Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus admits that he had a different attitude to captaincy before he appointed Siya Kolisi to the leadership role soon after he took up the coaching reins in 2018.
“I used to think the captaincy wasn’t so important because I felt we had enough leaders on the field and there were players who led in different areas, but when I saw the fuss made when I appointed Siya that changed and I now understand how significant that was,” said Erasmus at a press briefing in Cape Town.
It was understood at the time that Duane Vermeulen was strongly in the mix to assume the captaincy, but Erasmus decided to go with Kolisi for his first series against England, with Pieter-Steph du Toit actually leading the Boks in his first game in charge which was an exhibition game against Wales in Washington.
That game took place a week before the first game against England and Erasmus fielded a second string team that night. The fact Du Toit, who a year later was the World Rugby Player of the Year and has gone on to become a double winner of that prestigious award, was in Washington and Kolisi wasn’t was actually an indication that Erasmus had quite a bit to learn about the South African players when he first arrived back from Ireland.
He later admitted that he didn’t rate Du Toit at the start, and yet Du Toit blossomed under his coaching and became one of the most influential Boks. Kolisi also exceeded all Erasmus’ expectations as a leader, not just on the field but also of course with the way he connected with the wider South African public.
It won’t be easy to dispense with Kolisi’s leadership, and the double World Cup-winning captain told supersport.com last year that he wanted to play as long as he was fit enough and well enough to do so and whoever eventually took his jersey off him would have to fight him for it.
It appears Erasmus is on the same page. Kolisi will be 36 by the time the next World Cup arrives in 2027, and Erasmus knows the core of the squad that won the Webb Ellis Cup in Japan in 2019 and again in France four years later will be well into their thirties by then.
But he is aware of these things, and it is why he spread the net so wide in his selections in 2024, selecting more than 50 players, and also giving Salmaan Moerat, among others, captaincy opportunities.
“We notice people are starting to put brackets next to guys’ ages and we do as well because we are working on succession planning and keep it very much on our minds as we know a time might come when some of the guys will get to a point where they can’t keep up anymore,” said Erasmus.
“At the same time though, you can’t plan a guy's career just around the World Cup. If he’s still good enough and still No 1, or 2 or 3 in his position, then it is fair that he must play. If we think he might retire in 2026, meaning before the World Cup, it would be unfair to leave him out now just because he will end in 2026.”
'GO BIG' IS CLEARLY RASSIE’S MANTRA
These concerns are why Erasmus is extending the Bok net so wide through his national alignment camps, the first of which will be held in Cape Town next week. The Springbok conditioning coach, Andy Edwards, also pointed to the large squad of 84 players as a way of getting around the disadvantages of the 12-month season South African players are part of because of the national team’s alignment to a southern hemisphere schedule while the clubs/franchise play in the north.
Go big appears to be Erasmus’ mantra, both when it comes to the number of players he wants to empower as well as with the size of his management team. He leaves no stone unturned, which is why he eagerly embraced Felix Jones when the Irishman said he’d like to return to the Boks, and he’s a groundbreaker when it comes to the employment of former top referee Jaco Peyper as part of his management group.
Erasmus’ most pressing concern though is that he has all his player bases covered in the buildup to 2027 and it is why, as was announced at the same press conference, the Boks are planning to play three extra games on top of the 13 tests scheduled - one game against the Barbarians and two extra full internationals. Playing so many games in the year will mean there is sufficient opportunity for the established players to prove they are still capable at this point while also building the insurance mechanism that clicks in with new players gaining international experience.
“If you look at our squad and depth chart, there’s a nice spread of older guys and younger guys out of the 84 in total. There’s three players who won’t play for us this year and that’s Elrigh (Louw - injured), Steven Kitshoff who is done, and Trevor (Nyakane). All the other players who are in those groups – if they don’t get another injury – will get game time and be available to be selected.”
KOLISI WILL HAVE TO REMAIN FIRST CHOICE IN HIS POSITION
When it comes to Kolisi and his captaincy, Erasmus did add an interesting albeit obvious caveat - he does still need to be the No 1 player in his position, although Erasmus refused to mention players he felt might be pushing Kolisi for his position on the flank because it would create (unnecessary) headlines.
The bottom line though is that he won’t be planning on any Kolisi exit from the captaincy role until it is made necessary by loss of fitness and form and it won’t be happening now.
“I know captaincy is a big thing in South Africa. When I started out [as a Bok player] it wasn’t a big thing for me because I always thought we all take ownership and support the captain. But the person that Siya has become in SA has changed my mind about that. Our feeling is, if a guy is 34, 35, 36 and injury-free, and is the fittest he can be, as long as he is the No. 1 in that position, he will stay captain.
“Obviously there have been some other options; Eben (Etzebeth) has been captain, Bongi (Mbonambi) has been captain and Pieter-Steph has been. There have been a couple. But if Siya is fit, healthy and in the best possible shape that he can be, I don’t think there will be a change this year.”
EBEN WILL BE BACK SOON
Speaking of Etzebeth, who was the permanent captain under Allister Coetzee before Erasmus took over, the coach is expecting the SA Rugby Player of the Year to be playing for the Boks this year despite his current inaction at franchise level because of ongoing concussion concerns.
The 33-year-old last played in December but is back at training and will attend the alignment camp in Cape Town.
“I’ve been to see Pierre Viviers, a concussion guru, to make myself more informed about concussion so I can better understand it,” said Erasmus.
“When a guy is totally concussion-free and he starts from a clean sheet again, that’s what we always want. Eben must just get to that stage now where they say he’s concussion-free. He doesn’t have any symptoms and has gone through all the processes and, according to what I’ve heard, he’ll be one of the players that will be available.
“He’s not yet ready to play but he’s very close to getting ready to play. Once that sheet is clean and he’s concussion-free, then it’s back to normal again. Obviously it is different with guys who have one concussion after another. There are implications when that happens. But that is not the case with Eben, we see him playing for us this year.”