GAVIN RICH: Rassie hedges his bets on Kolisi by going big

The proviso Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus attached when he said at a press conference that Siya Kolisi will continue as captain for the foreseeable future wasn’t that he just stays fit but he remains No 1 in his position. On the evidence of his past few games, that isn’t in doubt. Or at least it isn’t now.

Kolisi made an impact for the Sharks when he came onto the field when it was already a lost cause for them in the previous United Rugby Championship (URC) derby in Johannesburg. The Durbanites scored two late consolation tries, and Kolisi created one and scored the other.

In the return game at Kings Park, Kolisi featured in all the tries while he was on the field — he helped create the first for Grant Williams and he scored the next two.

Kolisi, with five, has been in good try-scoring form in the URC considering he has played less than half the games, but that’s not what it’s about. His contribution in every aspect of the game has been top drawer, and he’s certainly silencing any thoughts that he might give a bit less at franchise level than he does for the Boks.

It is hard to remember when last Kolisi was in the form he is in now so when it comes to whether he is the best in his position, perhaps the question hovers over which position it is that he is the best in. He plays openside flank for the Boks, and is now starting to look increasingly like the settled No 8 for the Sharks.

That does not mean Kolisi is a certainty to lead the Boks at the next World Cup in 2027. Erasmus made it clear he will choose him as his leader as long as he is good enough, but there was nothing he said that indicated any certainty he will still be good enough when the age he will be when the RWC in Australia arrives — 36.

It is a gamble to bet on any player who is in his early 30s now being the same player in a few years, but Erasmus’ way around that is to go big. Big in the sense of the size of the group he intends working with through this year, something that has the dual benefit of increasing depth and ensuring the older players are not overplayed.

Where he’s also going big is in his management team, which with the return of Felix Jones, who does not replace anyone but is added to the group, leaves no bases uncovered. And in the length of the schedule in 2025 — if I read Erasmus correctly, two Tests and a game against the Barbarians will be added to the 13 Tests already scheduled.

All of this is geared towards the Boks, who lost a year in the previous World Cup cycle to Covid-19, being in a position in which they have an abundance of personnel and options and can go deep in manpower and ideas in 2027. The quest for the three-peat might be their most pressured World Cup attempt yet because the two successive titles and the current success that is occurring early in this cycle is breeding expectation.

It is an expectation that ought to have been tempered a bit by what France did to Ireland in Dublin in what was widely perceived as the Six Nations decider at the weekend. When they lost to England it killed off the sense that we had before the tournament that France were heading towards a formidable groove, but that sense is now back.

If ever there was a statement performance it was this one from France, with the five-try rout being rooted around not just the evidence that the irrepressible attacking potency of the French clubs in the European competitions is being transferred to the national team, but also their impressive defence.

They did it too with a proper “Bomb Squad”, with the extreme 7/1 split between forwards and backs on the bench now becoming far more of a trend with Fabien Galthie than it ever was with Erasmus. In many ways the French strengths are also Bok strengths, and there’s the added positive now for France in the form of the supremely talented youngsters coming through.


The France under-20 team has been successful for a while now but the team that thrashed Ireland in the junior international the night before the senior game showed just how fertile France has become as a rugby breeding ground.

The SA franchises have already experienced it when playing against French teams, who tend to have more homegrown players these days than they used to. So if the alignment camp starts off with a focus on France and the need to thwart them, it shouldn’t come as a surprise and it would be apt. France are going to be a stumbling block to SA’s quest for continued No 1 status.