Gio Aplon believes it will be difficult for Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus to replace the older players in his squad with younger ones in the build-up to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Under the guidance of Erasmus, the Springboks have won back-to-back Rugby World Cups in Japan (2019) and France (2023) while also clinching a 2-1 series victory over the British & Irish Lions in South Africa in 2021, and they were also crowned Rugby Championship winners in 2024 and 2025.

Although Erasmus has introduced the likes of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Ethan Hooker and Morne van den Berg since their 2023 World Cup victory, he has retained the bulk of the players who were involved in both the Boks’ back-to-back triumphs at the global showpiece.

And much has been said and written about ageing Boks stalwarts like skipper Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Malcolm Marx, Franco Mostert, Frans Malherbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Makazole Mapimpi, Cheslin Kolbe and Cobus Reinach, who are still part of the world champions’ plans and all double World Cup winners.

Of the aforementioned players, Marx is the youngest at 31 years of age with most of the others all pushing their mid-30s and Reinach, who is 36, is the oldest.

If all the players in the Boks squad are fit, the likes of Kolisi, Etzebeth, Marx, Malherbe, Du Toit, De Allende, Kriel, Kolbe and Reinach are expected to all be in the Boks’ starting line-up.

Big percentage of older players in Boks’ starting XV

That is more than 50 percent of the run-on side who are in their mid-30s and it will be interesting to see if Erasmus persists with his senior players over the next two years in the build-up to the 2027 World Cup.

While Aplon understands that it’s important for Erasmus to freshen up his squad with younger players, he feels it will be risky for Erasmus to drop some of his team’s established stars.

“You know what those guys are going to give you,” the former Springboks flyer told the Behind the Ruck podcast. “You know what the Siya, Franco Mostert, Polly, Damian De Allende, those guys (who are) are close to 100 caps. You know what they’re going to give you.

“So you kind of know (what) your insurance policy is.

“You keep them fit, you keep them ready, you keep them hungry. You still have another year to figure out who’s the next guy. If anything happens, if this guy is not on form.

“But you also need to be willing to maybe drop a couple of Test matches if that will happen. You have the greatest rugby rivalry (against the All Blacks) coming to South Africa.

“Are you willing to drop a couple of Tests going into this year? But it’s also important that you understand where the Springboks are going.”

Aplon highlighted the importance of some players as well as the key positions which they occupy in the team and whether a younger player, who is less experienced, can slot in smoothly once he takes the place of an older player.

Players in ‘key positions’

“It’s your key positions. Your captain, it’s your six. It’s your 12, who is your fourth loose forward in the way the Springboks play,” he explained. “So, Ethan Hooker is a fantastic rugby player. I think he’s going to play a lot of Tests for South Africa.

“But will he fill the boots of Damian De Allende? And I emphasise this point every single time. I do not think people understand how good that guy (De Allende) is and how instrumental he is to Springbok rugby. I don’t think we understand that.

“Then you’ve got your Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is also close to that. Then you’ve got… Who else is there? Eben Etzebeth.

“So for me, it’s vital positions which function the Springboks. That seven (Du Toit) that’s all over, that makes the tackles, that puts Jordie Barrett out of a World Cup final, in terms of mentally. He makes the cross-cover tackles.

“Then Eben Etzebeth whose there consistently. Siya (Kolisi) that brings that calmness, that brings that leadership. Malcolm Marx, whose instrumental.

“Now you’ve got Cobus (Reinach) at nine. So for me, it’s who’s the next guy in those positions? And for me, I see Springbok rugby, it’s like a chain.

“Like Rassie explained it. Every single part needs to play their part for this thing to work. And it’s your part in this movie.

“It’s not your part. So you can bring another centre in and he plays his part, but not in this movie. And Damian and all those guys, they play exactly the part they need to play in this movie.

“And there’s a lot of guys that come in, but they play a part now. Obviously, they’re still young. But not yet fully in this movie that Russie has created.

“And that is my concern going forward. Is James Bond going to be that same James Bond? Or is it just going to be another James Bond?”