Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus may take rotating his players in 2025 to a whole new level ahead of one of the much-anticipated international season later this year.
Erasmus started the first phase of his plan to build capacity and squad depth ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia by using an incredible 50 players across 13 Test matches in 2024.
No less than 12 players made their debuts for the Springboks last year, with Jordan Hendrikse, Edwill van der Merwe, Ben-Jason Dixon, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Phepsi Buthelezi, Morne van den Berg, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ruan Venter, Quan Horn and Cameron Hanekom all wearing the green and gold for the first time.
But blooding these youngsters, while mixing and matching with the veterans, didn’t affect the Springboks’ performance on the field, as they won 11 of those Test matches to end with a win record of 84.6%.
It was a brilliant campaign after the Boks’ 2023 Rugby World Cup triumph, with the platform being laid for an assault on the “three-peat” Down Under.
Erasmus didn’t have the same luxury after the 2019 World Cup, because of the Covid 19-pandemic. But Erasmus and then coach Jacques Nienaber had the luxury of taking the same players to France because they were still young enough to compete.
Some of the veterans are getting to retirement age …
But a number of them are unlikely to make it to Australia in 2027, with double World Cup-winning Boks such as Makazole Mpimpi (34), Vincent Koch (34), Willie le Roux (35), Trevor Nyakane (35) will be in their later 30s by the time the tournament comes around.
In fact, the bulk of the current squad of players used in 2024 find themselves on the wrong side of 30.
The 2025 season seems to be the best opportunity to provide the youngsters with substantial gametime because of the Boks’ fixture list at the start of the campaign.
The July Tests against Italy (two matches) and Georgia could see many of newbies being exposed to the rigors of Test rugby again, allowing them to gain invaluable experience and readiness for the pressures of high-stakes tournaments in the future. But it will also allow Erasmus to manage the workload of the 30-somethings in the team.
Best of the best to take on All Blacks
The November tour matches against Ireland and France will also see the best-of-the-best turn up.
There is obviously a fine-line between keeping players fresh and going into an All Blacks Test match in Auckland undercooked. But Erasmus found a successful recipe last season and is likely to build on that.
Ultimately, though, the 2025 season represents phase two as far as the Springboks’ 2027 World Cup plan is concerned. The foundation was laid last year, now it’s all about erecting the walls. But South Africans can rest easy knowing that they have a master builder called Rassie Erasmus.
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