Former All Blacks fly-half Stephen Donald has highlighted how the Springboks\u2019 evolution in recent years will make them genuine contenders to win the Rugby World Cup in 2027 again.<\/p>\n
Under the guidance of head coach Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks claimed back-to-back World Cup titles in Japan and France in 2019 and 2023 respectively after previous triumphs at the global showpiece in 1995 and 2007.<\/p>\n
That means South Africa<\/a> are the World Cup\u2019s most successful nation as they have lifted the famous Webb Ellis Cup on four occasions, with their closest rivals New Zealand next best with three victories at the famous tournament.<\/p>\n The Boks had their backs to the wall last Saturday as they came into their Rugby Championship<\/a> clash with the All Blacks at Sky Stadium in Wellington after suffering a 24-17 defeat to their arch rivals in the corresponding fixture at Eden Park in Auckland the previous weekend.<\/p>\n Erasmus<\/a>\u2018 troops employed their usual conservative game-plan, which proved so successful during their triumphant 2019 and 2023 World Cup campaigns, in that Eden Park encounter.<\/p>\n However, Erasmus rang the changes for the Wellington fixture as he dropped several of his more experienced players \u2013 especially in the backline \u2013 and brought in younger replacements while also opting for a more expansive game-plan.<\/p>\n The addition of former All Blacks fly-half Tony Brown to the world champions\u2019 backroom staff as their attack coach has certainly helped with their development while Erasmus also has plenty of depth in his ranks.<\/p>\n And Donald<\/a> believes the Boks\u2019 depth as well as combining their new approach with their usual physical dominance is a \u201cscary factor\u201d which will make them more dangerous ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n \u2018Obviously the depth\u2019s great\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWell, for me, obviously the depth\u2019s great, but there\u2019s a lot of the top nations with depth in some key positions and I know our (New Zealand\u2019s) depth is getting really tested at the moment,\u201d he told The Aftermatch with Kirst & Beav.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, you think about our two top hookers still on the sideline, you think about our top two half-backs on the sideline, our third half-back gets injured.<\/p>\n \u201cSo well, we\u2019ve got some depth of our own that\u2019s getting forced to be, created through, I guess, necessity at the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cBut now for me, if you\u2019re looking for a scary factor around the Boks and what\u2019s to come, it\u2019s their ability to match the brilliance of that backline with the absolute brutality and power of those forwards and the evolution of some of those forwards.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd by that, I mean the ball playing of those forwards to compliment those wonderful backs that they\u2019ve got at their disposal.<\/p>\n \u201cCause when you think about it, if you\u2019re defending and you\u2019re looking up and you\u2019re seeing an Eben (Etzebeth), a (Malcolm) Marx, Pieter-Steph (du Toit), a (Siya) Kolisi, you\u2019re looking up and you go \u2018Okay, I\u2019m all in here. If I\u2019m going to stop these guys, I have to be all in physically\u2019.<\/p>\n