Rassie’s squad depth points to future victories

Rassie Erasmus has evolved and advanced his 2023 Rugby World Cup winners in the Rugby Championship, both in playing style and in squad depth. 

And his biggest victory is that he has continued to win while doing it all.

Squad development was always going to be Erasmus’s priority in the Rugby Championship. He had stated that the two-Test series against Ireland would primarily be bookending the 2023 World Cup and that the build towards the 2027 World Cup in Australia would start in the Rugby Championship.

Erasmus has been consistent in his narrative that he has to build a squad of 50 players capable of playing in a World Cup play-off match. 

Now, he would be comfortable that he is closer to 40 than 50, which is 10 to 15 players more than most rugby-playing national squads.

Erasmus, after the 2019 World Cup title victory, did not have the luxury of introducing a new wave of players. Covid-19 robbed him of a year and when the 2021 British & Irish Lions arrived in South Africa, it was more a case of consolidation than future consideration.

The 2-1 Lions series win remains one of Erasmus and then head coach Jacques Nienaber’s greatest achievements, given the circumstances and the lack of game time going into the series.

Erasmus’s focus was building a two-pack system that would allow for a seven-one bench split. Incredibly, he and Nienaber achieved this, beating the All Blacks 35-7 at Twickenham in London, pre the World Cup, and winning the World Cup final 12-11 against the All Blacks, also with a seven-one substitutes’ bench.

Erasmus has been consistent in his narrative that he has to build a squad of 50 players capable of playing in a World Cup play-off match.

This season Erasmus has settled for a six-two split, with Saturday’s 5-3 forwards and backs combination more an exception for Erasmus than the rule.

There was the luxury of giving several youngsters a first taste of Test rugby against Portugal in Bloemfontein and then the challenge of winning in Brisbane for just the second time in the professional era and backing up the win with a second successive win against the Wallabies in Perth a week later.

Rugby went professional in 1996 and in that time no Bok team had ever won successive Tests against the Wallabies in Australia to complete a series win. History beckoned for Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi, and once again the coach was true to his mantra that 2024 was the year of squad growth.

Erasmus’s Boks won the Brisbane Test emphatically and a week later he made 10 changes to the match 23 and won convincingly in Perth.

His Boks backed up the historic triumph in Australia with a thrilling win against the All Blacks at Ellis Park, and he did so in trusting the talents of rookies at No 15, No 10, No 9, No 8 and No 5.

The Ellis Park win was huge in the context of so many frontline locks being unavailable and Bulls captain Ruan Nortje playing just his second Test. Nortje was outstanding, while the world’s best forward Pieter-Steph du Toit emphasised his pedigree by playing No 4 lock, No 5 lock and No 7 flank in his player-of-the-match-effort.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, starting at flyhalf in both Tests against the Wallabies, also wore No 10 against the All Blacks in Johannesburg. He was superb and his breakthrough Test season has been the fairy-tale of a Rugby Championship that should bring the Boks just their fifth title in 29 years.

Elrigh Louw, at No 8, and Aphelele Fassi, at fullback, returned to the squad after a year’s absence and thrived in the playing opportunities against the Wallabies and All Blacks.

The veteran backs Handré Pollard (10/12) and Willie le Roux (15) married mentorship with match time and there was reward for newbies like Bulls loosehead Gerhard Steenkamp.

Kwagga Smith and Kolisi had the presence of Marvel Super Heroes and every Test featuring the Springboks in South Africa and against the Wallabies in Australia sold out, which was the greatest compliment to Erasmus, Kolisi and their popular Rainbow Warriors.