Rassie Erasmus on the Good Relationships they have with the JRLO Clubs and on the Nations Championship

Last week, we were fortunate to be part of a small group of foreign-based media to spend time talking with the Springbok Head Coach, Rassie Erasmus, on the new 2026 Test season as he and his coaches put the first batch of players through the year’s first alignment camp. We asked him about the JRLO Springbok contingent and his views on the upcoming Nations Championship and Springbok schedule.

The two-time Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok coach always answers at length and passionately, in our experience. We discussed the benefits of having a core contingent of Bok players competing in the Japan Rugby League One and of the relationship SARU has with the clubs and JRFU when asked about when those players might be brought into the alignment camps. 

The South Africans start off their 2026 season with a home game against the Barbarians, before the Nations Championship, followed by Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry NZ tour. It should also be noted that in the past week since we spoke, Japan-based Malcolm Marx was voted the South African Rugby Men’s Player of the Year, and Rassie was voted Coach of the Year.

The Boks completed their three-day camp, which included a series of detailed boardroom sessions about the key areas of the game and the coaches’ expectations, as well as the macroplan for the 2026 season.

South African Rugby’s Relationship with JRLO Clubs is Healthy

Photo Credit – JRLO – Manie Libbok Hanazono Kintetsu Liners – Mani Libbok

Rassie Erasmus explained the benefits of having so many core players in Japan and the relationship they have with the JRLO clubs:

“Before, we had a lot of our players competing in France, and the French league was awesome for our coaches who went there, and our players who went there. At some stage, when we wanted to get a player in for an alignment camp, or any camp or assessment, there were always issues. 

So I think the French almost made it impossible for us to pick a bunch of players from France, and then they stopped signing our players, so we had more players back in our country. So it worked really well. 

What Japan does really well, I think, is the honesty of all of their coaches with the players, and the whole Japanese structure of resting players and how they control it all. I think we’re going to have 20 or 21 players that will be in an alignment camp from Japan and from the rest of the world, but mostly from Japan.”

It was confirmed that the Bok coaches will also hold a virtual alignment camp with the 21 overseas-based players, with a second alignment camp to be hosted in Cape Town in May, followed by the first official training camp of the year in Johannesburg in June.

Rassie said of the the good communication lines with the JRLO clubs, “Sometimes guys can’t be made available, and we get told over the phone if someone has maybe been overplayed, or they ask if we can send a player back or they just tell us if someone wont be playing and we can have a look at him – so there’s a very good relationship, and I guess trust between us and the Japanese clubs.”

Photo Credit – JRLO -Cheslin Kolbe – Tokyo Sungoliath

2026 Springbok Schedule

The Boks play 13 matches this year, including the Barbarians match in Gqeberha on Saturday, 20 June at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, which starts their season, and we asked Rassie if there was a fixture on the schedule that stood out for him in 2026.

“No, I wouldn’t single games out. Definitely, I did as a player, but as a coach, I’ve learned not to do that. You try to win every game with a mindset to try to win every match. Is it really difficult to answer, because our first game is the Barbarians, and the first game after that is England? 

The Barbarians will try things. It’s not a Test match, but it will be fun. People will be excited to go and watch it. But we also must keep in mind that in November, we are playing the matches for the Nations Championship in the northern hemisphere, and if England does well, we will have the last game against them. So while we are playing the home games here, we must keep those end-of-year games in mind.”

The four-match Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour will see the All Blacks visit South Africa for three Tests, with a fourth to be played in the US, but also three other tour games and a SA Women vs Black Ferns Test in 2026.

Erasmus said, “The Greatest Rivalry will be hyped up, and that’s very exciting for all of us, but just like facing England and Italy at the end of the year. So we really believe that in every game, we can be beaten. And if we do not prioritise every game, we will get beaten.”

On his thoughts of the Nation’s Championship and Nations Cup (which will see Japan and Hong Kong China competing respectively this year), he explained.

“I think it’s pretty similar to the Test matches we usually would play in July and in the November end of year tour. But now there’s a winner, and there’s a trophy, and I guess that always spices up anything. For the tier two nations, it’s important too, and if you look at how Italy has come up, I know that they’re not tier two now, but a few years back, people would have recognised how good they are (and since we spoke, Italy defeated England for the first time, of course).

But in the Nations Championship, we have the top teams currently in the world competing, so it’s basically a mini World Cup between them. And I don’t want to say the wrong words that I make it too hyped up or negative, but it’s the last three games away for us and playing that in the trophy mindset with the World Cup next year – that’s going to be a challenge for us.

Not because we can’t do it, we must understand that it is not an easy thing for us to go away for five or six weeks, but it’s an exciting honour to be part of it. All the players are excited for that, and I think it will work well.

Maybe one thing we can do in the future is have the finals alternating between the northern and southern hemispheres (but that would depend on a global calendar being aligned).”

International Rugby Tournaments 2026

• Emirates 7’s Asia Rugby Clubs Cup Launched – How Did it Come About and Will it Succeed?
• Asian International Rugby Tournaments 2026.
• Understanding The Nations Championship 2026.
• Understanding The World Rugby Nations Cup 2026.