Life after Rassie: Next Springboks coach may feel like Vanilla Ice following up Queen

South Africans tend to live their best lives in December … excuse me, I meant to say “Dezemba”. “That’s January’s worries,” is one of our favourite things to say around the braai when the kids remind us about that stationery list.

When we eventually take that list, we’re shocked that it has a page two. Now it’s panic stations — we have to go to the bank, or an uncle or aunty, to borrow money because a few tubes of Pritt cost the same as two six-packs of beer.

That’s also how it used to be when it came to the Springboks’ succession planning before Rassie Erasmus took over in 2018. There was no succession plan for coaches and no long-term plan for players.

The period between 2007 and 2010 was the Springboks’ “Dezemba”, with a Rugby World Cup win in 2007 followed by a British & Irish Lions triumph and a Tri-Nations win in 2009. But after that, ‘Januworry’ lasted almost a decade.

Ageing Springbok teams failed to win the World Cup in 2011 and 2015 because succession planning had to take a back seat to immediate results.

That changed when Erasmus took over, knowing he had to rebuild the Springboks to target the 2023 Rugby World Cup. However, he managed to do the business in 2019 before following it up with the win in France four years later.

Now, operation 2027 Rugby World Cup is in full swing, with Erasmus bringing through youngsters to gain experience, while also managing the older stars by not playing them into the ground. He’s doing it without compromising the team’s ability to win Test matches, as they have only lost two of the 14 matches they have played this year.

Erasmus knows time waits for no man, and even this core group of the golden generation of Springbok superstars will one day have to be put out to pasture. But what about Erasmus himself and the Springbok coaching position?

Yes, life after Rassie Erasmus may be the post-December hangover South African rugby fans are dreading — the rugby equivalent of “Januworry”.

Erasmus’ current contract runs out after the 2027 World Cup in Australia. By that time, he would have been directly involved with the Springboks for nine years, after serving as director of rugby when his good friend Jacques Nienaber was head coach between 2020 and 2023.

Will Erasmus continue after 2027?

Only he would know at this point. Erasmus will be the longest-serving Bok coach by the time the next World Cup arrives — a long time to be in the second-most scrutinised job in the country behind the actual president.

The Springboks have consumed his life over the last seven years. It’s been a steely focus to get the Boks back where they belong. And you can see it’s taken a toll on him, and could even have been the cause of his divorce.

But Erasmus almost seems irreplaceable as Springbok coach — not only because of the team’s success over the last seven years, but the culture of unity he has built around the side, which all South Africans have embraced.

His planning and ability to think outside the box are well known, but it’s his man-management that also plays a massive part in how he gets the best out of his players. He also brought that never-say-die mentality that helped them win the World Cup with three successive one-point victories and cope with adversity by winning big Test matches on this November tour with 14 men on the field.

With everything mentioned above, it looks like Erasmus’ follow-up act is in for a hiding to nothing. It’s going to be like Vanilla Ice following Queen at a packed concert.

But knowing Erasmus, that succession plan may already be in place — just like with the new generation of players coming through.

Nienaber is set to return to the country in June 2027 following his stint with Leinster in Ireland, and he could well take over again in 2028. There are also Erasmus’ assistants, Deon Davids and Mzwandile Stick, who were awarded new contracts a few years ago.

Locally, the Stormers’ John Dobson also springs to mind as a viable candidate, because he has similar traits in terms of man-management and the way he sees the game.

But all this is with the assumption that Erasmus will leave the job after the World Cup. He may decide to stay, and he would be entitled to do so after all he has achieved as the man in charge of the Springboks.

One day, the golden summer under Erasmus will come to an end. Hopefully, SA Rugby will have their umbrellas ready for that eventuality.