Riley Norton and Vincent Tshituka feature in Bok leadership race

Recent events have cast coach Rassie Erasmus’s depth-building project in a new light. Two separate match 23s have been selected to play the Barbarians and Zimbabwe in Gqeberha on the same day. Prominent Bulls players weren’t considered – because of their United Rugby Championship final commitments – and more than a dozen capped players missed out as a result of serious injuries.

Although the situation is far from ideal, the double-header presents Erasmus with an opportunity to bolster the nation’s depth chart with a view to the 2027 World Cup – as well as the next four-year cycle.

Skipper Siya Kolisi and other veterans look set for one final push in Australia next year. In the meantime, Erasmus will continue to explore younger leadership options with the future in mind.

Recent selections have highlighted Erasmus’s quest for new blood as well as new leaders. Riley Norton – who will lead the Junior Boks when they begin their World Rugby Junior World Championship title defence in Georgia next week – was backed to start at lock against the Barbarians.

Meanwhile, utility forward Vincent Tshituka, who has captained the Sharks on occasion in the absence of Kolisi, was favoured to lead the South Africa A side against Zimbabwe.

Although Norton (20) and Tshituka (27) appear to be competing for the same position, both may have key roles to play in the coming years as Erasmus rebuilds the Boks’ legendary yet ageing leadership core.

Those who are unfamiliar with Erasmus’s forward planning and future-proofing may be asking why the leadership is worth discussing some two years before the 2028 season. It’s a fair question, given that the Boks will face England, Scotland and Wales in the coming weeks before turning their attention to the inaugural Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks.

Some might argue that the group’s long-term planning shouldn’t extend beyond the 2027 World Cup. In many ways, next year’s global tournament will signal the end of the era, with Kolisi and other veterans moving on thereafter.

It’s worth pointing out, however, that the search for Kolisi’s long-term successor has been continuing since the decorated skipper signalled his intention to retire after the 2023 World Cup. Although Kolisi reversed that decision and returned to the Bok set-up in 2024, Erasmus pushed forward with his plan to develop captaincy alternatives.

Over the course of the 2024 and 2025 Test seasons, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Salmaan Moerat, Eben Etzebeth and Jesse Kriel shared the responsibility, either in Kolisi’s injury-enforced absence or for player welfare and development reasons.

Moerat led the Boks for the first time against Portugal in 2024, and at that stage, Erasmus was transparent about his plans to find an alternative as well as a long-term replacement for Kolisi.

Moerat went on to lead the Boks in three more Tests. He was given the Stormers captaincy on a more permanent basis ahead of the 2024-25 season. Since then, he has missed a series of club matches and Tests because of serious injuries. Erasmus hoped to field Moerat in the first phase of the Nations Championship this July, before the extent of the lock’s neck injury was revealed.

It may be some time yet before Moerat plays his next Test, and his recent move to La Rochelle in France may well jeopardise his push for the captaincy. Though Erasmus will continue to select players based in Europe and Japan, he has often spoken about favouring a skipper based in South Africa.

The SFM conundrum

Some felt that Kriel was a somewhat surprising pick as captain at the start of the 2025 Test season, given his lack of experience in an official capacity. Within the team environment, however, it was hailed as a popular choice, as Kriel continues to set the standard with regard to conditioning and physical performance.

There’s a chance that Kriel (32) will continue with the Boks beyond 2027, and it would be unwise to write off Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Handré Pollard, Damian de Allende, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit.

Erasmus will leave nothing to chance, though. Although the double-header in Gqeberha will provide the coaches with a chance to assess a wide range of uncapped players, he may extend the experiment to specific matches over the course of the 2026 season.

Tshituka made his Test debut in 2025 and has been on the national radar since 2020. Although Norton only made his Currie Cup debut for Western Province last year, he may be fast-tracked to the Test side at some stage in 2026, given the Boks’ current lock crisis.

There is, of course, another promising candidate who has been in the Bok system since 2022, and who commanded a place in the starting line-up for much of the 2025 Test season.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has already led South Africa at U20 level, and there are many – including former Bok skipper Jean de Villiers – who have stated that the youngster is destined for higher honours. Whether the 24-year-old is ready for the job at this stage of his career is another story.

The Stormers asked Feinberg-Mngomezulu to lead the team earlier this year when several other senior options were unavailable. After the player’s form dipped, coach John Dobson admitted that it had been a mistake to saddle the youngster with the additional responsibility.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu is recovering from an ankle injury and won’t be ­considered for Test selection until August, at the earliest. Given his importance to the team, particularly in the departments of game management and goal-kicking, Erasmus may be reluctant to give the flyhalf the captaincy just yet. Will this change in the coming years?

By 2031, the Boks may boast a new-look leadership group that includes Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Norton and Tshituka. Bulls skipper Ruan Nortjé and former Junior Bok captain Paul de Villiers may be in the mix, and a veteran such as Damian Willemse (who will be 33 at that stage) could add value after attending three World Cups.

Always looking ahead

Erasmus will have a plan for players young and old over the next couple of seasons. At the same time, he will know how quickly plans can change. Moerat’s unlucky run with injuries should serve as a reminder that nothing in rugby is guaranteed.

Kolisi (35) has battled several knee ailments in recent seasons, and although the flanker made two miraculous recoveries to lead the team to the World Cup title in 2019 and 2023, he might not survive another setback ahead of the 2027 showpiece.

Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and other veterans have had their own injury problems in recent months, and the Boks may need to plan for a scenario that sees three or more of their senior leaders missing the global tournament entirely.

It’s not hard to understand why quality in depth is a necessity rather than a luxury at the highest level – and why the best coaches invest in contingency plans.

Erasmus should continue to bolster the options across the respective positions this season and broaden his leadership group with short- and long-term goals in mind. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.