Erasmus confident workload management will keep the Boks at their best against New Zealand

South Africa host New Zealand for three Tests, two at Ellis Park and one at the Cape Town Stadium, before the series culminates with a fourth Test to be played in Baltimore, USA.

The Springboks will warm up for the epic showdown with a match against Argentina in Beunos Aires this weekend, while the All Blacks will tackle the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls in the lead up to the opening Test of the tour on 22 August.

Erasmus has created an incredibly deep pool of players to choose from with his rotation policy over the past few seasons, such as selecting a 46-man squad for the first half of the 2026 Nations Championship and giving 43 players game time across three games against England, Scotland and Wales.

According to Erasmus, the rotation is not just about about giving everyone minutes and more about managing player workload so they are always fit and ready to be at their best.

"We feel comfortable that over a four-Test series against New Zealand they shouldn't peak in the first game and then not be able to last all four games," he said.

"We are fairly confident that we'll be 100% for the New Zealand tour. But a four-Test series is long, and the last Test is in Baltimore.

"We play the first match and try to win it, and then after that it's another three Test matches, so I really don't think you want to say from game one, we are so ready.

"You want to build and build so that when it comes to the crunch matches [you're at your peak].

"I don't think any of us thinks the other team is going to beat the other 4-0. It's going to be much tougher than that."

Erasmus named a 44-man squad for game against Argentina, with 26 expected to travel to Beunos Aires and 18 remaining in Johannesburg to continue to preparing for New Zealand.

However, there are also several players that the Springboks released to their franchises, such as Embrose Papier, who are still in contention to make the squad for Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour but the Springbok head coach felt their preparation would be better served by more game time.

"There are a few players who we released to the franchises, a guy like Embrose is a classic example. We have to get game time into Morne van den Berg and Cobus Reinach, so the two of them will go to Argentina, if there isn't an injury," he said.

"If we take Embrose with them, he doesn't have the opportunity to train with the Bulls ahead of their match against the All Blacks. Herschel Jantjies doesn't have any club commitments now, that's why he will go with.

"Those kinds of things are going to be interesting - how Embrose performs against the All Blacks, how Ntuthuko Mchunu performs for the Stormers, Vusi Moyo for the Sharks.

"We'll try and release the guys who we feel might not be involved in the first Test match.

"But also, guys can play themselves in if some guys don't do well in Argentina, some guys are not 100% fit and some guys shine against the All Blacks.

"So that's a nice thing to look at."

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