Ranking the top five performances from the Springboks in 2023
The Springboks became the second team in history to win the Rugby World Cup back-to-back in 2023 with a 12-11 win over New Zealand in the final.
In doing so they became the second-most successful Rugby World Cup side with four titles behind the Black Ferns with six.
However, the performance in the final wasn’t South Africa’s best of the year as they just squeaked past a 14-man opposition.
Here are the top five performances of 2023 by the Springboks ranked.
5. Springboks 12-11 All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup final, Stade de France Paris
The Rugby World Cup final only makes the list only because it was the final. The story from this game is that the All Blacks should’ve won, which means that the Boks nearly blew it, despite having a one man advantage for most of the match.
As far as performances go, it wasn’t peak-Springboks. They were essentially gift-wrapped the final when Sam Cane’s yellow card was upgraded to red and they held on by just a point.
After losing Bongi Mbonambi early the All Blacks read hooker Deon Fourie like an open book exam. Most lineouts were picked off as the All Blacks enjoyed complete dominance in the second half.
The only reason the Springboks are world champs again is because Richie Mo’unga and Jordie Barrett missed kicks at goal, something that was completely out of the Springboks control.
It could be said that the defence of the Boks got them the win, and it did, but factoring in the one man advantage they enjoyed it is less impressive than it sounds. They actually lost 8-3 on the scoreboard once Cane was sent off.
As a team performance, it didn’t reach any great heights, but the individual performance of Pieter-Steph du Toit was phenomenal, at the level of his 2019 play.
If it wasn’t a World Cup final, this performance wouldn’t be on the list.
4. Springboks 18-3 Scotland
South Africa’s pool stage win over makes the list as Scotland came into the World Cup as top five ranked side.
They finished third in the Six Nations, losing only to France and Ireland, the top two ranked sides at the time. Scotland have been strong over the last few seasons and their attack has flourished with weapons out wide like Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham. They had dispatched Wales 35-7 in February on the back of sublime Finn Russell performance.
Unfortunately for Scotland, the Springboks threw Russell off his game and the Scotland No 10 had a rough outing as they only put up three points.
Defensively, it was an impressive outing against a quality opponent in what was a crunch match. Limiting a top five Test side to just three points is a significant showing.
It was a much more complete performance than the semi-final win over England by 16-15, which failed to make the list.
3. Springboks 43-12 Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
The first game played by the Springboks in 2023 was perhaps their finest attacking showing of the year. With Mannie Libbok at flyhalf, they used width often to go after an undercooked Wallabies side. Despite Marika Koroibete scoring the first try, it was all one way traffic as young gun Kurt-Lee Arendse bagged a hat-trick.
The Springboks used variations in and around the rolling maul to target weak Wallaby defenders and it worked a treat. The maul bagged two penalty tries as well. Andre Esterhuizen had a barnstorming game, Marco van Staden looked like World Player of the Year.
The first Test under Eddie Jones was a nightmare for the Wallabies, but it was as clinical as it gets for South Africa in their only game at home in 2023.
2. Springboks 35-7 All Blacks at Twickenham, London
This record victory in the warm-up fixture was a dominant showing, but again, having a one man advantage and even two at one stage, diminishes the result somewhat. The Springboks were great in an unfair fight.
Once Scott Barrett was red carded in the first half for two yellow card offences, the All Blacks were going to struggle up front with a bench full of kids at Test match level. They had already lost the starting tighthead prop to injury very early.
The Boks loaded 7-1 bench went to work and demolished a 6-man and 7-man pack full of spring chickens. The maul & scrum was dominant and the undermanned All Blacks had no answer.
If it was 15-on-15 in a game that counted for something, then this performance would be No 1 on the list. As it was, it was an excellent performance against a weakened opponent in a meaningless one-off fixture.
1. Springboks 29-28 France in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final, Stade de France Paris
The best performance of the year for the Springboks has to the quarter-final where they rallied late to knock France out of their home World Cup.
Despite some lucky breaks going the Springboks way, the hand of Etzebeth, the illegal batting of the ball dead by Arendse, the Kolbe charge down later to be deemed offside, the two sides produced one of the best games of all-time.
The explosive first half saw three tries each in a stunning start. The Springboks are a dangerous counter-attacking side if you let them, and France obliged.
Arendse capitalised on a loose high ball to score, similarly Damian de Allende did the same one phase after recovering another spilt high ball. Jesse Kriel provided for Cheslin Kolbe with a grubber kick after a poor pass and knock-on by France.
The first three Springbok tries were all conjured from French errors. France only have themselves to blame for failing to manage those situations.
The play of the game came with the chips down for South Africa, down by six at 25-19 with a quarter of the game to go.
At that point in the game France had an 83 per cent chance of winning the contest based on all historical data.
South Africa gambled on coming up with a try instead of trying to cut the gap to three, which is very un-Springbok like. Eben Etzebeth crashed over from close range after sustained pressure to take back the lead.
A clutch play from Faf de Klerk and RG Snyman to rip the ball away on France’s last chance sealed a great win.
Comments on RugbyPass
Nz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
2 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
2 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
1 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
188 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
188 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
188 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
188 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
188 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
188 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
188 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the desperation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
188 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
188 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
2 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to comments