South African rugby is the healthiest it has ever been. To understand the quality of depth that has been built, don’t look at the 28-strong squad that has been sent to Santiago to beat Argentina and seal the Rugby Championship, look at the group of players who have been left to rest or recover from injury in South Africa.
The following forwards are not part of the squad travelling to Argentina: Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, RG Snyman, Jean Kleyn, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Pieter-Steph Du Toit, Evan Roos and Phepsi Buthelezi. That’s an entire World Cup-winning pack and some.
As for the backs, Faf de Klerk, Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu, Damian de Allende, Willie le Roux, Damian Willemse, André Esterhuizen and Cheslin Kolbe all remain in South Africa. Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the only player from these backs not to have won a World Cup. So that’s 15 World Cup winners not involved in a touring Springbok squad.
The only positions that stand out for questionable Test match depth is outside centre and scrumhalf. Both Lukhanyo Am and Jesse Kriel (the regular 13s for South Africa between 2018 and 2023) are travelling to Argentina, while Canan Moodie, who has played No 13 and No 14 for the Springboks, has been listed in the squad as a utility back.
As healthy as the squad presents in 2024, South Africans should also be appreciative of this special moment in rugby history, and aware that a lot can and will change over the next four years.
Am and Kriel will be 33 and 34 respectively come the next Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027 and, despite their qualities, there is no guarantee they even make it to Australia.
Unless Moodie becomes the succession plan at 13, Erasmus and his staff will have to start looking to build similar depth in that position to that of the outside backs and forwards. It is highly unlikely that Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach make it to the next World Cup because of their age and for all of Grant Williams’ electric qualities, I am not convinced he is a starting scrumhalf. Jaden Hendrikse, who is expected to start against the Pumas in Santiago next Saturday, has battled injury for the past season. When he has played he has looked good as opposed to exceptional.
As healthy as the squad presents in 2024, South Africans should also be appreciative of this special moment in rugby history, and aware that a lot can and will change over the next four years.
While there is exciting depth in most positions, there are not necessarily like-for-like replacements for the individuals who have owned their jerseys for the best part of a decade. Kriel, Am, Reinach and De Klerk are not the only players whose age may be a concern for the 2027 World Cup, and Erasmus has been vocal in his uncertainty as to whether the soldiers who won him back to back World Cups make it to a third.
In the potential absence of like-for-like replacements, the Springboks will have to be able play to the strengths of the new players available to them. Eight tests into the season, what we are seeing is the teething process of a team in transition. I believe the scorelines against the All Blacks would have been bigger and the drawn series to Ireland could have been won, had we played to our traditional strengths, but what Eramsus and his staff may believe is that this model can only work for so much longer.
Tonyball, in reference to attack coach Tony Brown's style of play, may not be a fine art yet, but it is a necessary development in looking ahead to the type of player coming into the system, and the type of game that will be played on fast, dry, Australian tracks come 2027.
The Springbok squad in 2024 is healthy and it is happy.
Over the past eight years, Erasmus has established a conveyor belt of experience and youth that the Boks never quite got right before. There is also a very clear player succession plan and player pecking order.
The future is exciting, but it won't be without a few stumbles and we should be wary of looking too far ahead and missing the beauty of the current moment in South African rugby, a moment that is as significant as it is seductive in falling in love with this special group of Springboks.
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