Willemse warns Springboks are the team everyone wants to beat at Rugby World Cup 2027

Damian Willemse has conceded that every nation at Rugby World Cup 2027 will be motivated by the prospect of toppling South Africa, as the back-to-back champions prepare to chase a third consecutive title that no side in the tournament’s history has ever claimed.

“Everyone in the world obviously wants to win the World Cup, wants to be the best and obviously beat the Springboks,” Willemse said this week, ahead of South Africa’s Test against the Wallabies in Perth. “For us, we really focus just on ourselves, making sure that we get our processes and everything in [place] so that we can obviously win the game and get the desired result.”

Both the Springboks and the All Blacks have previously won back-to-back World Cups, but a three-peat has never been achieved across the tournament’s eleven editions. South Africa arrive in Australia in strong form, having just completed a clinical 3-1 series win over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship — a four-Test showdown that included a match in front of more than 68,000 fans in Baltimore — and they remain top of the World Rugby rankings.

Coach Rassie Erasmus has made sweeping changes for the Wallabies clash, with 13 alterations to the starting XV that faced the All Blacks most recently. Eben Etzebeth and Ethan Hooker are the only players to retain their places in the run-on side. Andre Esterhuizen will captain the team for the occasion, becoming the 68th man to lead South Africa, while backrower Jasper Wiese is set to earn his 50th Test cap. An experienced bench includes Malcolm Marx and Ox Nche.

Springboks assistant coach Mzwandile Stick urged focus on the immediate task rather than the World Cup horizon. “We know we’ve got a big World Cup next year… but the key thing now is we’re playing a Test match against an Australian side who are in a good space,” Stick said. “As a team, they’re getting better with their new coaching staff. You can see there’s a new energy and for them, they’re going to be playing at home, so it’s going to be a tough one for us.”

Wallabies coach Les Kiss has named a settled side that has not lost since the July Nations Championship Tests. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii shifts to the wing, joining Max Jorgensen and Tom Wright in a reshuffled back three.

The match also serves as a marker in the one-year countdown to the World Cup, with Perth among the Australian host cities. Stick, Willemse, and other Springboks representatives joined former Wallabies winger Nick Cummins for a coaching clinic with 40 children at Perth’s UWA Rugby Club on Friday, one of the city’s designated Outdoor Training Venues for the 2027 tournament.