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Tom Hamilton, Senior Writer
South Africa take on Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday evening, with the Springboks looking for a third win out of three on their Autumn Internationals tour of the UK.
JERSEY, Channel Islands — Against the backdrop of a spectacular sunset over St. Brelade’s Bay in Jersey, the Springboks gathered to celebrate winger Cheslin Kolbe’s birthday, ahead of another set of November Tests.
The Boks around that table, including Kolbe who had turned 31, each boasted two World Cup medals, from 2019 and 2023. But back at the foot of Everest they were again, looking to become the first team in the men’s sport to win three titles on the bounce.
After winning the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, New Zealand’s All Blacks tried for the three-peat in 2019 but came unstuck at the semifinal stage; the feat remains one of the few unclimbed mountains left in rugby.
So, the challenge is new, the bodies hurt just as much as they’ve ever done, but the veterans around that table want to chase the sun again, and the motivation as strong as ever.
‘The jersey is enough’
Those Springboks who remain from the past two World Cup squads are giving scant thought to the possibility that their bodies may not carry them through to 2027. They have already weathered more than a decade of rugby, won the sport’s biggest prize twice, and in Eben Etzebeth’s case, become the most-capped Springbok ever.
“I don’t need any extra motivation, just the opportunity to pull on that jersey is enough for me,” Etzebeth told ESPN.
As for Kolbe, his motivations are closer to home than national pride: “Everyone has their goals and ambitions to achieve things, but for me, I’m a family man, and I want to make sure I can look after my family and give them the best things I never had growing up.
“You want to make history along the way, inspire the country but it’s all about getting the opportunity to wear the green and gold jersey, and represent each and very South African background across the world and do them proud.”
World Rugby Player of the Year nominee (as are Etzebeth and Kolbe, incidentally) Pieter-Steph du Toit has had surgery on both ankles, suffered a cracked sternum and injured his ACL twice. He has part of his father’s hamstring in his leg, narrowly avoided having his leg amputated in Feb. 2020, but the fire burns just as bright as ever.
“I think the scary thing is that it’s not forever and I think you afraid that when the feeling is gone, the environment is gone, you’re going to miss it,” Du Toit told ESPN.
“So you try and give as much as you can and as much as you can get the best out of each situation.”
And then there’s Rassie Erasmus. The man who has worn several hats for the Boks and is now back as head coach, plotting yet another assault on the sport’s biggest prize, as he mixes young talent with these grizzled old pros.
“I’m not talking sh** when I say we play FOR South Africa,” Erasmus said in Jersey. “We always say there’s an individual plan, tactical plan and there’s a team – that’s what forms the Test match.
“But we are playing for South Africa. As long as the country is happy with what I’m doing, and what we are doing as a team, I’ll stay on, because I love it.”
The art of blending veterans with rookies
When Wilco Louw ran out at Twickenham last Saturday against England, he became the 50th player South Africa have used this year. Alongside winning the Rugby Championship and triumphing in both their matches so far this northern autumn, they’re also simultaneously ushering in the next generation of Springboks.
It’s an incredible balancing act.
The preparations for this new World Cup run were already in the advanced stages even before they beat the All Blacks 12-11 in Paris. By February earlier this year, Erasmus had his coaching team confirmed, with Tony Brown joining as attack coach, Jerry Flannery as defence coach and Duane Vermeulen transitioning from being a fearsome No.8 to holding a conduit role between the players and coaches.
One of the big challenges for the Boks is their diaspora. You have the likes Kolbe and Damian de Allende in Japan, RG Snyman at Leinster in Ireland, Handre Pollard at Leicester, Cobus Reinach in France and then Siya Kolisi, Etzebeth and the younger guys like Aphelele Fassi back in South Africa.
Erasmus leans on his coaching staff to keep the alignment on track: ex-Ireland international Flannery keeps an eye on those in Europe, while Brown keeps in touch with those in Japan Rugby League One. Erasmus and assistant coaches Mzwandile Stick, Daan Human and Deon Davids are all South Africa-based.
Attack coach Brown said one of the major draws of joining the Boks was the chance to work with some of their “x-factor” talent.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has emerged as a long-term challenger at fly-half, Fassi has established himself at fullback while Salmaan Moerat has captained the team twice. Elrigh Louw offers another option in the back-row, while Ruan Nortje will challenge at lock.
Ahead of the Rugby Championship match against Australia in Perth, Erasmus came in for some criticism for his selection. He’d made 10 changes from their win in Brisbane to the next Test match.
Erasmus said at the time: “We made it clear from the outset this season that one of our main goals is to build squad depth with an eye on the next Rugby World Cup here in Australia, and we feel there is no better way to test some of the younger players and assess where we are as a group against a top-Tier nation, especially away from home, in this match.”
The Boks still won 30-12.
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Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach told ESPN of the players’ thinking around squad changes: “I think that’s what makes the group special and strong, that we’ve got young guys coming through trying to prove a point.
“The more experienced players trying to keep hold of the jersey. It’s never an ugly thing, it just puts pressure on everyone to be better and it’s good for the whole group, it’s good for the Springboks.”
Etzebeth, 33, isn’t planning on surrendering his shirt anytime soon, even though he has younger locks snapping at his heels: “We operate with a core group of 33 or so, but during the next three years, one or two will retire, two or three might fall out of form, two or three will get injured.
“They need to know who the next guy is, and it’s great for us, as we get to know the players we’ve played against. There’s a good bunch of young South African rugby players coming through, and some special talent out there.”
He’s been through this process before. He’s aiming for his fourth World Cup in 2027 and knows what it takes to regenerate a squad from one quadrennial tournament to the next.
Etzebeth added: “I think each team has their own DNA. Everyone knows we like set piece, having a good kicking game, and a good defence. They will stay big for us, but we evolve through each cycle. You can’t stay the same as others will catch up with you and you’ll just become mediocre and fade away a bit.
“You always try new things in a World Cup cycle, but when you get to the World Cup in the fourth year, you must know what works for your team.”
Rassie: The bind in the Boks’ DNA
If you’ve seen the Boks’ documentary Chasing the Sun, you’d have seen Erasmus’ motivational techniques first-hand. He told his players during the last World Cup to defend their own tryline as if they’re protecting their family from a rampaging rottweiler.
He knows how to manage his team: he saw Reinach sulking after he was left out of the matchday squad for the World Cup final and told him to park self-interest for the good of South Africa.
“I think the big thing, and it’s tough because I was a player, if you’re brutally honest then you lose a few guys and they say, ‘Oh, f*** you! If you think that way then I don’t want to be part of that,'” Erasmus said.
“A few players do that. I think there’s a few players who have heard things which they didn’t feel comfortable with so unfortunately, they have to move on or adapt.”
Key to maintaining the relevance of his messaging to the players is variety. He uses his innovative ideas to keep things fresh. “I’ve seen a lot of myself doing it wrong and when I was a player, I’ve seen everything that a coach could say,” Erasmus added.
“I said to the players when Eben played his 127th game: ‘I wonder how many meetings you have sat in before a game?’ I wonder what I am going to say next and will it help? If you sit in 2,000 (meetings), will this 2,001 help? Or should I shut my mouth?”
Etzebeth still hangs on Rassie’s every word: “He’s got a gift. He keeps it interesting; it’s like the guys are excited to be in his team meetings, as you never know what’s going to come.
“It’s like you’re that young kid at school, and the subject is interesting as you don’t know what’s coming next, and you get excited to see how psyched you’ll be for the next game.”
Kolbe looks at how Erasmus has built a collective team from disparate backgrounds of race and wealth. Before the World Cup final in 2019, Erasmus didn’t talk about a gameplan.
“I was blown away,” Kolbe recalled. “He talked just about the hurdles and struggles we had to overcome to be there.
“He finds ways and knows exactly which buttons to press to get players going. If he doesn’t speak, then you are worried, waiting for what happens next. But I’ve never seen anything like that to be honest, as he knows what to say at the right moment.”
Erasmus also finds a way to channel outside noise into motivation. During the World Cup he used several critical clips from Irish media to get his team ready ahead of their pool match.
It comes back to that rottweiler reference. Erasmus finds a way to get grizzled Test veterans ready to run through brick walls time and time again. “It will always be personal,” Erasmus says.
“A rugby match will always be personal for us because we are representing South Africa. If someone wants to challenge South Africa in a rugby match, it is our job to protect South Africa.
“This is not psyching players up. Getting them pumped up lasts five or six minutes. When it becomes personal, that’s when our players thrive.”
But then comes the clarification: “I don’t want to sound like we want to make every side the enemy. We play a physical brand, but these players are not guys who just want to hate people.”
The pressures of public perceptions
The Boks are becoming increasingly aware of public perception, and the fact that they are part of a brand with a capital B. The ever-increasing arms race for commercial deals sees the Boks needing to broaden their horizons.
It’s been noticeable during this November tour that Erasmus has frequently tried to clarify any points which he feels can be misconstrued. Though he has the odd mischievous moment, we haven’t seen a social media takedown of ay refereeing decisions (though perhaps that’s not needed when you keep on winning) nor has he been playing any (obvious) mind games to the extent he has before.
“I have said this many times, but if somebody doesn’t agree with something you are doing, you do listen to it, but you think, ‘As long as South Africans are happy!’ But you don’t want to make other people unhappy,” Erasmus said.
“You don’t want people not to like you. You don’t want people to think you are stubborn. You don’t want people to think you are arrogant.”
And key to having people like you is ongoing success. Etzebeth, Kolbe and Du Toit have already won more than they could ever have dreamt of. But once you get the taste, the thirst becomes unquenchable. They want to go for Everest for the third time. “
As a team, we are trying to change our mindset again,” Du Toit says. “We don’t really have pressure. It’s not really pressure. We can do something that never has been done before. That’s not pressure, that’s opportunity to do something if you do it like.”
The trio all say they’ll take it day by day, week by week, but you know the great unsaid thing is, they are planning to be there in three years’ time.
Coaches and players come and go, but there’s a group who have been there for every moment of 2019 and 2023, and they want to be there again in 2027.
Read more:
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Long read: Inside the mind of master tactician Rassie Erasmus
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