The Springboks’ season kicks off in June, with players called for alignment camps and an ever-growing list of assistants to coach Rassie Erasmus.
This year promises to be a transitional one for the world champions, South Africa, as head coach Rassie Erasmus looks to the future both on and off the pitch.
The Springboks are back-to-back Rugby World Cup winners and have set the standard in the global game in recent years, with many of the innovations developed by Erasmus, which at first were criticized, now adopted by other teams.
It means to stay on top, the Springboks need to keep evolving, on and off the pitch, and Erasmus has already made one major re-appointment to bolster their brains trust.
The return of Felix Jones as one of six assistant coaches is a key appointment. The Irishman was involved in both the Springboks’ World Cup wins in 2019 and 2023 but left after the latter to take up a position with England.
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His stay there was short and he is now back in South Africa, with the Springboks able to utilize one of the best rugby brains in the world.
“We do think there are little things we have missed where we can do better and Felix is going to play a pretty vital role in that,” Erasmus says. “There is not one (Springbok assistant) coach who didn’t send me a list of things that he wants Felix to be involved with in his department.
“We know exactly what his role is going to be with us a nd if we do our hard work first, those small little edges might help us, which Felix will bring.”
Former New Zealand international flyhalf Tony Brown, ex-Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery, Deon Davids, Mzwandile Stick and scrum coach Daan Human are the other five assistants.
Erasmus has already welcomed 56 players to what are termed alignment camps, where much of the talking is done off the field to bring new and old players up to speed with what is expected of them in a Springbok jersey.
The coach has also requested an additional two tests be added to the Springboks’ schedule for 2025, which would bring their number of fixtures to a whopping 15.
That is to try and integrate non-regular players into the side quicker with the major goal in mind – building a pool of players capable of winning the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
“We are hoping that we will get 15 matches, we have almost confirmed every single one,” Erasmus says. “It’s a really tough season. I think it’s only the second time in history that we will play that many – 2007 was 17 matches.
“But we need that because we still want to filter and sieve some players, give a lot of them opportunities whilst winning because I know that I won’t be sitting here (as coach) if we just chop and change and don’t win (matches).”
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