Rassie Erasmus will look to grow Bok depth in these 3 positions in 2024

The first Springbok alignment camp of the season took place in Cape Town earlier this week, with the Bok management team getting together first, before a group of 43-players joined them to kick start their preparations for the coming season.

It is a relatively settled Bok coaching group, with Rassie Erasmus returning to the head coaching role he held in 2018 and 2019, before Jacques Nienaber took over for the most recent World Cup (four year) cycle.

With Nienaber moving onto the head coaching job at Leinster and Felix Jones joining the England coaching staff, the Boks brought in former All Black Tony Brown and former Irish international Jerry Flannery.

Other new additions included Jaco Peyper in a new reffing role, and Bok double World Cup winner Duane Vermeulen in a roving coaching role, and they linked up at the alignment camp with the already established coaching group of Mzwandile Stick, Deon Davids, Daan Human and Andy Edwards.

They will now have had a good look at the players who took part in the camp and will be working out how to utilise them over what is set to be an interesting international season.

Minimal changes to Bok lineup

The Boks are unlikely to make many changes to their core group for their massive home games against Ireland and the All Blacks, or their two away games against the Wallabies, so a very similar team to what we saw at last year’s World Cup will probably be picked.

However, there are two games which offer a massive opportunity for the Boks to test their depth and bring some new players into their system.

The opening match of the season against Wales at Twickenham in June falls outside of the international window and will be played on the same day as the United Rugby Championship (URC) final.

So if a South African team makes the final of the URC, or possibly even two as the Stormers and Bulls did in 2022, those players would be unavailable for the match.

It is also unlikely that any Bok players plying their trade in England or France would be released for the match, although the Japanese based players could be available.

Regardless there is a good chance that an experimental team featuring a mixture of experienced and uncapped players could line up for that game.

The next match that will give another opportunity for fringe and debutants to take part will be the Boks’ clash against Portugal in Bloemfontein in July, with a fully second and third string team likely to be backed for that match.

Depending how the fringe and new players play, some of them may get a look in during the Rugby Championship for the Boks’ home and away games against Argentina.

New blood

The coaching staff will definitely be looking to bring in some new blood in key positions this season and hooker, flyhalf, and fullback are likely to be at the forefront of their minds.

The Boks are well stocked in the prop, lock, flank, scrumhalf, centre and wing departments, but there is always a chance for players to break down the door as well.

At hooker the Boks are extremely thin with Malcolm Marx, who is recovering from injury, and Bongi Mbonambi the only specialists in the group.

Johan Grobbelaar, Andre-Hugo Venter, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Marnus van der Merwe are the uncapped hookers who were called up to the alignment camp and they will be desperate for a look in during the season. The Boks’ third-choice hooker at the last World Cup, veteran Deon Fourie, is seemingly not part of the plans for the future.

At flyhalf the Boks are relatively strong with Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok supported by utility back Damian Willemse, but with Willemse likely to be the first choice Bok fullback going forward it would be worth blooding a youngster in case of injury.

Sanele Nohamba, Jordan Hendrikse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are the uncapped No 10s who were at the alignment camp this last week that could be brought into the Bok flyhalf mix during the course of 2024.

At fullback Willemse is backed up by stalwart Willie le Roux, but it is likely that Le Roux is in the final season or two of his Bok career and once he reaches 100 caps he could retire, which would leave a big hole in the position.

Canan Moodie is an utility option as backup at 15, as are the uncapped duo of Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Hendrikse, while Lions fullback Quan Horn has been making waves this season and could easily be an outside pick for a look-in during the Boks’ international campaign.

A number of other uncapped and fringe players will be in line for look-ins too, but competition will be especially fierce in the well stocked departments.