Erasmus dismisses Springbok ageing squad concerns with one year to Rugby World Cup

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has moved to silence debate over his ageing squad, arguing that the criticism misses the point as the world’s top-ranked side continues to win ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Erasmus named a Springbok squad containing 12 players aged 30 or over for Saturday’s Test against Italy in Turin, and acknowledged that the team’s age profile has become the dominant talking point around the back-to-back world champions — more so, he suggested, than their results.

“Everyone loves to beat the drum that the team is getting older,” Erasmus said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s heartwarming when South African people are talking about: are the team getting too old? The team that played five weeks ago against New Zealand had an average age of 32, the team that plays this weekend has an average of 29. So it’s two or three changes in a team.”

The double World Cup-winning coach illustrated his point by running through the numbers. Selecting a combination including Morne van den Berg, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Sebastian de Klerk and Damian Willemse would bring the squad average down to 27 or 28, he said. A further reshuffle featuring Cameron Hanekom, Emmanuel Tshituka, Ruan Nortje and Cobus Wiese would push it to 27.

Erasmus conceded that balancing continued success with the development of younger players has been a genuine challenge, but said he will not drop veterans purely on the basis of age. “People are starting to talk not so much about our results and where we are, they’re talking about how long can this team do it,” he said. “Jesse Kriel keeps on performing. Damian de Allende keeps on performing. So you can’t not pick them.”

The scrutiny comes with the Springboks chasing an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup title when the tournament kicks off in Australia in 2025. South Africa are currently ranked first in the world, and Erasmus has consistently maintained that selection will be driven by form rather than age.