Rassie's mini-World Cup: Springboks target favourable 2027 draw during November Tour

Exactly two years before the next World Cup, Rassie Erasmus has a mini World Cup in front of him in the form of the five-match tour to Europe.

You can be certain Rassie will be treating this unusually long tour — he asked for extra games — as he would a tough pool at the World Cup. While there is obviously no trophy for the Boks if they go unbeaten in November, the prize is a favourable draw for the 2027 tournament in Australia.

The draw for the Australia 2027 pools is scheduled for December 3, four days after the Boks conclude their tour in Cardiff against Wales. Last November, the Boks played just three games on their end-of-year tour (going unbeaten), but this year the Bok coach asked for (and received) two extra games — the Japan match on November 1 and the Wales finale on November 29.

In between are two “finals” in the grudge matches against France (November 8) and Ireland (November 22), with a softer “pool” game against Italy sandwiched between them.

The opening and closing games — against Japan and Wales — fall outside the international window, but Rassie craftily approached the owners of the clubs in Japan and asked for permission to play the ten leading Springboks based in the Land of the Rising Sun. I have never heard of another international coach “beating” the international window by approaching club owners with cap in hand, and the cap being filled.

It seems few say no to the double World Cup-winning coach, and heavyweights such as Pieter-Steph du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe, Manie Libbok, Jasper Wiese, Lood de Jager, and Kwagga Smith will be available for the duration of the tour.

This is crucial to the Springbok coach’s plans because he will want to use the Japan match as a dress rehearsal for the crunch clash with France a week later at the Stade de France, the scene not only of the Boks’ World Cup final defeat of the All Blacks but of their victory in the incredible quarter-final against Antoine Dupont’s heartbroken men.

The Boks have not played France since. During the build-up to next month’s game, the French will say they have moved on from the crushing loss. Don’t believe a word of it. We saw grown men cry at the end of that quarter-final. We heard Dupont say they had been robbed by the referee. This upcoming match has revenge written all over it in capital letters.

Erasmus knows it and welcomes it. He wants his team to play these massive games before Australia 2027 because they are as highly pressured as knockout games at a World Cup.

After Paris, the Boks go to Turin, where Erasmus will rest most of his big guns. This is no disrespect to an Italy team that gave the Boks a hard time when they toured South Africa in June, but the 36-man Bok squad is powerful.

It is stronger than the squad Erasmus used to win the recent Rugby Championship, so there is plenty of talent to deal with Italy while the coach keeps some prime powder dry ahead of the tour finale.

Erasmus said at the start of this year that the Ireland game would be the crux of the season, and if you look at the Boks’ results against the Irish, you understand why. The Boks have not won in Dublin since 2013. Since 2000, the Boks have played eight games in Dublin and won just two.

Since Erasmus took over in 2018, the Boks have played four matches against Ireland and lost three. The South African win in Pretoria last year is Rassie’s sole positive return against the men in green. That has got to hurt this proud Springbok team. They enjoy breaking new territory, and winning in Dublin will be a massive box ticked.

The Boks are currently ranked No 1 on the World Rugby rankings, but that spot will be under pressure this November from top four rivals in New Zealand, Ireland, and France. The grand prize for the Boks is to finish November where they started — on the summit of the world rugby mountain. That would guarantee they miss a “pool of death” at the next World Cup, while beating France and Ireland would be juicy cherries on top.