Former Springbok captain John Smit believes 2026 will be one of Rassie Erasmus’ toughest balancing acts.
The Bok coach aims to build depth through regular team rotation without losing winning momentum ahead of next year’s World Cup.
However, the world champions have a challenging schedule this year, with Tests against England, Scotland, Wales and Argentina, followed by a four-match Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks and a one-off Test against the Wallabies. They then face Italy, France and Ireland in November followed by the Nations Championship finals weekend.
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“The kind of experience they’re talking about that Rassie is trying to build is not so much about getting more new players, it’s about getting that group of 60 that he’s pointed out Test matches and experience on the field,” Smit said on The Rugby Pod.
“That’s the difficulty. This year is such a difficult one for South Africa, a year out from the World Cup. We’ve got the All Blacks four times in a row, we started our season with England and England’s always a tough game, so it’s a hard year to try and rotate squads.”
After kicking off their Nations Championship campaign with a 45-21 win against England at Ellis Park, Erasmus made 10 changes to the Springbok starting XV for Saturday’s Test against Scotland at Loftus Versfeld.
“I thought we picked the best we possibly could for the weekend [against England],” said Smit. “It was a sign of respect of the opposition and where we are in the season, but it really is a difficult scenario to get through a season where you’ve got a team that don’t mind switching it around.
“I don’t think South Africa have been consistent in their team selection for the past six years. It’s very seldom you get the same 23, there’s all these different conditions.
“This group has become quite used to that whereas back in our day we always wanted to have the same XV week in, week out to keep that consistency. It doesn’t seem to be that way for this group.”
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Smit also highlighted lock as an area of concern, with Eben Etzebeth, RG Snyman and Lood de Jager all unavailable.
“We can’t afford too many guys in the second row going down in this next year or so, or specifically for the next couple of weeks,” he said.
“We’re pretty thin in that regard and we’re thin because there’s been quite a lot of injuries in that space.”
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
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Former Springbok captain John Smit believes 2026 will be one of Rassie Erasmus’ toughest balancing acts.
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