Rassie throws Brannas a lifeline

Rassie Erasmus believes that 38-year-old Deon Fourie is the ideal insurance policy if those wrestling Bongi Mbonambi for the Springbok No 2 jersey fail to “shoot the lights out”, reports DEVIN HERMANUS.

Erasmus will have plenty to consider at hooker in 2025, with a mix of seasoned campaigners and rising talents named in the first Bok alignment camp of the year next week.

Mbonambi, who will be 36 by the 2027 World Cup, was the preferred starter in eight of his nine Tests last year. Fellow two-time World Cup winner Marx, now 30, made 12 Test appearances in 2024, 10 as an impact player off the bench.

Andre-Hugo Venter and Jan-Hendrik Wessels have both been called up after making their Test debuts last year, while forgotten Bok Joseph Dweba will be eager to re-establish himself. Johan Grobbelaar, another 2024 debutant, is also in the mix.

Utility forward Fourie, who last played for South Africa in the 2023 World Cup final, is back in the squad after recovering from a knee injury that sidelined him for most of 2024.

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“Bongi isn’t a young man but if fit and injury-free, he’s one the steadiest players you can get. Malcolm is relatively young for a hooker,” Erasmus told reporters on Wednesday.

“Joseph, Andre-Hugo, Ethan Bester, Marnus [van der Merwe], [Jan-Hendrik] Wessels are fantastic talents. And it’s nice to have a guy like Deon in your back pocket. Someone needs to grab that [hooker] position.

“Is it going to be Bongi? Is Bongi going to be fit and strong enough? And this isn’t something I haven’t discussed with Bongi. Jan-Hendrik must swim, Andre-Hugo must swim, Dweba must swim. They must get chances now and must play, and it hasn’t happened yet.

“A guy like Deon Fourie… [Ireland legend] Johnny Sexton played until he was 38 and Deon is one of the [older] guys who’s probably in the best shape,” he added. “I don’t believe Deon thinks he’ll play eight Tests this year, but he knows that we can call him if things don’t work out for us and no one shoots the lights out or plays fantastic at hooker.”

Erasmus has gone to bat for the current ageing Bok World Cup-winners. With Steven Kitshoff retiring and injury ruling out Trevor Nyakane (ankle) for 2025, the Bok boss addressed concerns over succession planning and the age profile of the squad.

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“We notice people [in the media] are starting to put brackets next to guys’ ages and we do as well – we have succession planning [and] thinking when we know some players are going to give up or can’t keep up anymore,” he said.

“But then again, you can’t plan a guy’s career just around the World Cup because if he’s still good enough and still No 1, 2 or 3 in his position but he might retire in 2026, it’ll be very unfair now not to pick him just because he ends [his career] in 2026.

“If you look at our [camp] squad and depth chart, there’s a nice spread of older guys and younger guys out of the 84 in total. There’s three players who won’t play for us this year and that’s Elrigh [Louw], Kitsie who’s done, and Trevor.

“All the other players who are in those groups – if they don’t get another injury – will get game time and be available to be selected.”

Head of athletic performance Andy Edwards added: “The most important thing to look at, I think, is how those players become or are selectable. Just because a guy might be 35 years or plus, his status and career, and how dense his seasons have been don’t necessarily represent that age, if that makes sense.

” Last year, we already proved that the guys could win a World Cup being the oldest average age in that competition.”

Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images