The depth in SA rugby at Test level is the envy of the rugby world, and Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen believes the United Rugby Championship is helping.
Van Rooyen said you could easily trace how the URC has benefited not just his own team – which produced five new Springboks in 2024 – but the Boks as well.
In total, 11 new Springboks were capped in 2024, all of them coming through the rigours of the URC, while a host of others have established themselves at Test level in the last few months.
The newly-capped Boks are the Lions’ quartet of Edwill van der Merwe, Quan Horn, Morne van den Berg, Ruan Venter and Jordan Hendrikse (who has since joined the Sharks), Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Johan Grobbelaar of the Bulls; Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ben-Jason Dixon and Andre-Hugo Venter of the Stormers; and Phepsi Buthelezi of the Sharks.
At the same time, players such as Aphelele Fassi, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Manie Libbok, Grant Williams, Jaden Hendrikse, Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp – to name a few – have matured into solid Test players after making their Bok debuts in the last few seasons.
“There are a lot of external influences in the URC and the weekly challenge is not just playing a different team, but also a different coaching culture,” said Van Rooyen.
“I had a discussion with (former Bok assistant coach and now head coach of Bath) Johann van Graan and (former Bok head coach now with Leinster) Jacques Nienaber and they said the thing that stands out for them in the Vodacom URC is that they’ve coached against more southern hemisphere coaches in this competition than in Super Rugby and/or internationals.
“The variations week to week are also a lot bigger. There’s the travel, different surfaces like grass or artificial or hybrid pitches, and then the weather can differ from 40 degrees one week to minus one another. That adds to the excitement and the planning and detail you need to focus on.
“It’s a great challenge for coaches and players. For the players to experience it and for their development, it will show Rassie (Erasmus) and the national selectors whether they are ready for Test match rugby or not, because of the different challenges each week.”
Van Rooyen added that the depth the URC has created in South African rugby provides the national selectors with the kind of options most coaches only dream of.
“I think it’s helped the national selectors increase the pool of players they can select,” said Van Rooyen, whose Lions have produced five new Boks in 2024 in Edwill van der Merwe, Quan Horn, Morne van den Berg, Ruan Venter and Jordan Hendrikse, who has since joined the Sharks.
“We know we’ve got robust and tough athletes. If you look at all of our URC teams, there are some really exciting ‘X Factor’ backs in them. We’ve always had tough locks and loosies, and our set pieces will keep on going forward.
“Where we’re fortunate as a country is that national players who fall in the category of number 30 to number 60 now could very easily be number one or two in the next Rugby World Cup and going forward.
“What a position to be in. If you take 1-15 as the A team, then 16 to 30 and 31 to 45 as another two teams, I think the difference between those three teams is minimal.
“So whichever way they want to play, you can pick one of those teams. You can have a really physical kicking pressure team and be the best in the world, or an exciting counter-attack and wide-attack team and be the best in the world. I think that’s the exciting part. The ingredients are definitely there to create something very special.”
