Why the 2027 World Cup will be Erasmus’ last dance with the Springboks
Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks are a match made in heaven, but every relationship has its conclusion. Could 2027 be the last dance?
Springboks show once again why they’re the world’s best.
Three games after winning the Rugby Championship, Rassie Erasmus led his side to a clean sweep of the UK, beating Scotland by fifteen points, England by nine and Wales by thirty-three – capping off another stellar year for South Africa.
Under the careful guidance of Erasmus, the Springboks have leapt back to the top, following a lacklustre Allister Coetzee takeover between 2016 and 2017, who won only eleven times in twenty-five matches – Erasmus reached as many wins in thirteen games.
He inherited a dilapidated team undergoing an identity crisis and steered them towards warmer waters – they’ve become world rugby’s new benchmark, the new blueprint – from bomb squad to squad depth – for what makes a team great.
The Springboks have become so dominant, so ruthless, and so precise that they are now the game’s ultimate test, eclipsing the mighty All Blacks.
Closing act?
It’s been seven years since Erasmus has been at the helm, winning back-to-back World Cups and on course to claim the elusive three-peat – but this wasn’t his first taste of triumph with the Springboks.
Back in 2007, he served as the team’s technical advisor, playing a pivotal role in their World Cup victory.
By the time Australia’s rendition of the World Cup concludes, he would have been in office for ten years, which, with a World Cup then only four years later, could prompt Springbok’s greatest ever coach to close the curtain on his remarkable South African career.
The former flanker isn’t getting any younger and may like the thought of a new challenge before retiring, or he could do a Sir Alex Ferguson and continue for sixteen more years – we hope you choose the latter, Rassie.
A third consecutive World Cup—achieving what no one else has ever done—would be the ultimate fairy tale ending, the crowning moment of his career. And something tells me that’s exactly how he wants to bow out: on top of the world.
Do you think Rassie Erasmus leaves the Springboks after the World Cup?
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