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Faf de Klerk has not returned to South African rugby to wind down. The Springbok scrumhalf has made his intentions unmistakably clear — he is back home with a third Rugby World Cup squarely in his sights.
De Klerk, who orchestrated South Africa's recent Rugby Championship campaign with his trademark surgical precision, has signalled publicly that he wants to add a third World Cup winners' medal to a resume that already reads like a masterclass in big-game scrumhalf play. This is not nostalgia. This is not a farewell tour. This is a man who came back to South Africa because the green and gold still burns in him.
The timing matters. With New Zealand 2027 less than two years away, De Klerk is giving himself a genuine window to sharpen his game in the domestic arena, prove his fitness and form, and put himself squarely in Rassie Erasmus's plans as the Springboks begin assembling their next World Cup squad. Erasmus has always valued tournament experience over potential at this level — and De Klerk's credentials in that department are unmatched among South African nines.
He has been here before. He has won on the biggest stage, captained the Springboks, and delivered in moments when the margin for error was zero. That pedigree, combined with genuine hunger rather than sentiment, is exactly the profile Erasmus will want at scrum-half as the Boks plot a title defence in New Zealand.