Sports Team of the Year: The Boks dominate. So what’s new?

23 Dec 2024

Without a World Cup to win, the SA rugby team did the next best thing, scooping up every possible title, all while building depth.

Unsurprisingly, for a second year running, readers have chosen the Springboks as team of the year.

How do you back up winning a World Cup? Well, you win every title available to you in the subsequent season. And you do it while integrating new coaches and philosophies, growing player depth and changing the game plan.

That’s what Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks achieved in 2024 on the back of their Rugby World Cup 2023 triumph in France. They not only continued to win, but also won while undergoing a metamorphosis.

The broad statistics show that this was another stellar year for Springbok rugby, with the world champions winning 11 of their 13 Tests – 85%.

They won the 2024 Rugby Championship to record their first title since 2019 when it was a single round because of the World Cup that year. The 2024 Championship success was the first in the full double-round format since 2009 and the first six-game campaign since Argentina entered the southern hemisphere showpiece in 2012.

Within the Rugby Championship, the Boks picked up the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate following two wins over Australia. They then won the big one, as far as they were concerned, which was the Freedom Cup, for beating the All Blacks twice.

It was the first time since 2009 that South Africa have won that piece of silverware.

They then concluded the season with victories over Scotland, England and Wales. It was the first undefeated northern hemisphere tour since 2013.

Consistency and depth

The two defeats the Boks suffered – 25-24 to Ireland in Durban and 29-28 against Argentina in Santiago del Estero – were minor setbacks in an otherwise stellar year.

And the Boks achieved this consistency despite Erasmus’ constant tinkering with the line-up.

Erasmus used 50 players in the season as his long-term planning took shape. Risks and the chance of losing were acceptable trade-offs if it meant building depth and discovering a player’s worth – whether he has “it” or not – for the primary goal of winning World Cups.

“I was worried at first about how the players [would] take the swapping, but we were honest with them at the beginning of the season, and they all bought into the plan, which is admirable,” said Erasmus after the 45-12 win against Wales in November.

“We are satisfied with the scoreboard [against Wales] and the year in general. And one must applaud the players for their effort, especially since we made so many changes.” DM

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

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Consistency and depth