What lies ahead for the Rugby World Cup 2023 winning Springboks

The Springboks became the first team to win the Rugby World Cup four times, after beating their main rivals, the New Zealand All Blacks 12-11 in the tense 2023 final in Paris.

An outstanding achievement by an experienced team that redefined what it means to succeed under huge pressure. The Boks played against all the other top six nations and won all three knockout games by the exact same margin of just one point.

Under the direction of the standout coach Rassie Erasmus, coming up next for South Africa has to be the implementation a succession plan which will include replacing aging players and addressing positional weaknesses.

Top of the list has to by the lack of depth position of flyhalf. Somehow South Africa emerged as nation with very few options in this position. Whatever those in charge of coaching and developing number-10’s after they finish school are doing, they have been failing quite badly. The quality just is not there. The solution seems to be a special high performance rugby school for young flyhalves – a concentrated effort to drastically improve the supply line to the national team.

Of the players in the Rugby World Cup 2023 winning squad, finding like-for-like positional replacements for the invaluable aging Trevor Nyakane (tighthead prop) and Bongi Mbonambi (hooker) looks like it will be an extremely difficult task. Other squad players nearing the end of the line are Deon Fourie (hooker), Vincent Koch (tighthead prop),  Duane Vermeulen (number-8), Cobus Reinach (scrumhalf) and Willie le Roux (fullback). A host of other players are all over thirty. These including captain Siya Kolisi (openside flank), World Rugby Player of the Year nominee Eben Etzebeth (lock), the Man of the Match for the final Pieter-Steph du Toit (blindside flank) and clutch-kicking specialist Handre Pollard (flyhalf). It highly unlikely that all will still be around, fit and/or in the same kind of test level form in the four years leading up to the Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.

CURRENT RWC 2023 SQUAD + OTHER CAPPED PLAYERS WITHIN THE RWC 2027 AGE RANGE

#	POSITION	PLAYER	SCHOOL	CAPS	DEBUT	DOB	AGE	AGE IN 2027
1	LOOSEHEAD	Steven Kitshoff	Paul Roos	83	2016	10/02/92	31	35
2	LOOSEHEAD	Ox Nche	Louis Botha	28	2017	23/07/95	28	32
3	HOOKER	Deon Fourie	Pietersburg	13	2022	25/09/86	37	41
4	HOOKER	Malcolm Marx	KES	64	2016	13/07/94	29	33
5	HOOKER	Bongi Mbonambi	Voortrekker/St Alban’s	68	2016	07/01/91	32	36
6	HOOKER	Joseph Dweba	Florida/Louis Botha	6	2021	25/10/95	28	32
7	TIGHTHEAD	Vincent Koch	Hugenote	49	2015	13/03/90	33	37
8	TIGHTHEAD	Frans Malherbe	HJS Paarl BH	69	2013	14/03/91	32	36
9	TIGHTHEAD	Trevor Nyakane	Ben Vorster	67	2013	04/05/89	34	38
10	LOCK	Eben Etzebeth	Tygerberg	119	2012	29/10/91	32	36
11	LOCK	Jean Kleyn	Linden	12	2023	26/08/93	30	34
12	LOCK	Franco Mostert	Brits	73	2016	27/11/90	32	36
13	LOCK	Marvin Orie	Tygerberg	16	2018	15/02/93	30	34
14	LOCK	RG Snyman	Affies	34	2018	29/01/95	28	32
15	LOCK	Lood de Jager	Hugenote (Springs)	66	2014	17/12/92	30	34
16	OPENSIDE	Siya Kolisi	Grey HS	83	2013	16/06/91	32	36
17	OPENSIDE	Kwagga Smith	HTS Middelburg	40	2018	11/06/93	30	34
18	OPENSIDE	Marco van Staden	Bekker	18	2018	25/08/95	28	32
19	BLINDSIDE	Pieter-Steph du Toit	Swartland	76	2013	20/08/92	31	35
20	NUMBER 8	Duane Vermeulen	Nelspruit	76	2012	03/07/86	37	41
21	NUMBER 8	Jasper Wiese	Upington	27	2021	21/10/95	28	32
22	SCRUMHALF	Faf de Klerk	Waterkloof	55	2016	19/10/91	32	36
23	SCRUMHALF	Jaden Hendrikse	Glenwood	15	2021	23/03/00	23	27
24	SCRUMHALF	Cobus Reinach	Grey College	32	2014	07/02/90	33	37
25	SCRUMHALF	Grant Williams	Paarl Gim	8	2022	02/07/96	27	31
26	FLYHALF	Manie Libbok	Outeniqua	14	2022	15/07/97	26	30
27	FLYHALF	Handré Pollard	Paarl Gim	72	2014	11/03/94	29	33
28	INSIDE	Damian de Allende	Milnerton	78	2014	25/11/91	31	35
29	INSIDE	André Esterhuizen	Klerksdorp	16	2018	30/03/94	29	33
30	OUTSIDE	Jesse Kriel	Maritzburg College	68	2015	15/02/94	29	33
31	OUTSIDE	Canan Moodie	Boland Landbou	10	2022	05/11/02	20	24
32	OUTSIDE	Lukhanyo Am	De Vos Malan	35	2017	28/11/93	29	33
33	WING	Kurt-Lee Arendse	Paulus Joubert	15	2022	17/06/96	27	31
34	WING	Cheslin Kolbe	Brackenfell	31	2018	28/10/93	30	34
35	WING	Makazole Mapimpi	Jim Mvabasa	41	2018	26/07/90	33	37
36	FULLBACK	Willie le Roux	Paul Roos	93	2013	18/08/89	34	38
37	FULLBACK	Damian Willemse	Paul Roos	39	2018	07/05/98	25	29
38	LOOSEHEAD	Gerhard Steenekamp	Potch Gim	1	2023	09/04/97	26	30
39	LOOSEHEAD	Ntuthuko Mchunu	Maritzburg College	1	2022	05/04/99	24	28
40	HOOKER	Scarra Ntubeni	KES	1	2019	18/02/91	32	36
41	TIGHTHEAD	Thomas du Toit	HJS Paarl BH	15	2018	05/05/95	28	32
42	TIGHTHEAD	Wilco Louw	Drostdy	14	2017	20/07/94	29	33
43	TIGHTHEAD	Lizo Gqoboka	Ntabankulu	2	2019	24/03/90	33	37
44	LOCK	Jason Jenkins	St Alban’s	1	2018	02/12/95	27	31
45	LOCK	Nico Janse van Rensburg	Affies	1	2021	06/05/94	29	33
46	LOCK	Salmaan Moerat	HJS Paarl BH	2	2022	06/12/98	24	28
47	LOCK	Ruan Nortjé	Wonderboom	1	2022	25/07/98	25	29
48	BLINDSIDE	Jean-Luc du Preez	Kearsney	14	2016	05/08/95	28	32
49	BLINDSIDE	Aphiwe Dyantyi	Jeppe	13	2018	26/08/94	29	33
50	BLINDSIDE	Elrigh Louw	Transvalia	3	2022	20/09/99	24	28
51	NUMBER 8	Evan Roos	HJS Paarl BH	5	2022	21/01/00	23	27
52	NUMBER 8	Dan du Preez	Kearsney	6	2017	05/08/95	28	32
53	NUMBER 8	Sikhumbuzo Notshe	Wynberg	6	2018	28/05/93	30	34
54	SCRUMHALF	Herschel Jantjies	Paul Roos	25	2019	22/04/96	27	31
55	SCRUMHALF	Ivan van Zyl	Affies	6	2018	30/06/95	28	32
56	SCRUMHALF	Embrose Papier	Garsfontein	7	2018	25/04/97	26	30
57	FLYHALF	Robert du Preez	Kearsney	1	2018	30/07/93	30	34
58	FLYHALF	Curwin Bosch	Grey HS	2	2017	25/06/97	26	30
59	INSIDE	Rohan Janse van Rensburg	Waterkloof	1	2016	11/09/94	29	33
60	WING	S’busiso Nkosi	Jeppe	16	2018	21/01/96	27	31
61	FULLBACK	Warrick Gelant	Outeniqua	13	2017	20/05/95	28	32
62	FULLBACK	Aphelele Fassi	Dale	3	2021	23/01/98	25	29