Rugby World Cup legend Joel Stransky believes making a transition from the current Springboks team to a new one is amongst the toughest challenges facing head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Erasmus has already indicated that he will be making changes in the run-up to South Africa’s trophy defence at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
The 52-year-old masterminded the Springboks‘ 2019 and 2023 World Cup victories and has already started the process of phasing out some of the players who were stalwarts during those triumphant campaigns.
Veteran full-back Willie le Roux, who is 35 years old, is still part of the world champions’ squad but has been relegated to a peripheral role with Aphelele Fassi now firmly entrenched as the Boks’ first choice number 15.
Makazole Mapimpi, 34, won two World Cup titles but said recently he does not expect to be playing for the Springboks when they defend their title in 2027.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old scrum-half Faf de Klerk was left out of South Africa’s squad for the recent Autumn Nations Series along with fellow double World Cup winner Trevor Nyakane (front-row), who is 35.
Another 2023 World Cup winner, second-rower Jean Kleyn, was also omitted from Erasmus’ initial 36-man squad for their end-of-year tour of Europe but was later added to the group ahead of their tour opener against Scotland following an injury to Ruan Nortje.
Despite the alterations made to their set-up, the Springboks still delivered the goods and won 11 out of 13 Tests in 2024. The two defeats which they suffered could easily have ended in victory for Erasmus’ troops as both losses – against Ireland and Argentina – were by one-point margins.
When asked if the Boks can still improve after finishing the year at the top of World Rugby’s official rankings, Stransky told Planet Rugby in an exclusive interview: “There’s always room for improvement, and I think that’s one thing Rassie’s been so good about, is that he strives for perfection, and I think perfection comes in many different parts.
“It’s the tiny little things in every little aspect of the game. You can break it down from scrums, line-outs, passing, throw-ins, whatever.
“There’s always room to find perfection.”
More structure on attack needed
Stransky added that he feels the addition of Tony Brown to the coaching team should lead to them improving on one key aspect of the game they have been lacking in the past.
“One area I think we do need to improve on, and I think obviously the Springboks camp has already identified it, because they’ve got Tony Brown (is attacking structure),” he said.
“I look at it, and I think so often, we score great tries out of individual brilliance.
“I’m not always sure against really well-organised, structured defences, we build phases, and we create wonderful try-scoring opportunities. We force tries from huge pressure and from individual brilliance.
“And I think that’s Tony Brown’s responsibility now, it’s about making the attack more structured and giving us more weapons to go out there and score tries and beat teams.
“Because we’ve got the forwards, we’ve got the athletes, we’ve got everything. A little bit of structure can only help.”
Stransky, who made 22 Test appearances at fly-half for South Africa and kicked the match-winning drop goal in the 1995 World Cup final, then highlighted the Boks’ transition which he feels is a more serious test facing Erasmus.
“I think for me right now, the bigger challenge is about transition,” said the 57-year-old. “We’re a team that have won two World Cups, we’re a team that have been together for a long time.
“There’s some old guys in that team that are at a borderline, I’d say, where they are at the next World Cup. I think right now, and Rassie’s doing it well, he’s bringing the youngsters in, he’s creating a talent pool again that is absolutely unbelievable. But it’s a team that now has to transition, it’s a team that has to evolve into a new World Cup-winning team.
“A new team to win a World Cup in three years’ time, and hopefully bring back more trophies. It’s not impossible, it’s certainly doable. We’ve got so much talent in this country, we’re just churning out the talent.
“We’re absolutely blessed, and so far, so good. We see all these youngsters coming through, they look good, they play well, we carry on winning. We lost a couple of Tests this year, but I don’t think Rassie will be too upset about that.
“The youngsters have come through, and the future looks bright.”
Apart from Le Roux, Mapimpi, De Klerk, Nyakane and Kleyn, the likes of captain Siya Kolisi, Damian de Allende, Eben Etzebeth and Frans Malherbe are aged 33 while Franco Mostert is 34.
That quintet – along with others – formed the nucleus of South Africa’s back-to-back World Cup triumphs and Stransky is not so sure those players will be around when the global showpiece comes around again in three years time.
‘Not impossible, but highly unlikely’
“Logically, to play in the next World Cup at 36, 37 years old, you would think it would be, not impossible, but highly unlikely,” he explained.
“And that’s why Rassie is working so hard, to bring the young guys through, to give them the game-time in the big games, to chuck guys in the big games and see how they fare.
“And most of them have fared really well.”
Stransky has been impressed with the way most of the new players have fared in the international arena, although making the step up to Test level has been more difficult than in previous years.
“The other challenge I think he (Erasmus) has is that, as competitive as the URC is, it’s not the same platform as Super Rugby, and week-in week-out contests against New Zealand teams,” he added.
“So I think it’s probably a slightly bigger step from URC to Test rugby than it was from Super Rugby to Test rugby. So the youngsters are getting chucked into the Tests, and maybe some of them are taking a little longer to adjust, but most of them have stepped up big time. It’s been wonderful to watch.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/springboks-legend-reveals-rassie-erasmus-bigger-challenge-ahead-of-2027-world-cup
