South Africa: an apology. It has come to this column’s attention that, in recent years, some sections of the global rugby union community have not always given the Springboks sufficient credit. Instead of Rassie Erasmus being portrayed as a spiritual leader and latter-day saint there has been undue focus on his odd home videos and comments about match officials. Photos of Eben Etzebeth looking comically scary have not been matched by an equal number of articles proclaiming him to be tougher than Alun Wyn Jones, Martin Johnson and Colin Meads combined. And if Ireland, say, had won two consecutive World Cup titles, the subsequent media coverage might have been a touch more reverential. The media acknowledge these oversights and hereby commit to using the words “lekka” and “howzit” at the start of every piece in future.
Well, you get the idea. Portraying South Africa as the pantomime baddies of the Test game was, for a lengthy period, all too tempting. The Boks were not necessarily renowned for their “beautiful” rugby, the last British & Irish Lions series in 2021 drained almost everybody’s spirits and there are only so many gleeful Bomb Squad references that the rest of the world can stomach.
And now? Let’s just say the evidence is increasingly indisputable: Erasmus and co are showing the aforementioned global rugby community the way forward. Whether their rivals are willing to acknowledge it or not, the Springboks are threatening to become – if they are not there already – the professional era’s most consistent winning machine. Yes, the All Blacks hoisted two World Cups in a row in 2011 and 2015 and won Rugby Championships for fun, but even they never possessed the sheer weight of simultaneous silverware that this Bok squad is amassing.
Double World Cup winners, Rugby Championship winners, Lions series winners. It is a deeply impressive list. South Africa’s latest title, clinched on Saturday with a 48-7 smashing of Argentina in Nelspruit, was all the more admirable because of the logistical hurdles their players now have to overcome. It cannot be remotely easy to gel a squad that plays its club rugby all over the world and whose top players are pulled from pillar to goalpost. If they are not flying to Argentina or South Africa with the national team, they are shuttling between hemispheres with their domestic franchises, seeking to carve a niche for themselves in the United Rugby Championship and the Champions Cup.
Somehow, despite all those air miles, they are still getting the job done on multiple fronts, driven on by a group of senior players whose strength of character seems inexhaustible. On Saturday, Etzebeth became the most-capped Springbok of all time and yet still has a tell-tale glint in his eye. Siya Kolisi may not have settled at Racing 92 but he remains a colossus of a captain and an inspiration to millions. Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Kwagga Smith: there are some remarkable individuals in this Springbok squad before you even get anywhere near the front row.
Erasmus also deserves his fair share of praise. His role has varied over the years, with Jacques Nienaber the official head coach at the last World Cup, but the former’s influence has remained all pervasive. He shows little sign of easing up, either, as he seeks to increase the depth of the Boks squad. They may have lost narrowly in Argentina the previous weekend but Erasmus, in choosing to back Manie Libbok despite his crucial late miss from the tee, managed a potentially tricky situation expertly. Again.
In Ireland, at this juncture, they will point to last July’s second Test when the Boks were beaten 25-24 having won the first Test the previous week. It also remains to be seen which of the two squads will finish this calendar year as the world’s officially top-ranked team. But the area in which South Africa are proving truly exceptional is in winning the games that really matter and, right now, the odds on them collecting an unprecedented third straight World Cup in 2027 are shortening steadily.
On top of the forward steel and defensive intensity that has underpinned the current Bok squad they are also now grafting on an all-court attacking game. It was always likely the influential Tony Brown would have a positive impact as attack coach but, allied to that, there is now some serious depth. When you consider Erasmus has already picked 49 different players this year in addition to the number of other talented South Africans plying their trade in Japan, France and England, it sums up their growing strength across the board.
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The only glimmer of hope for their rivals, perhaps, is that one or two of the older warhorses cannot soldier on forever. Etzebeth, having edged past Victor Matfield with his 128th cap, is about to turn 33 and Damian de Allende will do likewise in November. Willie le Roux is 35 and Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe and Kolisi will all be turning 34 next year.
Then again, you would not currently bet against the durable Etzebeth batting on past 150 caps, such is the evident relish with which he is now playing. Ox Nché is perhaps the most effective prop in the world game at the moment and the astonishing Du Toit goes from strength to strength. Damian Willemse will be fit again for the November Tests and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu looks like a young fly-half with the potential to be around for years. As Scotland, England and Wales may well discover this autumn: this is no ordinary Springbok squad.
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