‘Scary fact’ has England greats ‘mightily impressed’ with Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks

Retired England duo Ben Youngs and Dan Cole have delivered their assessment of the Rugby Championship title-winning Springboks – and it’s a verdict full of envy about how Rassie Erasmus goes about his business.

The 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup winners will play Japan, France, Italy, Ireland, and Wales in a November series that the head coach is now organizing after leading South Africa to their first-ever back-to-back Championship victories last weekend.

The world’s number one team’s crushing 43-10 thumping of the All Blacks in Wellington was the high point of their recent run of results, but Youngs and Coles have praised Erasmus’ rotation of his squad. On the most recent episode of For The Love Of Rugby, Youngs talked about the Erasmus method and was astounded by how the Springboks used the incredible amount of 47 players throughout their six-match Rugby Championship campaign.

“Such breadth and depth…

” The Springboks are well on their way to establishing an enviable strength in depth for their 2027 World Cup title defense, and teams like England could never consider utilizing that number in an international window for fear that the level of performance would drastically decline. is just a great deal of depth, and they remain creative. (Cobus) Reinach, who is 35 years old, has been outstanding in this competition. The clever thing, though, is that they are playing him with a very young child—ten—so he can assist them.

“He is a 35-year-old, two-time World Cup winner, a fantastic international nine, and he is currently mentoring a 10-year-old outside of himself [Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu]. After that, you start examining their back three threats before turning your attention to the midfield and their alternatives, which we have already seen.

“Just consider the depth from a backline perspective, which excludes the forwards’ flex and the depth they are displaying. The direction the Boks are taking and their continued dominance in many areas are quite astounding.

“Since New Zealand didn’t lose too often and South Africa dropped a few games this season, I wouldn’t claim they are as good as the squad from 2011 to 2015. However, when you look at it, they have lost because they are changing the team and experimenting, which is really simply a way to develop more depth two years before the World Cup.

Cole: “That New Zealand team ’11-15 was very settled, everyone peaked at the same time, whereas this Springbok team, it’s not in transition, but it is building more depth behind it. That New Zealand team set out to win every game, whereas this South African team has set out to build depth and win every game. I am sure if they wanted, they could roll out the same guys and they would be as dominant as that Kiwi team.”

Youngs: “I think that with the Springboks right now as well, if you were to try and pick your 33-man squad for the 2027 World Cup, there are some really, really tough ones because there is so much depth and versatility in terms of what they bring.

When you start looking at the back line, the midfielders, and the back three, you realize how amazing it is that Thomas du Toit can play both sides. You can also see the back row and the options and locks they have there. You would never see a team in the Six Nations deploy 47 players during the Rugby Championship. As the Stormers dominate the Scarlets, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and the Springbok star are ignored.

Cole said, “The fact that you have guys who can play the traditional way, like Reinach, who is 35, Handre (Pollard), and Faf de Klerk, is frightening.” Then there is your Sachas of this world, who might come in and play frantically and quickly. Then you can mix the two together, as they did the weekend before.

Depending on the competition and their preferred style of play, they have a plethora of possibilities. Will they move the ball around and play ball control? Do they have to sit on a lead, develop a lead, or pursue the game? That strong forward pack is the source of like a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. In essence, they are free to do as they like.

Youngs: “You know how teams from the northern hemisphere don’t always rotate to the same level as those from the southern hemisphere? South Africa does, for sure. Why is that? Given their player pool, Rassie’s performance, and his status as an absolute elite coach, do you believe he has earned that right? And do you believe that no fans would have the patience to see England switch teams in the fall, or do you believe that there is no tolerance for that as everything is thrown out the window if they lose?

The depth of players allows you to rotate. Cole: “Good question. Yes, Rassie has the ability to experiment. They lost against Australia in the first game, but there was no pressure on his job. As a fan, your nose would be out of joint, but there was no pressure on jobs or anything like that, which you can understand having won two World Cups.”

“If you look at the depth of the centers, they are four or five guys who would start for pretty much every other team in the world. At 10, you have three different variants, but there aren’t many teams with three 10s or three nines who can all play international rugby and get experience.”

You can play a Pollard with a young nine when you are winning and have that skill because he can help manage him. Before you know it, the young nine has 20 caps. For example, Reinach has 20 caps and a young 10; they are just winning and fostering a winning mentality. As with the front row, they can bring in a young player since they know they can always rely on their current roster..

Regarding the Rugby Championship, I will state that South Africa has to defeat New Zealand twice, which is a very difficult task because they are so skilled, but they can rotate against the other teams. I’m not being awful, but they can rotate against Argentina and Australia, but England can’t rotate against France, Scotland, or Ireland right now because you’re going to lose.

It’s a little “do we want to do that because that will break momentum?” but you could rotate against Wales and Italy. Since we only have five games together, the options are different.

Additionally, South Africa has a high floor of performance because they are so accustomed to their style of play—dominant scrum, dominant maul, and the ability of the backline to score—which enables them to adapt and try to reach even greater heights. In contrast, I believe that other teams, such as the England, Irish, or Scottish teams, have a much lower floor, a lower performance, and you don’t really want to take that chance.