Rassie Erasmus focused on building Springboks depth

Rassie Erasmus says South Africa’s early-season selection rotation has helped build Springboks squad depth while still keeping the world champions at the top of the Nations Championship table.

Rassie Erasmus Builds Springboks Depth

Erasmus has used the opening part of the 2026 season to test new combinations and expose more players to Test rugby. The Springboks made several changes across their July fixtures but still collected 15 points from matches against England, Scotland and Wales.

The South Africa coach said the main objective was not only to chase wins, but to increase depth across the squad ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

“If you look at the Championship, we collected 15 points, and we are at the top of the table after playing against England and Scotland, who are in the top five in the world,” Erasmus said.

“I have to be honest, we tried to build our player depth more than going for outright wins in the tournament.

"Obviously, we’ll park the tournament now and only play it in November again. A lot will happen between now and then. But we know we have plenty to fix".

Springboks Prepare For All Blacks Series

Erasmus admitted that South Africa have not yet selected their strongest possible matchday 23 this season. He said the coaching staff wanted to give players meaningful opportunities before moving into the next phase of the campaign.

“But to be honest, in the last few games, we haven’t selected our best 23 yet, and I’ve found out from experience that a year from a World Cup you must ensure you have depth until a fourth player per position.

"In that respect, we are happy with the three Tests and where we are.”

That selection approach is expected to shift when New Zealand arrive for the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series. Those Tests against the All Blacks are likely to give South Africa a clearer chance to settle on a first-choice squad.

South Africa Eye 2027 Rugby World Cup

South Africa are also expected to use the one-off Test against Argentina on August 8 to assess more players before the Nations Championship resumes in November.

The Springboks coach said there was still plenty to fix, but he was pleased with how the squad-building process had progressed during the opening Tests of the season.

“Argentina is going to be tough – like Wales they’ve had our number a few times and our biggest loss was to them since we’ve been together from 2018. We are just trying to build our game".