Soon after returning from the Springboks’ successful year-end tour of the United Kingdom, Rassie Erasmus confirmed he had undergone much-needed shoulder surgery.

“It’s all okay, I think I’ll be out of hospital soon,” Erasmus said via an audio clip posted on his X account last week.

Apparently the surgery was required to ‘treat’ an old rugby injury that had worsened over time, and more medical procedures may well be required down the line.

However, Erasmus confirmed in an interview with Sunday newspaper Rapport that one of the main reasons he opted to go under surgery now was so that he could be even more hands-on during Springbok training sessions.

“I really like to train and run with the players,” Erasmus stated. “It became frustrating to no longer do that or get involved in certain exercises.”

RASSIE LED THE SPRINGBOKS TO A COMFORTABLE FINISH AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD RANKINGS THIS YEAR

RANK COUNTRY POINTS
1 South Africa 92.78
2 Ireland 90.78
3 New Zealand 90.36
4 France 88.51
5 Argentina 84.97
6 Scotland 83.34
7 England 82.31
8 Australia 81.52
9 Fiji 80.07
10 Italy 78.64
11 Wales 74.01
12 Georgia 73.85
13 Japan 72.95
14 Samoa 72.68
15 USA 70.02
16 Portugal 68.82
17 Uruguay 67.06
18 Spain 65.98
19 Tonga 65.46
20 Romania 63.01

The Springboks’ season-ending victory over Wales meant the Boks finished the year with 11 wins from 13 Tests and go into 2025 as World Rugby’s number one ranked team.

Their sole losses were one-point defeats by Argentina and Ireland.

“It’s more important how all those players slotted in and how we didn’t really lose a lot of momentum, which probably I thought would have been the case,” Erasmus said upon reflection.

“With a new attack and defence coach, chopping and changing, I think we definitely did lose the rhythm of that game at times.

“But for Siya (Kolisi) and all the other guys who were captains this year, how they pulled the team and stayed together, it’s really important.”

Erasmus said at the start of the season, his concern had been how the players would “accept that we’re not 25 players but 50-plus”.

“I didn’t know if the senior guys would understand they would probably make their careers longer if they don’t play every single Test match every week and give the younger guys a chance.

“We actually said, ‘Those who don’t want to buy into this, unfortunately you can’t be part of the group’.

“Those results mean a lot.”

WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2024 TEST SEASON?

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Src: TheSouthAfrican.com - https://rugga.co.za/springboks/rassie-the-real-reason-i-opted-to-undergo-surgery/