The notion that the Springboks are the world's best is nothing more than an illusion at this point
You would think the Springboks had been the best team in the world for the last 10 years with the way the rhetoric has been since their World Cup victory two years ago.
A model of consistency, a team that wins at home and away by resounding scores over their top rivals, cementing themselves as historical greats with an extended period of dominance.
The World Cup victory was well-deserved, albeit aided by fortune. After losing to the All Blacks in the pool stages to secure a quarterfinal against first-time finalists Japan, they beat an injury-riddled Wales by three points to make the final.
The demolition over England was their crowning achievement of that campaign. At the right time, at the right moment, they toppled Eddie Jones’ men to take the William Webb Ellis trophy.
You play the hand that is dealt and that is what tournament rugby offers. The Springboks took full advantage. It is by no means the full body of work that earns the right to be called the best team indefinitely.
They are rightfully World Cup holders, but this era of Springboks rugby hasn’t proven to the world they are anything but a good side who won the World Cup with a helpful schedule.
The first world champions to lose a game in the World Cup tournament and win it, after about a year of playing well. The last calendar year with a full slate of games against tier one opposition in 2018, the side finished with a 50 percent win rate.
The other title they won in 2019 does little to bolster their world-beating claims.
They took their first Rugby Championship title in 10 years in a truncated version as they drew with New Zealand, beat Michael Cheika’s downtrodden Wallabies and defeated Los Pumas. It was an easy layup when everyone’s focus was on Japan.
It was a title that they were unprepared to defend in 2020 back on a full schedule, backing out of the competition while perennial underdogs Argentina fronted up with nothing but slim hope amid chaos.
Los Pumas, a squad ravaged by COVID-19 and forced to spend months away from family in the lead-up to the competition, achieved a slice of greatness by pulling off a historic win over the All Blacks against all odds.
The challenge was enormous and the odds of success looked low, but they took on the challenge anyway like a fearless competitor. Where were the world champion Springboks when the lowly Pumas could front with no games since the Jaguares last played?
Were they worried the shine of their world champion status would have rubbed off with a pasting at the hands of the All Blacks? Or worse, a loss to the Wallabies in Australia, where the Springboks have a horrendous record over the last 20 years?
As it were, the All Blacks were not anywhere near their potential in 2020 and the Springboks missed a golden opportunity to put one or two over them and bolster the standing of this era’s legacy.
After all, we’ve only seen one win over New Zealand from four attempts during Rassie Erasmus’ reign as head coach.
Their administrators were thinking preservation, not on how to further their World Cup win and cement a historic period for Springboks rugby.
Yes, the hurdle was high to jump over, but they decided not to try. Sadly, that decision was a little weak that showed fearful thinking – hardly that of a champion mindset when you compare what Argentina overcame.
The Springboks have ducked competition and hid since winning the World Cup, trying to prop up an illusion that this side is the best team in the world instead of making that a reality with a bold 2020 campaign.
A Rugby Championship title win, away from home, would have this side on the path to becoming one of the all-time great Bok teams. Instead, they dodged the opportunity in the interests of preservation.
You could argue the Springboks’ preparations for the Lions tour are as bad, or even worse, as that of what was asked in 2020 for the Rugby Championship, yet there is little chance we see them pull out due to concerns over player welfare in test rugby this time.
The problems are now compounding for the Springboks as they’ve had hurdle after hurdle to jump over to try and prepare for test rugby, with talks of warm-up tests being an inter-squad hit out. It is not an envious position to be in.
The rugby world is watching, waiting for this so-called best team on the planet to front up. They’ve had the rankings frozen for them to try and preserve that aura that only exists in their own mind around holding the number one ranking.
Frankly, there wouldn’t be a top five international team that believes the Springboks are the best team in the world. They are a good team that got their act together after being clapped for a good two years by everyone from here to Timbuktu.
Heavy defeats to New Zealand – 57-0 in Albany and 57-15 in Durban – were followed by a 38-3 roasting by Ireland in November 2017.
Italy, a team that hasn’t won a Six Nations game since 2015, even notched a maiden win over the Springboks the beforehand.
Granted, that is in the past. They got their act together and became one of the top teams, played unrelenting defence, scrapped and fought their way back.
But it would be folly to say there is a gap between them and everyone else. We haven’t seen it yet. We haven’t seen them dominate for any period of extended time.
The rest of the pack would love the chance to play these world champions. The Lions are the team that have that assignment, and have already seen tougher under Gatland.
The 2017 All Blacks – coming off back-to-back World Cup wins, undefeated at home in eight years since 2009, boasting a 90 percent win rate – were the most formidable opponent you could ask for. Undisputedly, the best team in the world without a rival.
The Lions fronted up, drew the series and ended a 47-game home winning streak after being down 1-0 after the first test.
The Springboks lost at home just three games ago, haven’t played in two years, won’t have any crowds and have a host of key players racing the clock to be fit.
If you could pick between the 2017 All Blacks and 2021 Springboks as touring opponents, you would take the 2021 Springboks every day of the week.
That’s not to say it will be a walk in the park by any means, but if you think the experienced Lions players haven’t had tougher opponents, you are kidding yourself.
Quell the talk of a Springboks whitewash – just win the series. That will be enough to add some merit to being the world’s best, but that is just the first building block.
Win away from home with regularity against Australia and New Zealand and add a couple of real Rugby Championship titles to the trophy case.
Go to Europe on an end-of-year tour and sweep everyone. Put together a solid two-or-three-year stretch as a dominant team.
Prove your mettle, and then the rugby world will give you credit as the world’s best. Earn a place in history with prolonged success rather than a questionable flash-in-the-pan World Cup win and then hiding away for two years while everyone else got on with it.
The real test as the world’s best has yet to begin – playing as world champions, as the hunted rather than the hunter. Deal with building depth, injuries, form drops, bad games and still being able to win and maintain success.
Right now, South Africa are the World Cup holders who beat up England on the right day.
It was an inspirational moment and wonderful occasion for their country. They have basked in that glory for as long as you could have asked. But the world’s best team isn’t one that last played in 2019. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone.
And we will soon find out whether this illusion is real or not.
Comments on RugbyPass
Christie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
41 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
5 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
41 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
41 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
41 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
41 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to comments