The Springboks need to be consistently great over the next four years, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
The Springboks have long been regarded as a World Cup team, with their physical, defence-driven game perfectly suited to the high-pressure knockout stage where winning is all that matters.
By defending their title in France, the Boks became rugby’s greatest World Cup team, with their record four titles coming in eight tournament appearances. The All Blacks are next best, with three titles in 10 attempts.
In the Springbok change room after their epic 12-11 win at the Stade de France, Eben Etzebeth told the team, ‘You guys are so special. You will go down as the greatest rugby team in the history of rugby.’
That sparked plenty of debate on social media, with comparisons inevitably being drawn between Siya Kolisi’s Springboks and Richie McCaw’s All Blacks who went back-to-back in 2011 and 2015.
While the Boks famously won a series against the British & Irish Lions in between World Cup wins, their overall record during that period cannot compare to the All Blacks’ from 2012 to 2015. New Zealand won 48 of 53 Tests (91%), three Rugby Championship titles and became the first team to defend the World Cup by beating the Wallabies 34-17 in the Twickenham final.
From 2021 to 2023, the Boks won 27 of 39 Tests (69%), with their longest winning streak of six matches ended by Ireland in the World Cup pool stage. Of course, that defeat was soon forgotten as South Africa won four matches in a row – including three consecutive one-point victories in the playoffs – to defend their title. The Boks also won four matches in a row in 2021, including two against the Lions in that series win. However, they failed to win the Rugby Championship in that three-year period (finishing third, second and second) and suffered end-of-year tour defeats to England, Ireland and France.
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Some Bok fans will say that none of this matters, because the team went on to win the World Cup in France, but it does when it comes to the greatest rugby team debate. And it’s certainly important to Rassie Erasmus, who in late 2021 tweeted that the Boks want to be ‘consistently great like the All Blacks’.
That should again be their goal in the next four-year cycle. The Boks have not won a full Rugby Championship since 2009 when it was still the Tri-Nations, with their 2019 triumph coming in a World Cup year when the abbreviated tournament is treated as a series of warm-ups. Lifting the Rugby Championship trophy in 2024 should be a top priority for the back-to-back World Cup winners.
There should also be a desire to extend their current winning streak well into double figures and break the South African record of 17 consecutive Test victories set under coach Nick Mallett and captain Gary Teichmann in 1997-98.
Kolisi’s Springboks have gained rugby immortality by overcoming the most difficult of draws to retain their World Cup crown, but to be regarded as the greatest rugby team ever, they need to assert that dominance over the next four years.
And if Erasmus sticks around, there’s no reason they can’t.
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Photo: Dave Winter/Backpage
