Rub of the Green column, by Mike Greenaway
Rugby World Cup history is littered with the failure of aged teams that went to the tournament on past glories, and Rassie Erasmus knows that several players who have done South Africa proud are not long off a chair on the stoep, with their pipe and slippers.
Erasmus was a technical advisor with the Bok squad that failed in the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup, and it wasn’t only because Bryce Lawrence refereed appallingly in their quarter-final against Australia.
That Bok team had won the 2007 World Cup and defeated the British and Irish Lions in 2009, but in 2011, the squad was ageing.
The best example is the Wallabies squad that contested the 1995 World Cup. They had won the 1991 event in England, but four years later in South Africa, a host of players were over the hill.
I felt a pang of sadness for David Campese when Pieter Hendriks ran around him in the opening match at Newlands.
Erasmus knows all of this, and has said that the biggest threat to success is to rest on laurels when the game keeps evolving. Looking back on his playing career, Erasmus colourfully described himself as an “entitled a**hole”.
It was Steven Kitshoff’s retirement this week that got me thinking about this subject.
Kitshoff made a telling remark in his farewell press conference. The 33-year-old said: “Three years ago, I could feel I wasn’t as agile as I used to be, and I had to work hard on my fitness to keep up with the younger players.”
#Stormers and #Springboks prop Steven Kitshoff on his retirement. Says he'll become a big fan of the teams now pic.twitter.com/AyLxsQYw4e
— Leighton Koopman (@Leighton_K) February 25, 2025
Kitshoff added that even if he had not suffered his neck injury, he had contemplated stepping down so the younger props could get a chance.
Those were a true gentleman’s unselfish words, but also underlined that Father Time spares nobody.
Kitshoff is the first of the magnificent warriors of 2023 to be officially out of the 2027 event in Australia, if you don’t count the retirement of Duane Vermeulen immediately after the 2023 World Cup final.
More will certainly follow as the torch is passed to the Young Turks who must secure the three-peat in two-and-a-half years.
"I can count my blessings and be very grateful that I am still alive" - retiring #Stormers and #Springboks prop Steven Kitshoff on the seriousness of his neck injury @IOLsport @CapeTimesSA @TheCapeArgus @TheStar_news pic.twitter.com/LeZkq1eXN6
— Leighton Koopman (@Leighton_K) February 25, 2025
There is no room for sentiment in top-level sport, and with 13 Springboks already 33 or older, some big names are not going to make it.
Already we have seen Faf de Klerk not picked last year as youngsters Jaden Hendrikse, Grant Williams and Morné van den Berg come to the fore.
Erasmus has said that he will get 35-year-old Willie le Roux to 100 caps this year (he is tantalisingly close on 98), and then the baton will be passed on.
You would think that 34-year-old Makazole Mapimpi won’t be far behind Le Roux.
Likewise, props Trevor Nyakane and Vincent Koch will be 37 at 2027 and unlikely to feature.
Siya Kolisi turns 34 in June, and will Erasmus take a 36-year-old flank to Australia?
Erasmus is too shrewd to cull the experience in the squad in one swoop. There will be a gradual phasing out, because he wants to keep winning this year and in 2026.
He doesn’t want the Boks to peak only every four years, and we have seen this last year when the Boks won 11 out of 13 matches while fielding 50 players.
I think the Boks’ chief adversaries looked at Erasmus’ alignment squads with a shudder.
Some 55 players based in South Africa will go into camp on Sunday, and 26 overseas-based Boks are to do a virtual camp.
The 81 names reflect an ideal balance between the old and the new as Erasmus maintains winning momentum, while building a squad that will be the envy of the world in 2027.