Year of rebuilding sets SA rugby and Springboks on course for greater success

South African rugby finds itself in unfamiliar territory. For the first time, the Springboks have carried the momentum of a World Cup title success into the following season — maintaining a win-record of 85% across 2023 and 2024.

We’re well past the talk of golden eras and dynasties. Rassie Erasmus’ charges have won more titles than any other Bok side and are right up there with the all-conquering All Blacks team of the 2010s.

If they continue on their current trajectory — with Erasmus adding new layers to the game plan and depth chart every year — the Boks will win the 2027 World Cup and become the greatest team of all time.

History the best teacher

The Bok coach has many strengths, as well as a healthy, well-founded fear of history repeating itself.

Erasmus has experienced the South African system from every angle over the past 27 years — as a Bok player, franchise coach, technical adviser to two World Cup coaches, SA Rugby high-performance manager, Bok coach and director of rugby.

He knows what works and what doesn’t, and he understands why the Boks have scaled great heights and plumbed new depths — occasionally within the same four-year cycle.

So many potentially great Bok sides have fallen off a cliff after winning a major title. Arrogance and complacency cost the team dearly in 1996 and 2008, and even in the wake of the 2009 series against the British & Irish Lions.

The lack of alignment — between the players, coaches, administrators and clubs — has also compromised South Africa’s quest for consistency over the years.

There have been so many reasons to celebrate over the past seven years: two World Cups, a series win against the Lions, two Rugby Championships and a rare Freedom Cup series win against New Zealand. The Boks finished 2024 at the top of the World Rugby rankings, while Pieter-Steph du Toit was crowned World Rugby Player of the Year (for the second time in his career).

Erasmus, of course, knows that the status quo will change very quickly the moment he and his charges lose focus of what’s important.

That is why, in the wake of every major victory, the coach has praised all of the key role-players in South African rugby for working together and called for even greater collaboration. The overriding goal is consistent success, and progress requires further investment.

Even after a monumental 2024 season with 11 wins in 13 Tests, there’s a sense that the Boks are building towards something bigger.

Erasmus is developing a team to peak at the 2027 World Cup He is wary of relying on a predominantly older team — having witnessed the failure of a tired and ageing Bok side at the 2011 World Cup.

A closer analysis of his 2024 selections highlights a healthy appreciation for the balance between youth and experience. Fifty players were used over 13 Tests and newcomers were often paired with veterans to improve the chances of individual and team success.

The high-riding Boks are well-placed to improve in 2025 and in the lead-up to the next World Cup in Australia.

Rassie Erasmus. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)

Blitzboks, Bok Women trending in right direction

When Erasmus returned to South Africa in 2018, the Blitzboks were the best rugby side in the country. In subsequent years, however, they struggled to maintain their own high standards.

While challenges remain — such as top players moving from sevens to fifteens — the system has been revamped over the past year and a new head coach, Phillip Snyman, is in place.

It may be some time yet before this side reaches its potential, but the Blitzboks proved a point when they claimed a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Paris in July. Snyman guided his young charges to another significant win recently, namely a first Cape Town Sevens title in nine years.

Blitzbok playmaker Shilton van Wyk was superb against France in the final of the Cape Town SVNS. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

The Bok Women have also taken encouraging strides in recent times.

The women’s programme was revived by Erasmus and former Ireland international Lynne Cantwell in 2021, and expectations were duly tempered ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand (staged in 2022 because of Covid-related delays), where South Africa lost all three of their pool matches.

The domestic game gathered momentum in the ensuing seasons. The Bulls Daisies became South African rugby’s first fully professional women’s team and there are plans to contract more professional players across the country in 2025.

This year, former Lions boss and Bok attack coach Swys de Bruin joined the Bok Women coaching staff, and the team went on to beat Japan in the WXV2, while pushing the more established Australia and Italy close.

The 2025 World Cup in England will demand another step up, but there’s reason to believe that South Africa will claim a historic victory at that tournament and that the women’s game will continue to grow.

Aseza Hele of South Africa Women during the WXV 2 match against Japan at DHL Stadium on 27 September in Cape Town. (Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images)

Fixing the pipeline

It’s easy to understand why the Boks boast such quality in depth at present when you consider the amount of raw talent at the lower levels.

Paul Roos dominated the schoolboy rugby scene in 2024, and Western Province strengthened their grip on the U18 Craven Week title — although schools such as Grey College, Paarl Gym and Affies, as well as provincial outfits such as Free State, made an impression. The SA U18 and SA U18 A teams were unbeaten in the international series staged in the Western Cape.

Despite this wealth of schoolboy talent, the SA U20 side has struggled to perform at the big tournaments for more than a decade, claiming their last global title in 2012.

In 2024, the Junior Boks lost two of their three matches in the inaugural U20 Rugby Championship and finished seventh in the World Rugby U20 Championship staged on home soil.

The good news is that SA Rugby is starting to throw more resources at a problem that inhibits the South African system.

Earlier this year, Erasmus stepped down as director of rugby to focus on a coaching role with the Boks. Dave Wessels was appointed as general manager of high-performance rugby, with a mandate to boost sevens and the women’s game, as well as age-group sides like the Junior Boks.

A former protégé of Erasmus during his tenure with the Stormers, Wessels has gone on to serve as head coach at the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels in Australia, and as head of rugby at the Stormers.

Since his appointment at SA Rugby, there’s been a greater focus on talent identification and development, and it’s hoped that the aforementioned teams will show further improvement in 2025.

If SA Rugby fixes the pipeline — or more specifically, the part that connects age-group stars with professional rugby — it will boost the clubs and strengthen South Africa’s challenge in tournaments like the URC and Champions Cup.

Over time, those players will graduate to the Boks, and get the chance to perpetuate an unprecedented run of consistency. DM