The Springboks are in for a “spine-chilling” ride over the 24 months before Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2027 kicks off down under.
In fact, the next three months will provide a strong indication of whether the mighty Boks – back-to-back RWC champions and the first team to clinch the title four times – are on course to extend their record to five and claim a historic hat-trick of titles.
Does Rassie Erasmus’s mean machine have the spine to boldly continue going where no team has gone before? That is the question.
Over the past fortnight, the Rugby Championship has been blown wide open with both South Africa and New Zealand suffering shock losses at the hands of Australia and Argentina, respectively.
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The Springboks’ stunning 38-22 defeat at the hands of the resurgent Wallabies, at altitude and for the first time at Ellis Park in 62 years, raised the most eyebrows. The South Africans did manage to turn the tables on the Aussies with a hard-fought 33-20 win in Cape Town last Saturday, but it was hardly the ferocious “Boklash” one would have expected from the men in green and gold.
Erasmus described his team’s performance the previous week in Johannesburg as downright awful, adding that the Springboks made the “very good” Wallabies look even better by handing them a couple of soft tries.
Siya Kolisi and his men started like a house on fire to establish a seemingly unassailable 22-0 lead in the first quarter, but thereafter crumbled dramatically to concede 38 unanswered points – certainly a first for this group of world-beaters. The sheer pace with which the Wallabies made the Bok defenders appear pedestrian in the last hour of the contest was especially alarming for Erasmus.
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He also pointed out that South Africa were outmuscled in the scrums, at lineout time and around the breakdown, which is most unusual for the likes of Eben Etzebeth and co. The longer the game went on, it was the Boks who faded and not the Wallabies.
Even in Cape Town, South Africa seemed to wane after the break.
Ultimately, the Springboks’ heavy loss in the opening test came down to severe lapses in concentration and an inability to keep up with the pace of the Wallabies. This begs the question: Did the Boks run out of steam?
More pertinently, is Father Time catching up with this legendary generation of players?
After all, the average age of the starting line-up that took the field at Ellis Park was 30.
But, then again, the average age of the South African frontline XV that beat New Zealand in the RWC final two years ago was 31, although Duane Vermeulen’s individual 37 summers did distort the maths to some extent.
The all-important spine of the Springbok side that lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2019 and 2023 remained the same, except for Damian Willemse, who played fullback in place of Willie le Roux in the final two years ago. There are plenty of miles on the clock and the team might now have reached its sell-by date.
At fullback, Le Roux, who recently became South Africa’s eighth centurion, is 36 and is unlikely to be in the team in 2027. His successor, Aphelele Fassi, is an impressive athlete with silky skills under the high ball and on the counterattack, but has yet to find the consistency required at the highest level and is prone to running himself into trouble.
Handre Pollard replaced the enigmatic Manie Libbok at outhalf following the Johannesburg disaster, and as always had a calming influence under pressure and with his reliable boot. However, at 31, Pollard is no spring chicken either. He also might not offer the necessary “magic” in terms of elusiveness and unpredictability that the young Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (23) appears to have. The latter, though, needs much more game-time in the number 10 jumper to establish the confidence to take the Bok game forward.
Faf de Klerk was the long-haired livewire at the base of the Springbok scrum that took the RWC tournaments of 2019 and 2023 by the scruff of the neck, but at 33 years of age, he has not been a regular part of the setup since last year’s dramatic 25-24 loss to Ireland in Durban. Grant Williams has been groomed in the halfback role since the previous global showpiece and is arguably the fastest scrumhalf on the planet. However, his decision-making and tactical kicking have not always been on point.
Since the retirement in 2023 of Vermeulen, South African rugby’s very own “Thor”, the Springboks have struggled to settle on an equally imposing number eight.
They’ve dabbled with sevens star Kwagga Smith, although he is somewhat on the small side and perhaps better suited to the role of openside flanker. Elrigh Louw and Jasper Wiese have not let the side down, but are both a tad too one-dimensional to become household names at the back of the scrum.
The Sharks utilised Kolisi pretty effectively at number eight during the recent United Rugby Championship and he delivered a favourably impressive performance in that role against Australia at Ellis Park, until he cried off injured shortly after half-time. Of course, at 34 years of age, the most successful skipper in the Springbok saga is not a certainty for 2027 either.
Hooker Bongi Mbonambi is also 34 and, although the beast of the formidable Bok maul, has become somewhat erratic when it comes to his primary task as a lineout thrower. Big Malcolm Marx, injured early on during RWC 2023, is an equally terrifying sight with the ball in hand and has become the first choice at number 2, but is 31 years old, and a suitable backup has to be found before 2027.
Even South Africa’s dreaded bomb squad, which caused such widespread damage in France two years ago, has a distinctly older aura about it, with Marx, Ox Nché, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Jean Kleyn and Trevor Nyakane all in their 30s.
To his credit, Erasmus has blooded a host of youngsters over the past two international seasons, but those rookies need to become battle-hardened in the trenches of top test warfare.
To be sure, Erasmus’ ingenuity will be tested to the limit over the next two years and, more immediately, in New Zealand next month.
He has persevered with the players who did duty against Australia for the trip to New Zealand, where they will play back-to-back Tests against the All Blacks. The first of these, at Eden Park in Auckland on September 6th, is of particular interest as South Africa haven’t won there since 1937. New Zealand, for their part, haven’t lost at their spiritual home since 1994, when France pipped them 23-20 courtesy of Jean-Luc Sadourny’s “try from the end of the world”.
Following the Rugby Championship, South Africa will head north again for, among others, their highly anticipated date with Ireland on November 22nd. They haven’t been victorious at the Aviva Stadium since 2012, so Andy Farrell must be licking his lips at the prospect of welcoming the Boks to Dublin.
