Andre Esterhuizen has hailed Rassie Erasmus’ management of the Springboks coaches and players as they look to complete the Rugby World Cup three-peat.
Following South Africa’s success in 2023, Erasmus reclaimed the head coach reins from Jacques Nienaber with the latter heading off to join Irish club Leinster.
With Felix Jones also departing the set-up to join Steve Borthwick’s England coaching team, Erasmus needed to recruit new assistants and landed on ex-Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery and former All Blacks fly-half Tony Brown.
Not only did the returning Bok coach need to freshen up the coaching team but the playing squad too with many of the 2019 and 2023 World Cup winners entering their 30s, pushing them out of their prime for the next tournament in Australia in 2027.
This led to Erasmus giving the next generation of Springboks players an opportunity to impress in 2024 with the head coach using 50 players in total.
The move worked the trick with South Africa ending a five-year wait for a Rugby Championship title and losing just two of their 13 Test matches in 2025.
Rassie’s management
One of those 50 players, Esterhuizen, has now pinpointed what makes Erasmus such a successful head coach with the centre revealing that everything the team does goes through him and hailed his man management in terms of coaches and players.
“Obviously, he coaches a lot with the coaches, if you understand what I mean,” Esterhuizen said on The Rugby Pod.
“So when Tony comes in, he’s doing the attack, but everything has gone through Rassie already. In terms of that, he manages the coaches well and then they coach us.
“Then, he is obviously great with players in getting you up for every game. It depends on what team you play but there will always got be a little bit of history thrown at you or something to get you up for the game.”
Much has been made of the demanding rugby schedule for South African players, with those based in the republic and picked for the Springboks effectively playing all year round. However, Esterhuizen believes that Erasmus’ ploy to test the player pool depth will be beneficial for the older players in the squad who are setting their sights on representing South Africa in Australia in two years’ time.
Andre Esterhuizen reveals the ‘strange’ aspect of playing in the north compared to Super Rugby
He adds that the mandatory rest period afforded to South African-based players is also playing a role in ensuring they are fit and firing.
“In terms of managing players, it’s mandatory that every player gets like eight weeks off during a season, like four completely off and then active resting weeks, but when it’s time to play for South Africa, there’s no managing there if you’re fit, you need to be able to play with every game,” he explained.
“Also, now that he has brought in a bit of rotation with 50 players in one season that brings a lot more experience through to younger players experiencing Test-level rugby for the next three years before the next World Cup, which is obviously also great.
“And I think, well, for me, looking at that, if you only play every second Test since it also rests the body and helps some of the older guys get to the next World Cup.”
Gayton McKenzie’s blunt verdict on SA Rugby’s private equity deal with US investors
Esterhuizen not feeling fatigued just yet
Having returned to the Sharks after his successful stint with Harlequins in the Premiership, Esterhuizen is one of those players who are effectively playing 12 months of the year.
However, despite currently being injured, he is not feeling the fatigue just yet but does understand why some might be using the example of Eben Etzebeth.
“For me, it’s a bit different than to say Eben or someone like that. He played 13 Test games this season,” he said.
“I played two, then got injured then only one on the end-of-year tour too. Yes, I was still part of the travelling team and still trained the three or four weeks so it is tough to find the time to get off and get a bit of time away from rugby.
“I think most of the boys are resting now in February for five weeks but if you don’t manage it well, it can be bad. At the moment we’re still trying to find the balance between when to play and when to rest.
“Obviously don’t want to rest in game [weeks], so the Six Nations break will be a good time to rest when we have off but we still have a game or two in that period as well which are games that got postponed earlier.
“So, my body’s still fine well I’m injured now but that’s not because of overload or anything, it’s just the clean out from the side on the knee.
“I think some of the other boys are feeling it, some of the boys that play quite a bit of rugby for South Africa and at club level.”
READ MORE: Eben Etzebeth weighs in on greatest debate as third World Cup remains Springboks’ ‘main thing’
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/andre-esterhuizen-hails-the-rassie-erasmus-ploy-to-get-older-springboks-to-the-next-world-cup
