Rassie Erasmus talks Springboks & the road to 2027 World Cup

Rassie Erasmus talks Springboks & the road to 2027 World Cup as his squad prepares for the first challenge of 2025 in the Barbarians FC in Cape Town on Saturday.

Erasmus spoke with SPORTSBOOM

In the interview the Springboks coach spoke of the significance of 2025 when he would identify the core of his 2027 World Cup squad.

The back-to-back World Cup winner will always recognise an extraordinary case for selection close to 2027 but historically he has always settled on the majority of his squad two years out from the World Cup.

Erasmus has never been conservative with his selections and while he has consistently said the best player is not necessarily the right player for his squad environment, the ideal selection is when the best players are the right players.

Erasmus has a huge regard for the potential of Lions prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, whose 148kg frame is the most recognisable of all in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

The big prop is also among the most popular characters in the competition.

Erasmus spoke of Ntlabakanye’s work rate and soft skills, and how he will be integrated into the Boks system in the next few months.

“It’s like when people say certain players are too small, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse for example. But they have done very well at the highest level. I look at the actions of the player, not what he looks like. Asenathi [Ntlabakanye] makes more tackles than most tightheads, he scrums very well, he carries hard, and he has good hands. He shows that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and he works very hard. He has made massive progress since he has been with us,” Erasmus told SPORTSBOOM

Erasmus has picked a handful of uncapped players in his squad of 45 for the non-international against the Barbarian FC on Saturday, the two-Test series in South Africa against Italy and the one-off Test against Georgia.

He will review the squad and trim it for the Rugby Championship, which includes two home Tests against the Wallabies and two away Tests against the All Blacks.

“We’re not really concentrating on the World Cup yet two years out, although in 2018 I was already building for 2023. This year is about identifying players who can win you World Cups and seeing how many opportunities you can give them to play. I want to look at them through that Test match lens. It’s very difficult to judge players at their clubs, because you don’t know what they are being coached to do, how that team wants them to play. And I don’t want to give someone one or two Test caps; I would love it if everyone can get eight caps or more. Our average age should be around 28/29 going into the next World Cup,” said Erasmus. ‘But winning is important, especially since at the end of this year they will make the draw for the World Cup. We also want people to get behind us and support us. So, a solid start to the year is important.”

In discussing the Barbarian FC match, Erasmus said it would be a mixture of old and new, but that the approach would be in keeping with their approach to Test matches.

“The BaaBaas match is a bit slippery because usually we love to analyse our opposition, find out where their strengths and weaknesses are, but obviously we can’t do that with the Barbarians. For them you have to analyse individuals, and they also announce their final team very late. So, the message to the players will be to play what you see in front of you and enjoy yourself. Hopefully, we can get through that game without any mental scarring.”

The Boks and Barbarians drew 31-all the last time the two teams played and it has been 25 years since the Boks beat the Barbarians, having won three, drawn one and lost four of their eight encounters.

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