'It could be the end of the Springboks as a superpower' - South African rugby's darkest night ever
They say it is darkest before the dawn.
That may appear to be true in rugby too, as the Springboks’ ‘darkest ever’ day came two years before being crowned World Champions in Yokohama.
It took a remarkable turnaround from Rassie Erasmus to transform the Springbok squad from doormats to the penthouse of World Rugby.
But during the darkest moment, none of that was foreseeable after the Springboks had been thrashed 57-0 in Albany by the All Blacks, with many esteemed rugby writers in South Africa questioning whether things would ever get better.
57-0. Biggest defeat ever to the All Blacks. Hang your head in shame @Springboks
— Brenden Nel (@Brendennel) September 16, 2017
South African rugby writer Brenden Nel labelled the loss worse than the shock pool match loss to Japan in 2015 in a summary for SuperSport.
“There has been Wellington in 2011 when Bryce Lawrence sent us packing from the World Cup and Brighton when Japan rocked the rugby world with their incredible feat. But at both there was always a glimmer of hope,” Nel wrote.
“Last year in Italy I believed the Boks had hit rock bottom and like many others, I was impressed by how they rallied this year under Warren Whiteley and won five tests in a row.
“But in New Zealand against the All Blacks, there is literally no place to hide. Famous for ruthlessly exploiting any weakness, this Bok team has many.”
The All Blacks had recorded their biggest ever win over South Africa while holding the visitors scoreless, topping the prior year’s 57-15 win in Durban.
“This may be the Springboks darkest night ever. But the real question is if there is a dawn,” Nel wrote.
“If lessons aren’t learnt from it, it could really spell the end of the Springboks as a superpower in world rugby.”
57-0. #springboks that was pathetic. Just pathetic. #NZLvRSA
— Ryan Vrede (@Ryan_Vrede) September 16, 2017
Disgraceful by @Springboks. 57-0. Don't know how to feel: embarrased, angry, shocked? What now Saru? @IOLsport #SAvsNZ
— Jacques vdWesthuyzen (@jacq_west) September 16, 2017
Nobody has any idea how much the Boks are hurting. I watched the game that night again.Nothing wrong with our effort. We were outplayed.
— Brendan Venter (@BrendanVenter) September 17, 2017
Herman Mostert from Sport24 called the loss the ‘worst ever’, pinpointing the back three as a known weakness that many feared wouldn’t be up to the task.
“The Boks were hopelessly exposed out wide, with Rhule, in particular, proving to be a weak link.
“The Cheetahs flyer missed as many as nine tackles and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that he’s not the best wing South Africa can call on.”
Mostert wasn’t impressed with coach Allister Coetzee’s demeanour in the post-match press conference, who tried to put a positive spin on the result.
“Coetzee’s failure to acknowledge obvious flaws in the aftermath of Saturday’s bloodbath was an insult to Springbok fans.
“His choice to instead focus on the positives had irked many, and rightfully so. Coetzee sounds like a man in denial.”
Luckily for the Springboks, SARU made the decision to appoint Erasmus as Director of Rugby at the end of that calendar year.
How can Coetzee's position even be a debate in professional sport with this return in 2016/17? Historic 1st ever loss 2 Ire in SA, Record loss 2 Ire in Dublin. Lost 2 Arg & Italy away. 57-0 & 57-15 to NZ, 2x loss 2 Wales & worst ever year in @Springboks history 4/12 in 2016
— Mark Keohane (@mark_keohane) January 31, 2018
Coach not good enough and the players picked not good enough. World Cup is not played at Newlands against All Blacks a week after they've already won it … Dublin was the measure of Albany's accuracy & Dublin was as disastrous & damning as Albany's 57-0 #Springboks
— Mark Keohane (@mark_keohane) November 11, 2017
Another hopeless showing in Dublin in November which resulted in a 38-3 loss to Ireland may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, with Nick Mallett going on a rant on SuperSport saying that they had essentially hit rock bottom.
“We lost by 57-0 to New Zealand and afterward we heard the coaching staff saying we could take some positives out of it.
“I’ll tell you what, I cannot see any positives to be taken out of this game. I don’t care how positive you are as a personality; there are no positives out of this game.
Coetzee was eventually forced out with Erasmus taking over the team for the 2018 season and the rest became history, with the Springboks growing under Erasmus over 18 months to take home the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
But when it all seemed lost back in 2017, no one could imagine the Springboks holding the William Webb Ellis trophy again.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments