Three in a row? Boks need to replace Nienaber, keep Rassie and find new stars

After a stunning campaign saw the Springboks clinch a record fourth Rugby World Cup title and lift back to back Webb Ellis Cups, the squad and team management will be enjoying a few months of rest and celebrations before kicking into the next World Cup cycle next year.

A number of senior players will likely not be at the next showpiece event, so it is important that the Boks start building towards the 2027 tournament that will be taking place in Australia as soon as possible.

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On the coaching front, the Boks have already lost head coach Jacques Nienaber and assistant coach Felix Jones, and with SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus only contracted through until 2025, the first order of business should be on making sure Erasmus stays until 2027 at least.

Erasmus will need to play a massive role in guiding the next Bok coach, should SA Rugby decide to elevate one of the current assistants to the top position, such as Mzwandile Stick or Deon Davids.

A couple of new coaches will also have to be brought in to replace the departing ones, especially on the defence side of things as Nienaber is arguably the best defensive coach in world rugby.

On the player front, two elder statesmen will definitely not make the next World Cup with legendary eighthman Duane Vermeulen expected to bow out of international rugby on the ultimate high, while Deon Fourie will likely continue on in franchise rugby for a bit, but won’t be part of the Boks’ planning for 2027.

Dad’s army

In 2027 a number of players will be in the 35 to 38 year old age bracket and it is hard to see many of them being involved, although Vermuelen and Fourie (both 37) showed it can be done, but it is unlikely that the Boks will be a dad’s army at that time.

Willie le Roux and Trevor Nyakane will both be 38 at that stage and they will probably not still be in the Bok picture, while the 37-year-old crew in 2027 would include Makazole Mapimpi, Cobus Reinach and Vincent Koch.

The 36-year-old group would be the interesting one with Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Faf de Klerk, Franco Mostert, as well as Eben Etzebeth and captain Siya Kolisi all set to be that age come the World Cup Down Under.

Kolisi has already written himself into SA Rugby history as arguably the Boks’ greatest captain, so will he be fired up for more history? Etzebeth, too, will also be chasing Bok history over the coming years.

The Bok 35-year-old group will probably be the leaders of the team in Australia, with Pieter-Steph du Toit, Steven Kitshoff and Damian de Allende at the forefront.

The rest of the current squad should all be in the mix and players like Manie Libbok, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Damian Willemse, Handre Pollard, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche, will likely be the bedrock of that side.

However, it is clearly set to be a rebuilding phase for the Boks in the next year or two and they will need to bring in some young, fresh future stars to bolster them to make sure they will be in a strong position to challenge for the a third World Cup title in a row.