{"id":777668,"date":"2026-09-21T09:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/777668\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T09:34:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:34:19","slug":"all-blacks-legend-springboks-are-close-to-their-ceiling-as-rassie-erasmus-team-cant-get-much-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/777668\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks legend: Springboks are ‘close to their ceiling’ as Rassie Erasmus’ team can’t get ‘much better’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former All Blacks winger Jeff Wilson believes that the Springboks<\/a> have hit or are close to hitting their ceiling and can\u2019t see how they can get much better.<\/p>\n

After losing the first Test match of Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry series, Rassie Erasmus selected largely the same squad for the next three meetings with New Zealand as the Boks secured a 3-1 series victory.<\/p>\n

While South Africa\u2019s depth has been praised over the past two seasons, Wilson says that the selections over the last three Tests show that Erasmus knows who his best 23 is.<\/p>\n

Kevin Putt: There isn\u2019t a limit<\/p>\n

He said as much on Sky Sport NZ\u2019s Breakdown show when the question was raised whether the Springboks<\/a> can get any better or have they hit their ceiling.<\/p>\n

Kevin Putt, the New Zealand<\/a>-born scrum-half who toured with the Springboks in 1994 and 1996 without playing a Test match, started the debate by stating that there isn\u2019t a limit on how good South Africa can get.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s potentially a limit on how much better the Springboks can get in terms of where they\u2019re going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got depth of position; age is not a limitation. They\u2019re able to balance the longevity of someone like Malcolm Marx \u2013 it is just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed as to why he felt there wasn\u2019t a limit and why there is such longevity for Bok players, he said: \u201cWell, there\u2019s a very good reason. It\u2019s handled by Rassie. They\u2019ve got certain quotas of players to be selected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can balance that out and say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m not going to play you until the last 30 minutes in this Test match\u2019. In another country, you\u2019d want to be the main guy. You want to play every minute, every game, all the rest of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarx has probably increased his salary three times over the period of time. He\u2019s still known as the world\u2019s best, and he\u2019s playing probably 50-60% of the rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caleb Clarke: Springboks ahead of the rest, All Blacks are struggling to adjust<\/a><\/p>\n

South Africa are close to their ceiling<\/p>\n

Wilson<\/a> argued that while the depth is impressive, it matters little as Erasmus is limited to 23 players per matchday squad and doubts that there are any players outside those who featured in the last three Test matches that can make a significant improvement to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe depth that they have created is amazing, but you do realise you can only pick 23 players. They\u2019ve got some insurance, but they can only pick 23, and I don\u2019t think there are many players that can come into that group who played outside those last three Test matches and makes a significant difference. I really don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone out there,\u201d the former winger said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played his strongest side because he felt like every single one was a knockout game. I think they are the best team in the world. Credit where credit is due. I don\u2019t think they are far off their ceiling if they\u2019ve already met it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they are to me, though, is that they\u2019re very much like where we were in 2014 going into 2015. World Cup champions, in a great cycle, in a great place, and they are the team to beat, like we were going into 2015. But they\u2019re not unbeatable.<\/p>\n

Why Jacques Nienaber believes club rugby is \u2018years ahead of international rugby\u2019 and his World Cup prediction on Andy Farrell\u2019s Ireland<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve shown that they can concede points and tries. It took a semi-final in 2015 for us to get over the top of the Springboks; it went down to the wire. We are the one side alongside France that could knock them out of the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for me, I look at it and go, I think they\u2019re close to their ceiling. Their ceiling is really good. They are an outstanding team. I don\u2019t know how much better they can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see that as a ceiling,\u201d Putt disagreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking about the current team. There are some of these guys coming through who still have such youth, and by winning 3-1, Rassie\u2019s autonomy has increased even more. You\u2019ve spoken about the team now, the All Blacks playing with a bit of width on it, so yes, we have some potential growth that we can see, but they can do exactly the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigel Owens\u2019 verdict on two crucial fourth Test decisions against the All Blacks in Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry and the \u2018downside of technology\u2019<\/a>
\nSpringboks have insurance like no other team<\/p>\n

Wilson doubled down and said he would be surprised to see Handre Pollard start an important Test match for South Africa going forward with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbok overtaking him as the first-choice fly-half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got talent, and they\u2019ve got plenty of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just look at that and go, you can\u2019t get yourself in a situation where you don\u2019t know who your top team is. He knows who his top team is. I\u2019d be very surprised if we see Handre Pollard play in a big Test match again for the Springboks. He might play other Test matches, but there are other players now who have taken over.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s no doubt found some new talent, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s significantly better than what\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you tell me that Cheslin Kolbe could have played better than Kurt-Lee Arendse did in that Test match? I find that hard to believe. You can only have 15 on the paddock. What they do have is insurance like no other team right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry stats: All Blacks midfielder dominates physical battle while wingers shine in unexpected ways<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former All Blacks winger Jeff Wilson believes that the Springboks have hit or are close to hitting their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[348,3482,620,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-777668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}