Springboks’ World Cup 2027 planning kicks off against Portugal

The Springboks are kicking their succession planning into high gear when a team made up of largely fringe players takes on Portugal in a one-off Test match at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday evening.

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus named a side mixed with experience and youth for the game, with World Cup winners like Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, Andre Esterhuizen, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cobus Reinach, Manie Libbok and Thomas du Toit all in the starting XV.

However he also picked Salmaan Moerat, who has just six Bok caps to his name, as captain for the match, while there are three debutants in the starting XV, namely Phepsi Buthelezi, Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, as well as four more debutants on the bench.

Not a B team

Erasmus explained that they had named the team with a firm view on the current World Cup cycle, leading up to the showpiece event in Australia in 2027, and claimed that this team was not a B team and would be able to give the side that played against Ireland a run for their money.

“We have tried to do our succession planning and we tried to make sure that our loss against Ireland doesn’t influence our mindset. In 2020 if we had been able to play rugby we would have done the same thing. Now we have the opportunity to do that and we must stick with it,” said Erasmus.

“If you compare the guys who are playing this weekend with the guys who played last weekend against Ireland there is very little difference (in strength). So I wouldn’t call this a B team.

“This is a team that if they had played against Ireland last weekend it would have been a tight Test match. And that is what we want.”

Massive opportunity

The game is a massive opportunity for the Bok fringe players to impress the coaching staff and put their hand up for selection to the squad that will battle it out in the Rugby Championship from next month.

It will also grow good depth in the Bok setup and Erasmus said that every player involved should take pride in playing against the Portuguese.

“We want to have two guys in every position pushing each other (to be better) and to also have a young guy knocking on the door wanting to come through,” explained Erasmus.

“I know I have said it before but we weren’t able to do this in 2020 and now we have 2024 where we are able to do this. But we know in doing this we will have speed bumps, like we did on (this past) Saturday (loss to Ireland), which is not lekker.

“I want these guys to be proud of playing for the Springboks against Portugal. A guy like Eben Etzebeth who has over 120 caps, has (played against) Namibia and Romania somewhere in there. So a Test cap is a Test cap.”

Don’t underestimate

Erasmus added that Portugal is not a team that can be underestimated and if any of the new or inexperienced players took the game lightly, the Bok management would immediately see that they aren’t cut out for Test rugby.

“Portugal can’t be underestimated. They beat Fiji (at the World Cup). So if any of these guys takes this game lightly we will see that they are not Test match material. It is also going to be a sell out crowd, so they have to represent the Springboks to the best of their ability,” said Erasmus.

“We have analysed them (Portugal) and it’s going to be a busy game, we are going to be all over the field. I think they are going to run away from our set pieces and try to move us around.”