Having 46 players in his squad and rotating selections as he does achieves more than just the obvious stated objective for Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus of creating depth in each position.
It also enables the national team to deal with what would otherwise be the debilitating impact of South Africa’s commitment to a 12-month season due to this country being aligned to the northern hemisphere season at club level and the southern hemisphere season at international level through the Castle Lager Rugby Championship and, this year, the Greatest Rivalry Tour.
When the Boks play the All Blacks in August and September, they will be in action while the regular opponents of those who play for local Vodacom URC teams will either be enjoying their off-season or busy with their pre-season.
That lack of a proper pre-season for SA club sides overloaded with Boks who are on the 12-month roster is an obvious drawback for them, and it may have cost John Plumtree, who arrived back in this country from New Zealand to coach the Sharks unaware of how much the landscape had changed since the Super Rugby days, his job at the Durban franchise.
Plumtree had only eight players at training at one point of the pre-season, with that, of course, not being helped by the fact that the Currie Cup was also being played over that period, and that played a significant role in the Sharks’ horrendous start to their 2025-26 campaign. One they never recovered from.
RESTING PROTOCOLS SAFEGUARD BOK INTERESTS
But while the franchises do have some justifiable complaints about the money they spend in certain instances on players they hardly see, and no names or pack-drill are necessary on that score, the Bok interests are well safeguarded by the national resting protocols.
Well, at least they are if you ignore the obvious benefits that would be derived if the players got a proper pre-season, which none of the top Boks get currently as those that don’t play for SA clubs are committed to the northern hemisphere season, which these days is mostly Japan (there are far fewer Boks playing for English or French clubs than there were).
It’s why there is a drive from SA Rugby to hasten the arrival of the much-needed global season.
HAVING PLAYERS IN JAPAN IS BENEFICIAL
Having the players in Japan and not France or England is beneficial, as while the intensity and tempo of the games played in the Japanese leagues has increased, they play half the number of games that the URC teams do through their commitment to both the 18 league games and three playoff games, not to mention the Champions Cup.
The care that SA Rugby rightly takes in ensuring that the home-based players are not overplayed, coupled with the Japanese connection, means that the Boks may actually be better placed to peak in the international season than some of their opponents are.
BIG DISPARITY IN GAME LOAD BETWEEN SA AND ENGLAND TEAMS
England definitely didn’t lose to the Boks in the opening Nations Championship game at Ellis Park at the weekend because they were fatigued, and their being in action as a team more recently in the Six Nations was counterbalanced by the Boks playing their first test of the new international season.
However, it was interesting to note the differences in the game load being carried by the players in the respective teams as they were first selected before the withdrawal of Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi from the Bok side.
According to the stats, the England team had played 25 more minutes this season (in SA’s case, it would surely actually be a year rather than a season) than the Springbok team had. It equated to 1 404 minutes per man for England, compared to 1 115 for South Africa.
Of course, you have to put an asterisk next to Etzebeth, for his rest wasn’t due to resting protocols, and more in this past season to the long suspension he copped for the eye-gouging incident in the final test of 2025 and then the injury he picked up playing for the Sharks on his return.
And while Pieter-Steph du Toit has played only three club matches in the past two years, something some sections of the English media have highlighted as a massive benefit, it was injury that kept him out.
FEWER GAMES IMPROVES SHELF LIFE OF PLAYERS
Still, the stats as they are talk to both the resting protocols and Erasmus’ rotational selection policy. And while Erasmus emphasised how hard the Bok training is, and how he uses the opposed sessions to measure whether the older players are starting to feel their age, the fewer games that they need to play does improve their shelf life.
“I’ve done the study, or someone has done it for me, but it shows that this is definitely the case, in some positions more than others,” said Erasmus at Tuesday’s team announcement press conference.
He also cited the amount of time players like RG Snyman and Lood de Jager have spent away from playing because of injury as a reason they could be expected to extend their careers deeper into their thirties, which, considering that lock is one area of relative concern for SA rugby at present, is a good thing.
POLICY SERVES TWO PURPOSES
Speaking just after he’d stated that Damian de Allende, who didn’t play in Gqeberha against the Barbarians, so effectively played his first Bok game of the new season against England, wasn’t in the side to play Scotland because he was being rested, Erasmus acknowledged that his big squad and rotational selection policy was geared towards two goals.
The more players he has that are up to international standard, and versed in the Bok systems, the more he can manage those players he needs to and the better-placed the Boks are to deal with the rather unique situation they face through being committed to a 12-month season. No other nation, with the exception maybe of France, has the capacity to do what the Boks are doing - which is effectively killing two birds with one stone.