Rassie Erasmus’ long-term vision for the Springboks involves strategic squad experimentation and lineup tweaks during the 2026 Nations Championship to prepare for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, despite his contract extending to 2031. Picture: Backpagepix
Image: Backpagepix
Even though Rassie Erasmus could walk into the sunset held high no matter what happens at the 2027 Rugby World Cup, that won’t happen as he’s contracted as coach until 2031 with the Springboks.
The thing about Erasmus is that he always operates with a long-term vision in mind, and it’s certainly paid dividends with the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup titles since he joined the Springboks in 2017.
That’s why 2026 could be a pivotal year for even more experimentation by Erasmus and his squad makeup.
On Wednesday, Erasmus announced a 49-man squad for his first alignment camp of the year. The squad includes five Junior Boks as his quest to keep building the depth in SA rugby continues.
This year there will be no Rugby Championship, but instead the Nations Championship. The Nations Championship will feature 12 nations split into two groups, with the Springboks drawn alongside the big Southern Hemisphere nations.
However, the Northern Hemisphere teams will travel to their Southern counterpart in July for three matches, and vice versa in November.
It means South Africa will host England, Scotland, and Wales in July. Then in November, South Africa will travel to Italy, France, and Ireland to complete their fixtures.
While there will be heavy emphasis on producing results in the new competition, there’s a good chance Erasmus would like to tinker with his lineups as much as possible on this new stage.
Even if it means a poor performance, or worse, an unexpected defeat along the way, it will all be about the 2027 Rugby World Cup and exposing a wider range of players to the top level.
There’s no coach in world rugby that would be more willing than Erasmus to experiment on the highest stage, and that’s led to his legendary accomplishments.