Rassie Erasmus’ verdict on new Rugby World Cup format amid draw backlash
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus with an inset of the Rugby World Cup draw.
Rassie Erasmus believes that the Rugby World Cup is now almost tougher than the Rugby Championship, with the change of the format for the 2027 tournament in Australia.
World Rugby have made the decision to expand the tournament from 20 teams in 2023 to 24, which has resulted in the competition changing from four pools to six, with an additional knockout round after the pool stage.
That means for a team to win the World Cup, they must navigate through the round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final to clinch the William Webb Ellis Cup.
New World Cup format
A run of matches that Erasmus hasn’t experienced before, and one he says is close to the challenge that the Rugby Championship poses.
“I’ve been to four World Cups with the team, but I haven’t been through that,” he said following the 2027 World Cup pool draw.
“Now, you can be knocked out there. And it’s probably a good thing for lower-tier nations to have another chance. So if that’s good for rugby, it’s good pressure on all teams playing.
“There were was one tough pool game in the past, and then there was a quarter-final, semi-final, final. But the World Cup became now five really tough games. It’s almost tougher than the Rugby Championship.”
The draw has caused quite a bit of controversy with South Africa on a quarter-final collision course with New Zealand if both teams top their respective pools and win their last-16 fixture.
The duo were not only the top-ranked nations ahead of the draw but are the most successful teams in the tournament’s history, and many fans and pundits have slammed the manner in which the draw was done, which allowed the two powerhouse nations to collide so early in the tournament.
For Erasmus, his biggest concern right now is the amount of travel that his team will do for the competition.
“I’m more worried about the travelling time and where you’re based. And all of those things haven’t been cleared up,” he said.
“Charles Wessels, our general manager, is busy with that. Currently, if you play a game in Perth and you fly from Perth to Sydney… I think that will be the tough part of the draw. So having your guys battle-ready, I mean, Georgia is going to physically give it to you. Romania is going to physically give it to you.
“I really think Italy is on the up. And we can always intensify the training sessions, because we’ve got 33 players that all can start for you.”
Italy improving
South Africa played against the Azzurri on three occasions in 2025, winning all of their meetings, but Erasmus boldly predicted that they would finish in the top three of the Six Nations next season and is clearly not underestimating them ahead of the World Cup.
“They can give us troubles. This year, we played them three times. We’re going to play them four times prior to the World Cup,” he added.
“There are a little bit of things, game plans. It’s almost like training against a team you play. It’s the same with New Zealand, if I can say it that way.
“[Italy head coach] Gonzalo [Quesada] is a very sharp guy. And if their team is fit… I think their player depth is maybe a thing where they run out of steam because they don’t have enough players. But they’re going to be strong still. They’re a clever team.
“They’re from all over the world. They’ve got experience from France, from different clubs. Very few of them actually play in Italy. That will be our pressure game.”
Rassie Erasmus’ bold Six Nations prediction after what the Springboks have ‘experienced’
While the Springboks boss is wary of the pressure that comes with heading into the tournament as favourites, he backs his charges to overcome that and pointed to how quickly the narrative can change between now at the first whistle in Australia.
“We’re thinking of next year first, and I can’t answer you a different answer, because I will be lying. It’s a new competition, the Nations Cup. It’s something that’s in there. We are trying to build our team, and we are a really competitive team who can win it, in 2027,” he explained.
“But you can lose that sort of favourite tag very quickly, if you have a bad year, the year before the World Cup. So I don’t think the team has ever responded negatively to pressure. The British and Irish Lions series, through COVID, against the world in 2019, 2023. Hopefully that doesn’t dry up before we get to the World Cup.”
