Keo & Zels: How Rassie gets Eben to the 2027 RWC final
The 2023 Boks were the oldest ever to win a World Cup, and Rassie will have to make some tough calls to take the core of his team to a third-successive Rugby World Cup.
- Eben Etzebeth
- Rassie Erasmus
- Rugby World Cup
Rassie Erasmus to receive Order of Ikhamanga — South Africa's highest national honour
Rassie Erasmus will receive the Order of Ikhamanga — South Africa's highest national honour — from President Cyril Ramaphosa at an investiture ceremony on 19 May, recognising his role in the Springboks' back-to-back World Cup titles and his contribution to national unity.
The Springboks' real superpower isn't tactical — it's a promise made across 12 languages
A compelling analytical argument that Springbok dominance flows not from tactical sophistication but from a pre-existing collective identity — a refusal to lose the collision rooted in the cultural and historical weight of the jersey, with Paris 2023 and Wellington 2025 as its clearest data points.
Destiny, depth and the aerial 'set phase': Erasmus unpacks the England win
Erasmus reframes the Etzebeth and Kolisi injury disruptions as forced but valuable depth-testing ahead of 2027, while flagging the aerial contest as an emerging third set piece — and Willemse as the Boks' current master of it.
The Ruck: Springboks 'running the game on and off the pitch' as England obliterated at Ellis Park
The Ruck panel, reporting from Ellis Park, argued that England were overwhelmed in every department by a Springbok side missing six or seven key forwards — and that Rassie Erasmus's squad depth is now the most ominous thing in world rugby ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
Brits backs Libbok but flags the bench gamble Erasmus is taking against England
Brits backs the Libbok selection but flags a real structural risk in having no credible backup 10 on the bench, while arguing that a more mature Libbok — operating behind a dominant forward pack — could use this Nations Championship as a genuine World Cup audition.