Boks enter watershed year gearing up to RWC title defence
OPINION: Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks have a jam-packed Test schedule this season, which could have a significant impact on their World Cup title defence come Australia 2027.
Ranked No.1 in the world and holding every possible piece of silverware, the Boks enter the 2026 season with a spring in their step and with good reason.
The Boks went from being predictable and brutal in 2018 to expansive and dominant in 2025 under the guidance of Erasmus and Co. They will have to step up another gear this upcoming season, consisting of some big milestone events.
They’ll start their 2026 Test season in the Nations Championship against a red-hot England at Ellis Park, who won all but one of their matches in 2025 and are being tipped as one of the teams to dethrone the Boks at RWC 2027.
The Boks had England’s number in recent times, winning four of their last five encounters, including the 2019 World Cup Final and 2023 semifinal.
Erasmus will want to deal a psychological blow to Steve Borthwick and his troops ahead of the 2027 global showpiece should these two teams lock horns once more, which could be in the Final should the script go that route.
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Then there is the old foe, New Zealand, who proved in 2023, after their opening clash defeat to France, that they will always be a major threat in World Cups by making the Final and losing it by the narrowest of margins to the Boks.
The Kiwis will tour South Africa for the first time since 1996 in what is being dubbed “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry”, where three Tests will be played in the Republic with the fourth taking place at a neutral venue alongside midweek games against the Bulls, Stormers, Lions and Sharks.
The Bok class of 2026 will want to avenge the 2-1 series loss of those in 1996, where the All Blacks team of that tour were dubbed as “the incomparables” for their heroics as the first and still the only New Zealand team to have won a series on South African soil.
Despite pride and history on the line, the series will be personal for Scott Robertson and his troops, who won a solitary match in four attempts against the Boks and lost seven from their last 10 against the back-to-back world champions.
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For Erasmus, it will be an opportunity to create history and send a message to the All Blacks and the rest of the rugby world that they’ll need to be at their absolute best to defeat the Boks to snatch the World Cup title from them.
Losing to England or the series to New Zealand won’t be the be-all and end-all for the Boks, but victories will put them in good standing to enter 2027 as the world’s No.1 team once more and go on to defend their global crown and do the three-peat for the first time in rugby history.
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