Buoyant Boks now have freedom to fly as Championship wraps up with Pumas clashes

15 Sep 2024

South African rugby is riding high post-Rugby World Cup 2023, with the Springboks on a winning streak that has seen them triumph over rivals Australia and New Zealand, as Rassie Erasmus strategically navigates squad rotations and long-term goals towards continued success.

South African rugby is in a terrific space. Since winning Rugby World Cup 2023, the Springboks have gone on to win seven out of eight matches, a run that has included victories over perennial rivals Australia and New Zealand.

Rassie Erasmus’s charges have claimed the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate on the back of two wins in Australia and clinched the Freedom Cup after two narrow victories over the All Blacks.

If all goes to plan in the final two rounds of the tournament, they will add the Rugby Championship title to their lengthy list of accolades. If the Boks beat Argentina at least once – either in Santiago on 21 September or in Mbombela a week later – they will take an unassailable lead at the top of the standings.

But, as always, Erasmus wants more. Given the team’s recent form in big matches, there’s reason to believe that the Boks will win both fixtures against the Pumas and finish the southern hemisphere showpiece with a perfect record for the first time since 1998.

In years to come, fans may remember this campaign for the Boks’ move towards a more expansive approach, as well as a trademark tenacity. They may also remember how Erasmus rotated the squad, and how a series of changes helped rather than compromised South Africa’s quest for consistent results.

Optimism based on evidence

Erasmus has earned the trust of his players, and indeed the wider South African rugby public, over the past seven years.

The coach has been transparent about his long-term goals of building a wider squad with a view to big events such as the British & Irish Lions series or the World Cup.

More recently, he has spoken about giving younger players opportunities, as he knows that many of the veterans who starred at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups may be past their prime in 2027 when they defend their Rugby World Cup title in Australia.

Perhaps this is why Erasmus’s recent squad announcement for the two-game series against Argentina was greeted with such optimism. Six senior players – Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe and Willie le Roux – as well as star flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will remain in South Africa until the second leg of the mini-series in Mbombela.

It’s a big call to rest these players, especially since the Boks are already missing so many veterans because of injuries.

World Cup winners Lood de Jager, Deon Fourie, Faf de Klerk and André Esterhuizen won’t feature again in 2024, and it remains to be seen whether Steven Kitshoff, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, Jean Kleyn and Damian Willemse will be ready for the tour to the UK in November.

And yet, judging by a wide range of reactions, from experts to social media, many South Africans believe the Boks have the depth to cope with these setbacks and win their remaining Rugby Championship games. That belief is based on recent evidence rather than blind patriotism.

The Boks travelled to Australia without a host of top players, yet managed to win the first Test in Brisbane 33-7.

Erasmus experimented in the next fixture in Perth, giving third-, fourth- and even some fifth-choice players a run, and the Boks still won by an 18-point margin in driving rain.

Some critics have dismissed those results, given the decline of Australian rugby in recent years. But in the all-important series against the All Blacks, Erasmus continued to rotate his squad over the course of the two games, and came away with two big results.

Dual ambition

Development remains a priority, and Erasmus would have selected his 28-man squad for the game in Santiago with the future in mind. The Boks usually travel to Argentina as favourites, but these contests rarely go according to script.

Next week, a less-established Bok team will have a fight on its hands. The Pumas will have their tails up after beating the All Blacks 38-30 in Wellington in round one of the Championship and thrashing the Wallabies 67-27 in Santa Fe in round four. They will relish the opportunity to score a win against the world champions and keep their slim chances of winning the Rugby Championship title alive.

But this is hardly a case of Erasmus throwing the lambs to the wolves.

Over the past seven years, he and former head coach Jacques Nienaber learnt some tough lessons about the balance between youth and experience. They certainly got that balance wrong when they picked a less-experienced team, devoid of all familiarity or synergy, for the second Test of the series against Wales in 2022.

Although younger players need to be backed at some point, they also need to be picked alongside more established veterans to increase their chances of success.

The team selected to play Argentina in Santiago will be very different from the combination that fronted the All Blacks in Cape Town. And yet a clutch of World Cup winners will be selected to lift the standards and increase the chance of victory.

Read more: The Springboks have won South Africa over not only by their successes but through their authenticity

Some of the veterans could find themselves in new-look combinations, and some of the experimental selections that proved so successful in Australia may be revisited.

Erasmus wants a win in Argentina, but he also wants answers.

A best-case scenario sees a new-look combination matching the ferocity and tempo of the Pumas in Santiago and claiming a win that seals the Rugby Championship title.

The final fixture in Mbombela will be massive, regardless of what transpires in the preceding game. Either the Boks will be trying to bounce back from a loss in Argentina, or they will be pushing for a sixth consecutive victory in the tournament. It’s also the last Test in South Africa for the 2024 season, and they will be aiming to finish this part of the campaign on a high. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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Optimism based on evidence

Dual ambition