot of players available, and the challenge at the moment is figuring out how to give everyone game time.

“The goal is to get game time into players who haven’t played for a while and help young players settle into the environment. We want them to understand how we do things and become comfortable in the system.”

Erasmus also credited the URC coaches for their co-operation during the season and lauded the work being done by U20 coach Kevin Foote and SA Rugby’s High Performance manager Dave Wessels.

He complimented the Bulls on their fightback in the URC to make the final and said several of the squad members would add to the depth and quality of the Boks this season.