A year after Springbok RWC 2019 win, All Blacks and England move forward while Boks stagnate

Despite missing out on Test rugby this year, what Siya Kolisi’s team achieved at Rugby World Cup 2019 was celebrated on Monday, as it marked the one-year anniversary of the famous win.

 The Boks 32-12 victory, the second biggest winning margin in a final against the overwhelming favourites, was one of the greatest performances by a South African team of all time.

From shattering defence, a brutal scrum, hard-nosed physicality, brilliant kicking both tactical and at goal, and a fizzing attack, the Boks gave their most complete performance in years. Considering it was a World Cup final, it might have been their most complete performance ever.

RWC 2019 coach Rassie Erasmus said that looking back one year later, he is still amazed at the huge impact the victory had on all South Africans.

“It’s astonishing, really. I will never forget the amazing welcome scenes at the airport or the many thousands of people that came out to share in the team’s joy during the victory parades,” Erasmus said.

“And, one year later, people still say how they enjoyed the win and how proud they are of that achievement. It was a full-on team effort, from players to coaches and management staff – they all worked incredibly hard and made many sacrifices to make that success a reality,” said Erasmus.

Pieter-Steph du Toit scooped the World Rugby and SA Rugby Player of the Year Awards for 2019 with a string of stellar performances and described the triumph in Japan as the highlight of his rugby career.

“Looking back, one year later, you now truly appreciate how unbelievable it was to be part of the Springbok team to play in Japan,” said Du Toit.

“To be able to play in the Final and then win the Webb Ellis Cup was a dream came true, really. The celebrations afterwards were special, and I was very lucky to have my wife and baby boy with me, so that made it extra special.

“We had a team talk afterwards at the hotel and the families were also part of that, so that was amazing. The celebrations afterwards meant it was one of the best nights of my life.”

Handré Pollard was also one of the Bok heroes of that comprehensive victory over England, who were considered the favourites for the world title. The Springbok flyhalf scored 22 points with six penalty goals and two conversions.

“It’s been a crazy 2020, really, with everything that has happened with the pandemic,” said Pollard. “But I am sure the RWC win is still something that makes people look back with many happy memories.

“The Final was obviously the highlight of the tournament. The celebrations afterwards at the hotel, the travel back to SA and then that amazing victory tour on the bus to show the trophy to the people are all truly amazing memories.”

All Blacks move forward

But while the Boks have to bask in past glory, last Saturday the All Blacks showed no signs of a World Cup hangover. More than a year after England toppled the men in black by 19-7 in the World Cup semi-final, New Zealand have typically bounced back and moved forward.

They thrashed Australia by a record 43-5 margin in Sydney to secure the Bledisloe Cup for an 18th straight year – the second-longest streak in the history of the competition.

Australia last won the title in 2002 and after starting this year’s series with a 16-16 draw in Wellington there was optimism that they could end the unwanted sequence. 

But the All Blacks are always sluggish starters to an international season. Traditionally, for southern hemisphere teams, the international season starts in June, but because of Covid-19 delays the season started in October for the All Blacks and Wallabies.

Following the Wellington draw, the All Blacks found their feet at their Eden Park fortress in Auckland, winning the second Test 27-7 before heading to Australia for what would be the decider last weekend. It also doubled as the first match of the hastily convened 2020 Tri-Nations, which is taking place sans Springboks.

Given the fractured nature of the season it’s difficult to gauge exactly which team is where in their evolution in the new World Cup cycle, but clearly the All Blacks have not fallen off a cliff as some were suggesting when they were dumped out of the 2019 World Cup.

New coach Ian Foster has introduced new players such as Caleb Clarke seamlessly while Sam Cane has risen to the challenge as captain. The openside flank was brilliant over the three Tests and has set the tone for the rest of the team.

Stalwarts such as Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith, and Beauden Barrett have assisted in a smaller leadership group than previously. Some things might have changed in the set up, but positive results and strong performances have not.

Watching on, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber will know that when the Boks do finally lock horns with the All Blacks again – hopefully in 2021 – it will be as difficult as ever.

“What I have enjoyed about this one, we had a bit of adversity to fight through at the start,’’ Foster said in reference to the Wellington draw after the Test in Sydney. 

“We didn’t start as well as we wanted to in this series, but we have shown we are able to deal with the pressure and figure out a way that we can actually deal with what the Wallabies are doing.”

 Foster savoured the victory but said it was all part of a bigger plan for the All Blacks.

“I have been involved in the All Blacks for a long time and you get a lot of highlights, a whole lot of special games,” Foster, who was assistant coach for eight years before taking over from Steve Hansen, said. 

“This one certainly ranks up there. But we really don’t want to waste a day and muck around. It’s not only about this year, it’s about setting some really strong blocks for the coming season.” 

New Wallaby coach Dave Rennie is only five weeks into his job (since the first match) and knows that it’s only the beginning of a much longer project.

But he will need to see some structural changes at Rugby Australia, especially over its policy of not selecting overseas-based players.

England remain formidable

England themselves were chastened when losing 32-12 in the final against the Boks a week after their famous win over the All Blacks, but they too have had the opportunity to bounce back.

At the weekend England won the Six Nations after Ireland lost 35-27 to France in Paris, which meant England took the title on points’ difference over Les Blues after beating Italy 34-5 in Rome.

It was England’s third Six Nations title in five years under coach Eddie Jones and despite last year’s World Cup final defeat, the Roses remain a formidable team.

“I’m very proud of all the players and staff, they’ve reacted superbly to the changing situations in the past couple of weeks and remained focused on the goal of winning the Six Nations,” coach Eddie Jones said in a statement.

“We’ll have a couple of days rest then get back together later next week and put everything we have into our preparation for the Autumn Nations Cup.  It’s another really important tournament for us and I’ll be expecting the same levels of application as we work towards performing at our best.” DM