Rassie Erasmus came agonisingly close to equalling a Springboks record in 2024 which was set by Jake White and has stood for 17 years.
Following South Africa’s back-to-back Rugby World Cup victories, Erasmus has expressed the need to usher in the next generation of Springboks players and he certainly did that in 2024.
He issued 12 Test debuts in his first year back in charge and recalled several players who had been on the fringe of the squad throughout the last Rugby World Cup cycle.
This meant that Erasmus used a mind-boggling 50 players over 13 Test matches in 2024. Despite spreading his net and testing the depth of his player pool, South Africa still managed to win 11 of those 13 games with their two defeats coming by a single point.
Despite the mass rotation from Erasmus, he was unable to match or beat a record set back in 2007 by former head coach and fellow Rugby World Cup winner White.
That is ofcourse the record for the most players used by a Springboks head coach in a calendar year.
Jake White’s Springboks record
While Erasmus used 50 players in 2024, his tally fell short of White’s in 2007 when the then-Springboks head coach caused controversy by resting 20 of his frontline players for the away leg of the Tri Nations.
White would 52 players in total that year with the likes of John Smit, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Bryan Habana, Percy Montgomery and several others missing the Tests in Australia and New Zealand as the head coach focused on winning the Rugby World Cup.
The now Bulls director of rugby also heavily rotated his team for the matches against Samoa, Namibia and the Test against Wales after winning the Rugby World Cup. Included White’s 52 players was Luke Watson who was controversially snubbed by the head coach only to be added to the squad by SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins. Watson would earn his Test debut against Samoa after South Africa hammered England 52-22 and 58-10 but an underwhelming performance saw him being dropped from the squad and did not play again in 2007.
Watson was not the only player to debut under White during the World Cup year with Waylon Murray, Bismarck du Plessis, Peter Grant, and Jannie du Plessis all earning their first caps before the tournament in France.
White’s ploy to rest players paid dividends as South Africa would go on to defeat England 15-6 in the final at the Stade Francais to win just their second World Cup and in a one-off Test after the tournament, the head coach issued two more debuts in his final game in charge with Ryan Kankowski and Heinke van der Merwe playing in the 34-12 victory over Wales.
Springboks debuts in 2024
While Erasmus’ use of 50 players in 2024 did raise a few eyebrows it was far less controversial than White in 2007 because it was the year after a World Cup rather than the year of the global tournament.
However, he came close to equalling White’s tally and would have done so had Nico Janse van Rensburg earned a cap this year after being called into the squad during the Rugby Championship while Jean Kleyn was selected to play in the final Test against Wales before withdrawing through injury.
While many of the stars from the Rugby World Cup successes did pull on the Green and Gold jumper once again this year, Erasmus did issue debuts to Jordan Hendrikse, Edwill van der Merwe, Ben-Jason Dixon, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Phepsi Buthelezi, Morné van den Berg, André-Hugo Venter, Quan Horn, Ruan Venter, and Cameron Hanekom.
Erasmus’ 50 Springboks in 2024 is the second-highest ever amount of players to play Test rugby for South Africa in a calendar year and beating White’s 49 in 2006 and Erasmus’ own tally of 49 in 2018.
Data sourced from bokhist.com
Jake White’s 52 Springboks in 2007
Johan Ackermann, Eddie Andrews, Gary Botha, BJ Botha, Bakkies Botha, Gerrie Britz, Schalk Burger, Deon Carstens, Tonderai Chavhanga, Michael Claassens, Jacques Cronjé, Jean de Villiers, Bevin Fortuin, Jaque Fourie, Peter Grant, Bryan Habana, Derick Hougaard, Butch James, Conrad Jantjes, Enrico Januarie, Wayne Julies, Ryan Kankowski, Hilton Lobberts, Victor Matfield, Percy Montgomery, Johann Muller, Waylon Murray, Akona Ndungane, Wynand Olivier, Breyton Paulse, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Fourie du Preez, Jaco Pretorius, André Pretorius, Os du Randt, Danie Rossouw, Bobby Skinstad, John Smit, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Gürthro Steenkamp, Francois Steyn, Albert van den Berg, CJ van der Linde, Heinke van der Merwe, Wikus van Heerden, Pedrie Wannenburg, Luke Watson, Ashwin Willemse
Rassie Erasmus’ 50 Springboks in 2024
Lukhanyo Am, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Damian de Allende, Faf de Klerk, Ben-Jason Dixon, André Esterhuizen, Eben Etzebeth, Aphelele Fassi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Johan Grobbelaar, Cameron Hanekom, Jordan Hendrikse, Jaden Hendrikse, Quan Horn, Vincent Koch, Cheslin Kolbe, Siya Kolisi, Jesse Kriel, Willie le Roux, Manie Libbok, Wilco Louw, Elrigh Louw, Frans Malherbe, Makazole Mapimpi, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Ntuthukho Mchunu, Salmaan Moerat, Canan Moodie, Franco Mostert, Ox Nche, Ruan Nortjé, Trevor Nyakane, Handré Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Evan Roos, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Gerhard Steenekamp, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Thomas du Toit, Morné van den Berg, Edwill van der Merwe, Marco van Staden, André-Hugo Venter, Ruan Venter, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Jasper Wiese, Grant Williams
Most Springboks players in a calendar year
52 – 2007
50 – 2024
49 – 2006
49 – 2018
48 – 2003
48 – 2022
46 – 2002
45 – 2010
45 – 2014
44 – 2011
44 – 2016
43 – 2015
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/jake-whites-springboks-record-that-rassie-erasmus-fell-agonisingly-close-to-beating
