Springboks connection has South Africa primed for WTC25 Final

South Africa coach Shukri Conrad is hoping his blossoming relationship with Springboks mentor Rassie Erasmus can help his side break a 27-year drought without a major men's trophy at next month's ICC World Test Championship Final.

Conrad met up with the legendary South Africa rugby union coach during the Proteas' Test series at home against Pakistan at the start of the year and the pair have kept in touch since ahead of the one-off Test against Australia at Lord's from June 11.

While Erasmus is a modern day great in rugby circles having led the Springboks to back-to-back World Cup triumphs, Conrad is only beginning his journey having only taken over as South Africa head coach in all three formats earlier this year having been in charge of the Test side since 2023.

With so much at stake at the World Test Championship Final in London next month, Conrad is looking for extra inspiration from a variety of sources and recalled his conversation with Erasmus at the start of the year that still resonates with him.

“There was no ego. Just two South African coaches around a fire talking about getting the best out of our players. Rassie said something that stuck with me: ‘Create your own reality'," Conrad told SportsBoom.co.za.

“And I realised, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. We didn’t talk tactics. We talked belief. We talked about kids from Lansdowne or Zwide having something worth dreaming about.”

It's not the first time the Proteas have used their close connection with rugby union for inspiration, with Springboks captain Siya Kolisi having previously met with South Africa's women's team during their run to the final of their ICC T20 World Cup campaign on home soil in 2023.

Kolisi led the Springboks to a second consecutive World Cup title later that year in France with a thrilling one-point victory over the All Blacks and Conrad wants his team to use the same mentality when they take on the ever-powerful Australian side at Lord's next month.

Conrad knows the Aussies are the reigning World Test Championship winners and have a wealth of experience in all facets of the game, but believes his team are capable of rising to the occasion and delivering a first ICC trophy for South Africa since they claimed the ICC Champions Trophy back in 1998.

“I don’t care if they’ve got more caps. I care that KG (Rabada), Marco (Jansen), and Temba (Bavuma) believe they can win. That’s the only stat I need," Conrad said.

“Just being there is a blessing, but I’m not going to admire the paintings. I’m going to win."

South Africa squad: Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Keshav Maharaj, Senuran Muthusamy.