Rassie Erasmus told the world that he is bringing his best to the United Kingdom for the three November Tests against Scotland, England and Wales. How beautiful.
In an age when many of the northern hemisphere teams send secondary squads down south in June/July, Erasmus has done justice to the Springboks brand and the desire to win all three Tests against Scotland, England and Wales.
Power to Rassie. Power to the Boks.
It has been an intriguing Boks rugby week. Erasmus was expected to pick a bolter or two, but he refused. He went with 35 players who he would take to the World Cup if the tournament was played in November.
Yes, please. The Boks coach knows he wants to keep on winning and he has taken the best available to win the three November tests.
The Boks, back-to-back World Cup winners in 2019 and 2023, series winners against the Wallabies in Australia and series winners against the All Blacks in South Africa, are officially ranked number two in the world. It is madness. But then World Rugby has always been madness, especially in the rankings system.
The Boks, World Cup winners in successive tournaments, are eight wins from 10 in this international season. They have lost two Tests, one to Ireland in Durban by a point and one to Argentina, away from home, by a point.
It has reduced them to No 2 in the world. Ireland, who have never made the World Cup semifinals are ranked No 1. How?
Who have they played since that RWC quarterfinal defeat?
Forget the madness of the rankings and accept the relevance of them. The Boks want to be ranked No 1 when World Rugby makes the draw for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
What I want to see is the Boks smash all three teams on tour. What I want to see is the Boks own the landscape in November, as they have done at the last two World Cups.
No coach needs four years to build a World Cup-winning team. He needs great selection, the very best goal kicker and a bit of luck. The Boks had that in spades in 2019 and 2023.
Handré Pollard is unrivalled in World Cup finals. Cheslin Kolbe played his first Test for the Boks in 2018 and was the superstar at the World Cup a year later.
Erasmus lost seven of his first 14 Tests in 2018. But he won the big one, against the on-fire England in his first home series. He also won against the All Blacks in New Zealand. Forget for a moment how that win was fashioned and remember the result.
Forget also that the Boks led the All Blacks 31-13 at Loftus in Pretoria a few weeks later and lost 32-31.
The defeats don’t count if one wins back-to-back World Cups, but for the first time in the Erasmus era he is so settled on his squad that the defeats do count.
This Boks squad, filled with World Cup winners, should never lose in November, and that is the beauty of Erasmus. He has told his veterans to go out and win. He expects that, but should they not, he has reason to cull and blood in 2025 and 2026.
His selections speak to the now and the future.
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