SA Rugby boss signals internal pick to follow Rassie Erasmus era

Erasmus has recently signed a contract extension through to the 2031 Rugby World Cup in the USA, but SA Rugby already have a succession plan in place.

By the time the tournament in America comes around, the former flanker will have been involved with the Boks coaching team for 13 years, working in the director of rugby and head coach roles.

Previously, SA Rugby have given coaches four-year deals, allowing the likes of Jake White, Peter de Villiers, and Heyneke Meyer to build up to a World Cup with their contracts expiring after the tournament before a change is made.

However, Oberholzer says that the organisation has moved away from that cycle and wants to reward the coaches who are producing results.

He added that the next head coaches of the national teams are likely to come through the structures, meaning that Erasmus' replacement could already be part of the Springboks coaching team.

That was the case in 2020 when Jacques Nienaber took over the reins from Erasmus, and that could be repeated after the 2031 World Cup.

Oberholzer revealed as much when appearing on SABC to discuss the state of SA Rugby.

"That is all part of the next phase and the next series and period of time where we start to look at Rassie's succession planning, but it's not just about the men's team," the CEO explained when asked about the succession planning.

"We have to look at the women's, u20s, u18s and sevens, so we are happy, and we announced a while ago that Swys de Bruin is staying on as the Women's coach until the next World Cup, so that is a positive step for us.

"We are moving away from a cycle of coaches coaching for one World Cup cycle, and then we feel it's important for them to change.

"We are now in a process of seeing if it's working and the coach is having success, it's to keep him or her on for the next phase and in that period, bring the next coach through that will take over from them.

"So we're quite stable now for our men's and our women's teams. The women until 2029, the men until 2031, and it gives us ample opportunity to ensure that the succession planning is in place, so that when these two coaches step down, we have the right coach in place to take over from them."

Oberholzer's comments imply that Erasmus could be replaced by one of his assistants, with Mzwandile Stick and Deon Davids the likeliest of candidates, having joined the coaching team back in 2018.

South Africa have never had a foreign head coach, making it unlikely that one of Jerry Flannery, Felix Jones or Tony Brown would take over from Erasmus.

Duane Vermeulen is held in high regard, having joined SA Rugby's coaching structures almost immediately after hanging up his boots, and while he has no experience as a head coach, he could be the man being groomed to fill the position.