State of the Bok nation: How does Rassie's team rate?

OPINION: Big results in the Rugby Championship have given Rassie Erasmus the leeway to further develop his game plan and squad in the coming months.

Following the Springboks’ Freedom Cup title success, comparisons will be made between the great South African side of 2009 and Erasmus’ charges – given that both teams won the World Cup, a British & Irish Lions series, and several consecutive matches against New Zealand.

The significant difference between the two sides is that the incumbents are well placed to build on the recent success and develop the South African game plan into something more potent.

Whereas the 2009 Tri-Nations marked the end of an era for a fine Bok side, the 2024 Rugby Championship campaign has hinted at a new and more exciting chapter.

Erasmus’ team has won four out of four in this year’s tournament.

If all goes to plan against Argentina over the next few weeks, they could become the first Bok team to win all six of their Rugby Championship matches – as well as the first South African side since 1998 to win every match in a Southern Hemisphere campaign.

And yet, Erasmus has made it clear – through his selections and the team’s move towards a more attacking pattern – that this group has far grander ambitions.

Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi were all smiles at the post-match press conference at Cape Town Stadium this past Saturday.

They went out of their way to talk about what the achievement of winning the Freedom Cup meant to the team, and to South Africa as a whole.

It didn’t take long for Erasmus to steer the conversation to future assignments – from the next two games against Argentina to the highly anticipated three-Test series against New Zealand in 2026 to the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

What’s it going to take to realise those goals?

The Boks need to address the balance between youth and experience in their squad, and push on with their plans to develop their game plan.

To be fair, the Boks have shown signs of progress in both departments in the early stages of 2024.

Erasmus blooded 11 new players over the first six Tests, and handed fringe players who didn’t feature at the 2023 World Cup more opportunities to stake a claim.

In the most important matches of the season against Ireland and New Zealand, the Bok coach backed less established players like Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Aphelele Fassi, Ben-Jason Dixon, Elrigh Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp.

Mistakes were made, but by and large, these players rose to the occasion and gained valuable experience.

Going by results alone, this is already one of the most successful seasons in the professional era.

The Boks secured two consecutive wins against the Wallabies before banking two big victories against the All Blacks.

For the first time in 11 years, they won a Test in Brisbane, and for the first time ever, they won both games in Australia.

The victory over the All Blacks in Cape Town ended their 15-year wait for a Freedom Cup title.

For the first time in 75 years, they stretched their winning streak against the New Zealanders to four matches.

Overall, the 2024 record of seven wins from eight matches makes for terrific reading.

On average, the Boks have scored 33 points and four tries, while conceding 17 points and 1.6 tries.

Deeper analysis may suggest they have room for improvement, but those are impressive numbers.

One also has to account for the regular changes to personnel.

In a sense, the platform has been laid, and the best may be yet to come.

Somehow the decision to change the team on a weekly basis hasn’t compromised the overriding quest for results.

We’ve witnessed a number of patchy performances over the past few months, and it’s worth asking whether the push to implement a new and revolutionary playing pattern is at odds with the selection policy.

Maybe the Boks should stick to a regular matchday 23, instead of harnessing 40-50 players from their wider group? Maybe they should back one set of halfbacks, and allow a more settled unit to get to grips with an ambitious game plan?

But rugby has changed, and the best teams are reluctant to build game plans around one or two star players. The best teams harness their wider squad – rather than just the starting XV or matchday 23 – to win big tournaments.

This past Saturday, Erasmus confirmed that he will look at a group of 50 or so players in the lead-up to the 2027 World Cup.

That number doesn’t feel excessive, given the current age profile of the team.

The Boks are blessed with a host of players who have won two World Cups as well as a Lions series – but many of those ageing stars won’t push on to play at the 2027 tournament in Australia.

Erasmus has to look at younger players and give them opportunities before settling on a World Cup squad that boasts the necessary balance between youth and experience.

The Boks coach was transparent about his goals at the start of the season, and at the time, many tempered their expectations.

The Boks could develop their game plan, they could bolster their depth with the future in mind, they could win big matches – but they couldn’t do all three.

Fast forward to the present, where Erasmus has ticked all of the boxes.

A wave of euphoria has swept through South Africa since the Boks won the Freedom Cup title, and many have equated a series win over New Zealand as a World Cup triumph.

The title is massively important to South Africans, as is a four-game winning streak against the nation’s arch-rivals.

At the same time, the achievements signal the beginning rather than the end of an important chapter in South African rugby history.

With those results in the bag, Erasmus can take more chances in the coming months.

He can back more of his fringe players with a view to future tournaments and series, and he can continue to add layers to the attack.

He can rest a few of his ageing stars to ensure that they are at their peak for the biggest games in 2025, 2026 and 2027.

The outlook may have been very different, had the Boks lost two or three of their first four Rugby Championship matches.

In that scenario, Erasmus would have had to pull back and ensure that the side won against Argentina and on the three-game tour of the United Kingdom in November.

But as things stand, Erasmus is ideally placed to push forward and take this team where it has never been before.

@rugby365com