Bok tour planned for World Cup pressures

While much of the focus of the Springboks end of year tour has been on the massive clashes with France and Ireland, there is a more subtle, more focused method in the madness of playing four consecutive weeks that could pay off well in 2027.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is not someone who fails to plan, and as we have already seen this year, the way the Boks have navigated this season has been not without its own pitfalls, but in the process a new generation of Springboks is emerging and the hope is that they will continue to develop in the lead up to the World Cup title defence in 2027.

To do this, the Boks have set themselves up in almost World Cup mode. At the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship, Erasmus had spoken several times about taking on a tournament mode after the shock loss to Australia at Ellis Park.

The analogy was simple. The Boks have five more games in the Rugby Championship, win one in New Zealand and then it becomes like a semifinal against Argentina, with a final at Twickenham the week after.

PLOTTED THEIR RETURN

For those not knowing the way the Bok management plans their seasons, this talk may have been strange from the outside, but it showed how the team handled adversity and a shock loss and how they plotted their return.

There was the solemn belief in the younger players to show their best side, there was the ultimate support role for some of the double World Cup winners and there was a firm plan and focus on winning three back-to-back games to win the Rugby Championship.

The result was the first back to back Rugby Championship title for the Boks in history and another milestone for Erasmus as coach of the side.

Now, with two games outside the test window, the Boks haven’t said it out loud, but the scheduling indicates they are very much in a World Cup mode with the way they have planned their games for this tour in November.

They take on Japan, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales in consecutive weeks and this isn’t too far off the scenario that they will face when they face the best in the world in a World Cup.

Think about it - a plucky upcoming nation as a first game in the World Cup, then facing your main pool contender, then another tricky test that you can’t get wrong. Then another pool contender and then a nation that will test you.

INTENSE FIVE WEEKS

While Japan, Wales and Italy aren’t likely to test the Boks too much, the intensity of five weeks of action like this could be crucial to handling the pressure of being in a World Cup shootout.

It is likely the Boks will need to overcome similar odds at the World Cup, even though the tournament has been extended to more teams.

At least from the latter part of the pool stages, the Boks will face the same sort of pressure and while there are double World Cup winners who have done it, there are also young players who haven’t experienced that sort of pressure for five consecutive weeks.

As always it is also a chance to hone your game plan under pressure and try out new combinations. There is no doubt that Erasmus will chop and change during the tour as he has done for the past few seasons.

The key is to pick the right combinations to perform under pressure, and the Boks have done that well.

WORLD CUP DRAW

Against all of this is the backdrop of the World Cup draw being made after these November internationals where South Africa is hoping for an easier draw than last time out where they had Scotland and Ireland in their pool and France in a quarterfinal.

But as that showed, the road may be more difficult, but it is not something the team could not overcome.

And if they get their planning right over the next five weeks, there will be a new batch of players ready for the pressures of a World Cup when it comes around.