Watch VideoRassie Erasmus’ alignment camp: Why invitations don’t equate to Springbok selection

Bulls speedster Cheswill Jooste is one of the uncapped players invited to the Springboks alignment camp. There is never a dull moment whenRassie Erasmusreveals a squad of players for analignment camp, but his policy is constant — you are never too old or too young to play for theSpringboks. Form is paramount; the rest are details.

And true to form, Rassie will always throw in a few bolters to keep us on our toes — last year it was Ikeys Tigers star Ntokozo Makhaza, now it is schoolboy stars Markus Muller and Kai Pratt. They were in Matric a few months ago and have yet to play senior rugby for their respective franchises, the Stormers and Sharks. Like Makhaza, Muller and Pratt are miles away from playing for the Springboks.

And Rassie will tell us (again) in his press conference on Monday that he invites talented youngsters to camps so that he can meet them and get to know them. It is a similar story with most of the 11 uncapped players invited, although some of them are stronger blips on Rassie’s radar than others. The Bok coach wants to introduce these youngsters to the Springbok environment and give them a strong taste of how the team operates.

[paywall]

So if they do later crack the nod, they are not starting from scratch. It is also about inspiring the youngsters to do more to better their performances — when you are 19, 20 or 21 and you get to rub shoulders with the likes ofEben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Handre Pollard, et al, you are going to go home and straight to the gym or training field, because you want more of that experience. Besides prop Pratt and centre Muller, the nine other uncapped players are: Emmanuel Tshituka, Siphosethu Mnebelele, Paul de Villiers, Riley Norton, Bathobele Hlekani, Jaco Williams, Sebastian de Klerk, Cheswill Jooste and Haashim Pead.

Not all of them are going to make it, and those that do will likely have to wait a season or two for their chance. For example, the SA Schools team typically provides around 20 per cent of the SA Under-21 team, and in turn, only about 20% of the Junior Boks make it to the senior team. Last year, Erasmus invited 16 newcomers to his first alignment camp, but just four went on to play for the Boks in 2025 — Neethling Fouche, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cobus Wiese and Ethan Hooker.

A lot of what Rassie is doing is about succession planning, and thank goodness we have it because a lack of it was the Achilles heel of the Boks for decades. Before Rassie’s appointment in 2018, SA Rugby had the fatal policy of employing Springbok coaches in four-year blocks.

[/paywall]