Those of us old enough to remember the hit 80s television show - The A Team - will fondly reminisce the words of John “Hannibal” Smith, the leader of the motley crew that used to smile with a cigar at the cameras and say: “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Those same words may be echoed by our own Rassie Erasmus, Springbok coach and mastermind behind back to back World Cup wins, as the quest to do what no other coach has ever done before - win a third consecutive World Cup lays ahead of the Boks.
They are No 1 in the world, and have dominated international rugby for the past eight years, but Erasmus is nothing if not dead set on creating more history, and therein lies the challenge.
EDDIE BELIEVES BOKS HAVE PEAKED TOO SOON
There are many who would bet against the Boks winning a third consecutive World Cup. Eddie Jones, for one, said it would be difficult to stay at the peak for more than a year and thinks the Boks may have peaked too soon.
But like everything surrounding Rassie, there is always a plan. And if it comes together next year, the naysayers will be very quiet.
On Monday the announcement that former England, Scarlets and Ospreys technical analyst Joe Lewis is to join the management team as performance analyst may have sounded like just another announcement.
It wasn’t. For several reasons this was a massive move.
Notwithstanding the fact that England tour in two months time to South Africa and Lewis was Steve Borthwick’s right hand man for the past few years and joins the Boks a month before the English arrive in Johannesburg, there are more factors to this.
Lewis - as cheekily described in the SA Rugby press release - is all those things, but the Scarlets and Ospreys time in his resume is not the important part. The England part is.
VARIETY OF VOICES
For one, it shows that Erasmus is not scared to canvas the globe to find the best rugby talent to help the Boks forward, but also that he enjoys a variety of voices, to challenge the players and get the best out of them.
We’ve seen it with Tony Brown, the attack coach who reshaped the Bok attack over the past two years. We’ve also seen it in Jerry Flannery and Felix Jones, both Irishmen who worked with Erasmus at Munster and bring a load of expertise to the Bok management.
Contrast this to the All Blacks insular management team announced by Dave Rennie and it is clear Erasmus is on a very different path. He wants the best out there to fuel the Bok fire. And as long as the Boks keep winning, few can doubt his decisions.
The Bok management has a lot of international flavour and it fits the mould of a team whose franchise feeder systems play in Europe as well.
MASTERSTROKE TO POACH LEWIS
But to steal Lewis, who is often seen in the Six Nations next to Borthwick in the coach’s box, is a masterstroke.
There are insights and ways of thinking that being insular can’t solve, and Erasmus knows this.
And while we all expect the World Cup campaign to come down to the final three weeks, there is a long marathon start to the tournament that has to be managed exceptionally well.
This, as it stands on face value, is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. Erasmus has already started the other part - the generational change in the Springbok squad, with a lot of success last season.
The double World Cup winners are aging, and that’s a fact. But the introduction of young upstarts like Canan Moodie, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker and others shows the Boks are serious about the task and sentimentality will not stop them from chasing their goal.
There are 100s of technical analysts in South Africa and thousands across the world, but Lewis was the one that Erasmus wanted and for a reason.
NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT A REASON
We may not see that reason for a little while. We may have to wait until the test season to understand it a bit more fully, but we know that nothing happens in this Springbok team unless it is part of a plan.
Lewis is a Welshman, and as the SA Rugby press release said holds a master’s degree in performance analysis from Cardiff Metropolitan University and a degree in sports management from the University of South Wales, served as England’s head analyst from 2017 to 2021, and senior analyst from 2022 until the conclusion of their recent Six Nations campaign.
He has also worked as Wales’ national age-grade video analyst and Taranaki Rugby Football head analyst.
“We are delighted to welcome Joe to the Springbok team,” Erasmus commented in the press release.
“Given his vast experience in technical and performance analysis at international and club level, we believe he will add great value to the squad as we prepare for a busy and exciting season, and further ahead to the 2027 RWC,” said Erasmus.
“His roles have seen him gain invaluable experience at the highest level of the game - at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, in the Six Nations competition, and Autumn Nations Cup, among other big tournaments, and we have no doubt he’ll slot into our set-up seamlessly.”
Erasmus has been plotting the 2027 challenge for some time now. The Boks are still some 18 months away from the true test of whether they got it right.
But don’t be surprised if somewhere in a dark room in about 18 months’ time, the Bok coach lights a cigar and says those words to himself away from the public limelight.