Rassie Erasmus: 'I think we'll find a very desperate New Zealand team'

Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks management are working through what 2026’s new-look Test calendar demands, what adjustments need ot be made, and how it fits into the storied history of the rivalries involved.

The coach named a 49-man squad for a March ‘alignment’ camp yesterday, fronting the media to address the challenges that await the Springboks in July and September, specifically.

The reigning world champions host England, Scotland, and Wales in the first block of the Nations Championship games in July, before the four-game Greatest Rivalry Series against New Zealand kicks off on August 23. One-off games against the Barbarians, Pumas, and Wallabies also feature in the Boks’ schedule before heading to Europe for more Nations Championship action.

It’s a mammoth schedule, and player workload management is sure to be a consideration, especially with four consecutive weeks of Rugby World Cup final rematches.

Exactly how Erasmus plans on using his squad throughout the Greatest Rivalry series is yet to be decided.

“It will be an interesting one. We don’t have the answer right now,” he said when asked by reporters about his strategy. “But, they’re in the same boat; the only thing is that three games are in South Africa.

“It’s really exciting. I loved it when we toured there. I like mid-week games. We’ve got the luxury of when they play a mid-week game against a South African team, we might say, ‘Let’s release this player, for that specific game’. So, we can maybe juggle it a little bit more.

“Currently, we’re looking at that England game. It’s a big one, and the first three Test matches. Probably, how things form out there, guys get through it, and guys step up to the mark and, ‘Wow, this guy’s a Test-match player’.

“But, the Greatest Rivalry, I think we’ll see the players’ fitness, how do some guys adapt to playing against Scotland, playing against Wales, playing against England, and then say, ‘This guy’s ready to play New Zealand’.

“It’s almost a nice way to see how they can handle the pressure. And I think we’ll find a very desperate New Zealand team.

“So no, we haven’t nailed it down, the amount of players. I think we’ll have 36 in the squad most of the time, in the June Test matches, and I think 40 for the Greatest Rivalry.”

The Kiwis are sure to name a giant squad as well, given, as Erasmus referenced, there are four games against South Africa’s URC club teams on the tour schedule.

The last tour between the teams was in 1996, the year of the first Tri-Nations Series, which would later become the Rugby Championship. There was nearly a century of tours between the two countries that preceded the inaugural Tri-Nations. Erasmus was asked if he would lean on that history for motivation.

“Some people forget about things that have happened in the past,” the coach responded.

“The last captain that won a series for us (in New Zealand)—what school was Jessie (Kriel) in? I think it was also a captain from Maritzburg College; things like that count. And I think when Jessie ran out (as captain at Eden Park last year), you think about those things, you think about the history, it would be great to have again a captain from there.

“We didn’t pick Jessie as captain for that reason, obviously, but someone sent me an email that week saying, ‘Did you know the last captain was also from Maritzburg?’

“So, I think the younger guys who are in the mix, and the younger coaches, they don’t remember those things. But we do.

“But you don’t go into that week saying, ‘Guys, we’re going to do it for 1996, we remember that team’. But then, when it’s done, it’s great memories coming up.”