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Are the Springboks now a better team than when they won the World Cup?

Jesse Kriel and Pieter-Steph du Toit of the Springboks celebrate during The Rugby Championship match between Australia Wallabies and South Africa Springboks at Optus Stadium on August 17, 2024 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

A lot has changed in the South Africa set-up since Siya Kolisi lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in October.

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A large chunk of Rassie Erasmus’ backroom staff have moved on, with the new coaching team beginning to impress their thumbprint on the Springboks, chiefly new attack coach Tony Brown who has brought far more width to their game.

With this change in style has come a change in playing personnel too, with the world champions on the foothills of creating their new squad for 2027 by introducing plenty of new faces to the Test arena over the past months.

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The Springboks are certainly different since the World Cup, but are they necessarily better than they were in 2023 when they were crowned world champions for a record fourth time?

That was the question posed by Hanyani Shimange on the latest episode of RugbyPass TV’s The Boks Office to which Springbok centurion Jean de Villiers listed the reasons why that may well be the case. Though he did not definitively say whether they are better or not, he made a compelling case.

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“I think we’ve evolved,” the former Springboks captain said on the podcast.

“There’s way more threat from an attacking point of view. You’ve got so much more variety, so defending I think is far more difficult. But we always have the capability of reverting back to our traditional strength, like we saw at the weekend with the maul. So it really does make us extremely dangerous.

“Plus, add to that the depth we have. You now go into a game – just take the flyhalf situation – you have Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu], Manie [Libbok], Handre [Pollard], three totally different flyhalves that offer you something totally different. So you can even go into a game with a certain strategy and change it up halfway through the game.”

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Comments

14 Comments
F
Forward pass 225 days ago

Nope. Ireland beat them last year and this year.

F
Flankly 224 days ago

So a 0% record against Ireland last year and a 50% record this year, which in your mind proves that SA are not better this year? Not sure anyone understands what you are saying.


But we can probably agree it would be great to see Ireland get better.

M
Mr G 225 days ago

I don't think the question should be whether the Boks are better than they were last year? The playing structures are changing although the the team is still much the same. So i don't think better, I just think evolving is more accurate or more evolved . The real question should be, are we more consistent? It has been a problem of ours for years as seen with the Ireland tests and will definitely be with the 2 tests against the AB's. The Irish and the AB's are where we need to measure ourselves.

S
SF 226 days ago

Difficult to say. I don't think the current Bok team is necessarily better.

What is better is the fact that the Boks are evolving their game to become more attacking.

But the new style brought in by Brown is far from perfect at the moment.

The AB's vs Boks test will be the big test for their new style of play. Mistakes and risk comes with flamboyant and attacking play.

The AB's are masters of counter attack and scoring tries off opposition mistakes.

The 2 upcoming tests in SA will be the litmus test for the Boks new style of play.

And I think these 2 tests are going to be very close and very intense.

I never write of any AB team.

D
DC000 226 days ago

Still completely rely on the incompetence of refs to get wins they clearly don't deserve - just like the RWC.


At the RWC, it was Barnes. Now it is Pearce and Whitehouse. So no change at all it seems.


Clearly still the third best team in the world after Ireland and France.

F
Flankly 224 days ago

Love it when the Bok haters get emotional. Sign of good days ahead for the Boks.

A
Ace 226 days ago

Poor little naaijill. Still the same broken record. Getting bored* on the backseat, sonny?


*It's a pun ;)

W
WW 226 days ago

So you're saying change only happens when South Africa loses? What a twat! I pray you're not married or have any kids, you're a kak role model.

Z
ZB 226 days ago

Who's this guy!? Sounds like he's part of MAGA with that level of conspiracy theory. "Clearly still the 3rd best team in the world"...when they are literally ranked number 1 lol.

G
GH 226 days ago

Shame DC. Hope you have a shoulder to cry on. Have you considered therapy maybe? Or you could share your delusion with Ben Smith on this very website.

J
Jen 226 days ago

Better? Not sure. All I know is that they are still very, very good.

G
GrahamVF 226 days ago

Yes.

T
Terry24 226 days ago

Its a tricky question. Its like the whose is the best historical team question. Rugby IQ evolves. It is generally agreed that the 2015 Kiwis were best ever. But would the 2015 team beat the 2023 SA team given that rugby IQ is generally smarter?


Likewise I would say that the SA-Ireland matches were arguably at least a match for the world cup match with both teams arguably more advanced. So SA are better now than last year. Last year they were looking at only counter attacking tries to stay with the big threat France in their Knock out run. I think the current team would fare better in that match.


We will see how good against NZ. I have a feeling the Wallabies matches were controlled, almost the way the Boks dispatched Scotland in the RWC pool. But the NZ match will be all-out like the France QF.

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N
NB 51 minutes ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

https://www.london.edu/think/how-claudio-ranieri-transformed-leicester-city


He jts knew how to use that deep well of knowledge accumulate over many years of management. A true Moneyball story!

167 Go to comments
f
fl 58 minutes ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“Two comparable achievements 15 years apart (at different clubs in different leagues) represent failure and not continued success for an elite level coach/manager? Not even a hint of consistency? Just gradual, inevitable decline? And all because he is in his sixth decade?”

Why don’t you try reading what I wrote before you start inventing a load of other random things that I didn’t say. I said “Pep hasn’t gotten better with age”. He hasn’t. I don’t think he’s got much worse, and yeah, he’s been fairly consistent over his career and has had more success than almost any other coach. But he hasn’t gotten better.


“You’ve missed that Mourinho’s early start in football was as a translator for Bobby Robson (ironically a much older manager at the time!).”

I was actually aware of that. I didn’t mention it because it wasn’t relevant to the fact that Mourinho - aged 52 - had more experience than Arteta does at 43. It also isn’t ironic that Bobby Robson was a much older manager at the time - it actually confirms by point that a lot of the top football managers used to be older than they are today.


“You suggested that Les Kiss would not be suited to an international coaching role because of his age profile…that seemed to relate to rugby”

That did relate to rugby. Let me walk you through the thread…


NB suggested that Les Kiss should become Australia head coach in 2027.

I said: “Given the drop off so many top coaches seem to experience as they get older (e.g. Jones, Gatland) Kiss could be a riskier appointment than you’d think!”

NB said: “Drawing a parallel with the NFL and NBA, plenty of coaches stay well into their 70’s”

I said: “Not all sports are going the same way though” then gave the example of football.


The example of football was introduced in order to make the point that the age profile of managers is not the same in every sport. If you had read the thread you were replying to you would know this!

167 Go to comments
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