Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Sir Steve Hansen labels Springboks 'very beatable'

The Springboks line up for last Sunday's anthems in Edinburgh (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Sir Steve Hansen has had a fair few rumbles against the Springboks in his time, and while the former All Blacks coach knows all too well what a South African pack can do on the field, he also knows what goes up must come down.

ADVERTISEMENT

The leading man in one of rugbyā€™s all-time greatest teams, Hansen led New Zealand to Rugby World Cup glory in 2015 with a cast of now-household names, backing up the teamā€™s winning effort in 2011ā€™s showpiece event.

Similarly, the Springboks are now in their second consecutive reign as World Champions having pipped the All Blacks in 2023ā€™s World Cup final in Paris.

Video Spacer

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii: A star is born | RPTV

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:50
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:50
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii: A star is born | RPTV

    Sam Warburton names his stand out of the Autumn Nations Series, as young Wallaby Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii stepped up. Watch more clips like this on RugbyPass TV.

    Watch now

    It was a historic achievement by a historic team, but just as the All Blacks raised the bar for other nations and were eventually usurped as world No. 1, Hansen isnā€™t getting wrapped up in the moment, knowing the same fate will inevitably befall the men in green and gold in due time.

    The coach was asked if the present-day Springboks side is just a step ahead of the competition, or if they are beatable with the right tactics.

    ā€œTheyā€™re very beatable, theyā€™ve been beaten on a regular basis. Ireland beat them, New Zealand should have beaten them and Argentina beat them,ā€ he answered on DSPN with Martin Devlin.

    ā€œTheyā€™re beatable, as is everybody, but the more they win, the more the myth grows and it makes it harder the more their confidence grows.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    ā€œThey rely a lot on their big men and, if they lose some of those big men, have they got big men to replace them? So far they have.

    ā€œTheyā€™ll force everybody else to become better at what theyā€™re doing, just like what we did in that period from about 2011 through to ā€™19. We forced other teams to have to get better in areas they didnā€™t want to be.

    ā€œEvery team will have a part of their game which will be as good as someone elseā€™s game, another part will be better and some of it will be worse.

    ā€œIf you can improve the bit thatā€™s not as strong as the opposition then you become better yourselves.ā€

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Related

    There certainly havenā€™t been any questions over the Springboksā€™ depth during their current era, but after having the oldest team at last yearā€™s Rugby World Cup and fielding a starting XV with an average age of 31 to begin 2024, the next generation will need to step in shortly.

    For Hansenā€™s native New Zealand, he says the contrast in style of play is something to be embraced, not surrendered to regain the upper hand in the rivalry.

    ā€œNaturally, weā€™re a team that wants to use the ball, weā€™ve just got to be smart about how we use it, where we use it,ā€ the Toyota Verblitz coach added.

    ā€œThe game hasnā€™t changed, youā€™ve still got to do the job up front. The numbers one to five win you the Test matches. If they can get parity or get dominance then the game becomes easy for the rest of the group.ā€

    Hansen was then asked to weigh in on the great debate over which team is better: his 2015 All Blacks or the current Springboks.

    ā€œI think you can go through every generational era of the sport and youā€™ll find teamsā€¦ I always believe the 60s, the All Blacksā€™ 1960 era was a group of players that were amazing. They have big forwards that could play, they could play todayā€™s modern game, those guys. So itā€™s too hard to compare them.

    ā€œYou just so you just acknowledge that, well, what a wonderful side. And theyā€™re playing to their strengths. And their game at the moment is very strong. And you know, back in our time, at my time, we were very strong. But thereā€™s always been a team thatā€™s been very strong through the ages.

    ā€œItā€™s disappointing we donā€™t get to play South Africa more often at a lower level. I think weā€™re missing that.ā€

    Top 100

    Rugbyā€™s best of the best, ranked by experts. Check out our list of the Top 100 Men's Rugby Players and let us know what you think! 



    ADVERTISEMENT

    Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

    Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

    New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

    Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

    Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

    The Rise of Kenya | The Report

    New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

    The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    37 Comments
    F
    Flankly 115 days ago

    theyā€™ve been beaten on a regular basis

    Hey Steve - people brush their teeth and/or shower "on a regular basis".


    Saying that the Boks have been beaten on a regular basis is cheerleader talk. Or maybe just whiney bar talk.


    NZ is improving fast, and may well win the next RWC. They should focus on doing so in a classier fashion.

    n
    nn 115 days ago

    Typical of Hansen's arrogance... "Very beatable"...

    D
    DV 115 days ago

    Pretty vague comment . Every team is beatable . Itā€™s the very nature of sport . As is regurgitated , copy and paste ā€œ journalism ā€œ .

    C
    CR 115 days ago

    We are happy to live rent free šŸ˜‚šŸ‘ woulda, shoulda, coulda

    S
    SC 116 days ago

    Unless a team goes through an entire season without a loss, they are by definition beatable.


    The Springbok are unquestionably the best team in 2024 but with 2 losses, they are obviously beatable.


    I think that was Hansenā€™s point.

    N
    NT 116 days ago

    Hansen never had a clue nevermind a point. The no1 boks team never lost

    B
    Bull Shark 116 days ago

    Everyoneā€™s very beatable. Beat them then. En hou mond.

    B
    Bill Smith 115 days ago

    Think NZ have done that 62 times!

    G
    GG 116 days ago

    Probably more like beatable, instead of very beatable. This year, and often between WC cycles, Rassie roles the dice by mixing up his squads to build depth and also see how new guys go. When he gets to the ā€˜bigā€™ games he tends to pick his main guys and a proper bench. What Hansen( struggle to refer to Sir Hansen, as I would then have to refer to Rassie as Meneer) should maybe comment on is the way the Boks are evolving and learning with Tony Brown on board. But always good to hear comments from ex coaches who are not accountable anymore

    T
    TI 116 days ago

    I love the ā€œNew Zealand should have beaten them.ā€ part the best. Could, woulda, shoulda now constitutes an empirical argument.


    Well, they lost two out of thirteen, both by one point, but they should have been beaten by another team, and all that means, they are very beatable and are beaten on regular basis.


    Copium of such potency is the highest form of compliment.


    Heā€™s absolutely right about the point, that in an environment with one dominant team, other teams will inevitably close the gap in due time.

    B
    BH 116 days ago

    Another clickbait article for the Saffa fans to make the rest of us suffer their opinions

    G
    GrahamVF 112 days ago

    Well that's only fair as we have to suffer you.

    D
    DV 115 days ago

    Yet here you spew your bottom rung opinion

    B
    Bull Shark 116 days ago

    You generally make such good, insightful comments. This not being one of them.

    P
    PB 116 days ago

    Or you could just log off and go mow the lawn. Oh shucks, you probably donā€™t have a lawn.


    Ok vacuum the carpet.

    N
    Ninjin 116 days ago

    If the Springboks are very beatable then what does it say about teams like the All Blacks?

    S
    SadersMan 116 days ago

    Shag makes a basic point. It's weird how pundits label teams that get beaten, "unbeatable", &/or label players who are regularly stopped, "unstoppable". Or somehow apply a mystical formula (no doubt taken from the depths of their back passages) that bestows the title of "world's best player" on an individual. The premise? If enough pundits say things, & if enough fans repeat things, then such things must be true. Bah humbug.

    G
    GM 116 days ago

    They actually got a hell of a lot better, d - the 2011 RWC final ABs couldn't have lived with the RWC winning 2015 team. That's when Shag should have stepped away - by 2019 he'd lost his mojo and his nerve.

    S
    SadersMan 116 days ago

    Agreed. He'd had 12 years in the ABs coaching group by then. Stale as. Not nailing the BILs series & the RWC2019, almost seemed inevitable.

    d
    d 116 days ago

    I'd love to hear Steve's opinion on whether the AB's decline started when Henry handed the coaching reins over.

    N
    NT 116 days ago

    AllBlacks could have should have but Boks did have.

    Load More Comments

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    H
    HarunParisha 27 minutes ago
    Waratahs confirm brutal news for Wallabies star Max Jorgensen

    It's a fact: Reddit has always been, is, and will be my source for crypto discussions, security tips, and market trends. Little did I know it would be the same site that helped save me from financial ruin. Some months ago, an AMA thread about Trust Geeks Hack Expert showed up. People asked them anything: from lost wallet recoveries to phishing scams; their answers sounded really detailed, transparent, and full of insight. At the time, I didn't know that their help was near. It all started with what I thought was a routine software update. I had received an e-mail from what looked like a trusted exchange, telling me to install an important patch. The email looked *legitā€”*matching the branding, formatting, and even the usual tone of messages I had received before. Without a second thought, I downloaded the update and installed it. Biggest mistake of my life. It froze within minutes, and then it automatically restarted. My crypto wallet was empty when I regained access. $200,000-gone. At first, I thought it was some kind of glitch, but as I dug deeper, the cold reality hit me hard: I had been hacked. The "update" was a form of malware designed to drain wallets by injecting malicious code. Panic set in, but rather than spiral, I remembered the Trust Geeks Hack Expert AMA. Their confidence in handling cases like mine had stood out to me. I rushed back to the thread, found their contact details Website https://trustgeekshackexpert.com/-- Email: trustgeekshackexpert{@}fastservice{.}com, and reached out immediately. Their response was prompt and very reassuring. They asked for every little detail I could remember-from the time of the installation of the fake update to the exact nature of the transactions I had done prior to this. They got to work, tracing the movement of my stolen funds using some advanced blockchain forensics.

    Days went by, and I had my doubts, but they kept me updated. Then came a message that I was praying for; they had recovered my $200,000. It sounded like a dream come true. All stress, regret, and anger vanished at that moment. Trust Geeks Hack Expert saved not only my funds but also taught me a lesson which will never be forgotten: never trust email links. Now, I double-check every update; use cold storage for large amounts; don't click on anything that's remotely suspicious. If not for that Reddit AMA, I would have never found the only team skilled enough to turn my disaster into a comeback story.

    0 Go to comments
    T
    THE HACK ANGELS RECOVERY EXPERT 2 hours ago
    Blues lose All Black for season ahead of Hurricanes derby

    RECOVER YOUR STOLEN BITCOIN / USDT OR MONEY LOST TO SCAMMERS This is to notify anyone looking to reclaim his\her bitcoin lost to   scammers. For a successful recovery procedure, I advise you to get in touch with THE HACK ANGELS RECOVERY EXPERT. They are the best in recovery of lost funds. They have a background in cybersecurity and have obtained licenses and certifications that have equipped them with the necessary skills to recover lost funds. Everyone should be careful and stop being deceived by all these online scammers? I lost about $985,000 to these online scammers This made me very unhappy and upset. I had no idea what to do. A friend recommended me to a recovery expert called THE HACK ANGELS RECOVERY EXPERT. After a few hours of working with them, I was shocked to learn that they had recovered all of my stolen  bitcoin in just 48 hours. I said that I will not hold this to myself but share it to the public so that all scammed victims can get their funds back. I advise everyone seeking to recover their lost bitcoin wallet, any online scam. Reach out to THE HACK ANGELS RECOVERY EXPERT. I am so happy to get my funds back and to share the good news to whom it may concern. I can't keep but share this information particularly to anyone else in a similar situation who wants to recover lost assets. Contact inform:  WhatsApp +1(520)200-2320 ) or shoot them an Email at (support@thehackangels.com) They also have a great Website at (www.thehackangels.com

    1 Go to comments
    LONG READ
    LONG READ How does a World Rugby consultant help emerging nations? How does a World Rugby consultant help emerging nations?
    Search