The big headline may well be Zachary Porthen’s inclusion at the age of 20 to make his debut before he has made double figures at franchise level, but there is always method in the team selection by Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.

Porthen’s inclusion was because he has been so highly-rated by Daan Human, Erasmus’s scrum guru, and the Boks see this as the perfect opportunity to give him a start.

It may be a bit left field, but the youngster will be protected by a very experienced rest of the tight five, and there is a full front row on the bench that can come on at any moment should they be needed.

Erasmus also knows that to start is often better than to play a youngster off the bench.

As he said on Tuesday the nerves may get to him, so it is easier to throw him straight in.

Porthen is seen as a future prospect and joins the likes of Ollie le Roux, who was just younger than him when he made his Bok debut and Frans Malherbe, a year older when he got into the Bok team.

The more interesting selections come as the Boks are without some overseas based players - but Erasmus did admit that this test was specifically put there to ensure their Japanese-based players get some game time.

The genius of playing the Japanese based players against their teammates is one thing, but it also gives the Boks the luxury of having a squad that is match ready when they get to Stade de France next weekend.

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Rassie Erasmus names his Springbok team to face Japan 🇿🇦🇯🇵

Zach Porthen will make his debut in the three jersey 👏

Kick-off at Wembley Stadium is at 18:10 on Saturday evening 📺#SSRugby pic.twitter.com/8W6vhUQgKO

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 28, 2025

KOLBE AT FULLBACK

So Cheslin Kolbe is at fullback because Damian Willemse’s hamstring is still not 100 per cent and the Boks don’t want to risk him.

It will be Kolbe’s second start at fullback, the first being in 2022 against Ireland in a game that the Boks narrowly lost.

There’s a return for Kurt-Lee Arendse, who makes his way back into the team after missing most of the Rugby Championship with injury.

Ethan Hooker predictably keeps his spot on the other wing.

The centre pairing of Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende continue to be the rocks in the midfield while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach continue their partnership behind the scrum.

The only Japanese based player that isn’t playing is Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is rested, while Eben Etzebeth is also taking a breather.

That means the Japanese contingent is basically Kolbe, KLA, Kriel and De Allende, Franco Mostert (at 7), Lood de Jager and Malcolm Marx.

RG Snyman has been released by Leinster to play for the Boks this week, making it a very mobile pack that will be used to the pace of the game.

If you include Manie Libbok and Kwagga Smith on the bench, the Japanese based contingent grows even further.

GAME SPECIFICALLY TO GIVE JAPANESE-BASED PLAYERS GAME TIME

“It wasn't really a big challenge. We actually organised this game, this extra game against Japan, especially for the guys who play in the Japanese league, because they would have not played a lot of rugby if they didn't play a lot of test matches for us, and this fixture was organised for them,” Erasmus said.

“I think there's about 11 or 12 guys, we count Manie as well now, who actually play in the Japanese league. The plan was always to get these guys some game time, because we found in the past that when we go on the end of year tour, previously when we played Ireland and France and teams like that, we had a bit of a slow start.

“Some of our players who were based in Japan hadn’t really played a lot of rugby, and that's why this fixture was here. So you'll see the bulk of the guys are Japanese-based. I think the only guy that's not been picked, that probably could have been picked, is Pieter-Steph.

“We pick players from all over the world, we totally understand the logistics around the different protocols and different competitions, and when we start planning our season, we know that already. Like the Welsh test match at the end of the year will also be a bit of a challenge, because there's UFC fixtures on for some of our franchises that specific weekend.

POSITIVES

“But on the other hand, it's also the positive that we still can put a pretty strong team out there, and guys like Eben are not playing, guys like Canan Moodie and Damian Willemse aren’t playing.

“There's Faf de Klerk, he's not even in this group, because we wanted to get some game time in the Japanese league, because he would not have been in the mix for this specific game. So I can probably name quite a lot of more players, but I don't want to let it sound like I'm moaning. So no, we're fairly happy that this is what we wanted to try and achieve.

“Now the job is to try and go and win the match.”

Of Porthen being named in the starting team in his first week with the squad, Erasmus said: “He proved at Vodacom United Rugby Championship level and with the Junior Springboks what he can do, and we are looking forward to seeing what he can offer in his first test match.

“Obviously, he has a lot to learn this week, but we have experienced players in the squad who have been helping and guiding him, and we believe this is the right match to give him an opportunity to prove what he can do.

“At this level, you have to sink or swim, so although it will be a challenging week for him to learn our structures, it will also be a very exciting week for him.”

RESPECT FOR EDDIE

Commenting on the challenge Japan posed, Erasmus said it would be a tough encounter, especially if one looks at the strides they have made in the last few years.

“They are a quality team, and they have a top coach in Eddie Jones, so we have no doubt they’ll throw everything at us,” said Erasmus.

“They beat us in 2015, and they showed what a quality outfit they are in the first half of our 2019 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against them, so we are expecting them to come out guns blazing.

“They also lost by only four points against Australia last weekend, which is a testament to the improvement they have been making, so we need to be sharp on attack and defence if we want to get the result.

“Very little separates the top teams in the world, and if you are not on your game both mentally and physically on the day, anything can happen. So, we will treat them with the utmost respect, and we also know how important this match will be to set the tone for the rest of our tour.”

The match kicks off at 6:10pm (SA time) and will be broadcast live and exclusively on SuperSport.

Springbok team to face Japan in London:

15 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath) – 46 caps, 126 points (21t, 3c, 5p)

14 Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 5 caps, 0 points

13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 84 caps, 95 points (19t)

12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 93 caps, 55 points (11t)

11 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 27 caps, 105 points (21t)

10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) - 15 caps, 104 points (3t, 28c, 11p)

9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 46 caps, 85 pts (17t)

8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 39 caps, 10 points (2t)

7 Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 81 caps, 20 points (4t)

6 Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 98 caps, 65 points (13t)

5 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 71 caps, 25 points (5t)

4 RG Snyman (Leinster) – 46 caps, 15 points (3t)

3 Zachary Porthen (DHL Stormers) – uncapped

2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 84 caps, 135 pts (27t)

1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 46 caps, 0 pts

Replacements:

16 Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 0 points

17 Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 5 points (1t)

18 Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 24 caps, 0 pts

19 Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 13 caps, 0 pts

20 Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 24 caps, 10 pts (2t)

21 Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 59 caps, 55 points (11t)

22 Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 24 caps, 25 pts (5t)

23 Manie Libbok (Kintetsu Liners) – 24 caps, 133 pts (2t, 42c, 13p)

Rassie explains the thinking behind naming Andre Esterhuizen in the 20 jersey this weekend.

🗣️ "Everyone thinks we eye him as six flanker in this game and rightly so, that's the way we see him in this game."#SSRugby pic.twitter.com/hwbMIYziN4

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 28, 2025

STATS & FACTS

Springbok record against Japan

Played 3; Won 2; Lost 1; Drawn 0; Points for: 99, Points against: 44; Tries scored 12, Tries conceded 4; Highest score 41-7; Biggest winning margin 34 points. Win per cent 66.7 per cent.

Miscellaneous:

- The Springboks’ only defeat against Japan was in 2015, when they went down 34-32 in Brighton in their Rugby World Cup pool opener.

- The last time the teams crossed paths was in the 2019 RWC quarterfinal in Tokyo, where the Boks registered a 26-3 victory, and went on to be crowned the world champions for the third time in history.

- Siya Kolisi will play his 99th test match, leaving him only one game short of becoming the ninth Springbok centurion in the history of the game.

- Zachary Porthen captained the Junior Springboks last year and will become Springbok #953 on Saturday.

- Jesse Kriel has scored 95 test points in his 84 tests and requires only five to make it to 100 in the green and gold.

- The total test caps in the Springbok starting line-up are 781. There are 316 caps in the backline, with 465 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 182 caps.

- The average caps per player in the backline is 45, the forwards 58, while the players on the bench average 23.

While much of the focus of the Springboks end of year tour has been on the massive clashes with France and Ireland, there is a more subtle, more focused method in the madness of playing four consecutive weeks that could pay off well in 2027.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is not someone who fails to plan, and as we have already seen this year, the way the Boks have navigated this season has been not without its own pitfalls, but in the process a new generation of Springboks is emerging and the hope is that they will continue to develop in the lead up to the World Cup title defence in 2027.

To do this, the Boks have set themselves up in almost World Cup mode. At the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship, Erasmus had spoken several times about taking on a tournament mode after the shock loss to Australia at Ellis Park.

The analogy was simple. The Boks have five more games in the Rugby Championship, win one in New Zealand and then it becomes like a semifinal against Argentina, with a final at Twickenham the week after.

PLOTTED THEIR RETURN

For those not knowing the way the Bok management plans their seasons, this talk may have been strange from the outside, but it showed how the team handled adversity and a shock loss and how they plotted their return.

There was the solemn belief in the younger players to show their best side, there was the ultimate support role for some of the double World Cup winners and there was a firm plan and focus on winning three back-to-back games to win the Rugby Championship.

The result was the first back to back Rugby Championship title for the Boks in history and another milestone for Erasmus as coach of the side.

Now, with two games outside the test window, the Boks haven’t said it out loud, but the scheduling indicates they are very much in a World Cup mode with the way they have planned their games for this tour in November.

They take on Japan, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales in consecutive weeks and this isn’t too far off the scenario that they will face when they face the best in the world in a World Cup.

Think about it - a plucky upcoming nation as a first game in the World Cup, then facing your main pool contender, then another tricky test that you can’t get wrong. Then another pool contender and then a nation that will test you.

INTENSE FIVE WEEKS

While Japan, Wales and Italy aren’t likely to test the Boks too much, the intensity of five weeks of action like this could be crucial to handling the pressure of being in a World Cup shootout.

It is likely the Boks will need to overcome similar odds at the World Cup, even though the tournament has been extended to more teams.

At least from the latter part of the pool stages, the Boks will face the same sort of pressure and while there are double World Cup winners who have done it, there are also young players who haven’t experienced that sort of pressure for five consecutive weeks.

As always it is also a chance to hone your game plan under pressure and try out new combinations. There is no doubt that Erasmus will chop and change during the tour as he has done for the past few seasons.

The key is to pick the right combinations to perform under pressure, and the Boks have done that well.

WORLD CUP DRAW

Against all of this is the backdrop of the World Cup draw being made after these November internationals where South Africa is hoping for an easier draw than last time out where they had Scotland and Ireland in their pool and France in a quarterfinal.

But as that showed, the road may be more difficult, but it is not something the team could not overcome.

And if they get their planning right over the next five weeks, there will be a new batch of players ready for the pressures of a World Cup when it comes around.

The travesty surrounding the nine-week ban for Springbok utility forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels has played itself out this past week and there is only one thing to take from it - we’re all losers in the process.

Wessels, of course, is the biggest loser here, and if the appeal is upheld, will lose more than R1-million in revenue over the next nine weeks, after being accused of an act that he denies, and of which there is no substantive evidence that it actually happened.

Connacht player Josh Murphy accused Wessels of grabbing him between the legs and “twisting” in an incident he said lasted 3-5 seconds. Now while this version of events is unlikely, and the time mentioned doesn’t correspond with the video footage available, it was accepted by a three-person panel that found Wessels guilty.

They rejected Wessels version that he was trapped at the bottom of the ruck, couldn’t see Murphy and pushed his arm out to try and free his leg. His defence was, at the very least, understandable given the dynamic environment that is a ruck on a rugby field.

Was there contact? Perhaps. Was it intentional? Who knows? The point is that disciplinary hearings need to focus on facts, and their finding “on the balance of probabilities” is bizarre and gobsmacking to say the least.

PRECEDENT SET

There are several other incidents where players have been exonerated for the lack of video evidence that is out there. Kyle Sinckler was accused of biting Franco Mostert during the British and Irish Lions tour of 2021, Bongi Mbonambi was accused by Tom Curry of a racial slur during the World Cup semifinal in 2023. Both incidents were dismissed for lack of evidence after the fact.

But here a URC disciplinary panel has found that they feel something must have happened. This despite the fact that a referee, two assistant referees and a television match official (who recently officiated the Women’s World Cup final) could not find conclusive evidence of the accusation.

The precedent that has been set is scary in itself. Players can be convicted on an accusation, without evidence. The can of worms that has been opened is something rugby may well regret.

What they did find was clear evidence of a double punch to the back of the head of Wessels, in reaction by Murphy and red carded him as a result.

But the disciplinary committee has not only found that Wessels has committed an act that there is no evidence for, but they have also gone against World Rugby’s own recommendations for the punch - which is a straight red card - and rescinded it so that Murphy could play again.

RAISES A LOT OF QUESTIONS

Why the same disciplinary committee sat for both incidents raises a lot of questions, especially in terms of bias and fairness? Why they allowed the citing commissioner to give a report that was clearly biased and devoid of facts is also strange?

The Irish citing commissioner spoke to the Irish player afterwards and believed him, claimed he was 20 metres from the incident and saw it clearly. Strangely the closest stand to the incident was closed for the public, so the commissioner had to be on the other side of the field, some 50 metres away.

And his version was accepted above the match officials. Did he speak to Wessels afterwards as well? We don’t know but it is unlikely. So he formed his opinion on a single version of someone he knew well.

The fact the disciplinary committee states in its findings that it was therefore down to Wessels and his representatives to prove that the citing commissioner wrong, and the burden of proof was on him makes it sound as if he was guilty until proven innocent.

The same burden will apply in the appeal as well. In the hearing the committee said they saw both players as “credible witnesses” but Wessels’ oral evidence was “brief” in comparison to Murphy’s, which was deemed “clear and detailed by the Committee.”

The fact that Murphy had his own reasons to want to be believed, as he has been red-carded before and faced a significant ban was taken into account by the committee, but not deemed a significant factor.

SO MANY LOSERS ACROSS THE BOARD

Wessels is the biggest loser here, but so is the disciplinary process, which has been shown up to be a farce with the way they have handled the entire matter. The fact there is no transcript of the hearing, that the written judgement took so long to get to the Bulls and that it gave the impression that something untoward was going on behind the scenes is a very bad look.

The URC are also losers here, as they have been lambasted by rugby fans wanting justice - but they have nothing to do with the process. It is an independent process handled outside their jurisdiction - for the precise reason that they can’t be involved. But they have taken a lot of flack as a result.

SA Rugby and the Bulls are victims as they lose a key player ahead of key games as well. Fans are victims as well as they lose confidence in what should be an open process, and feel there is a vendetta against South African players.

If there is one lesson to be learnt out of all this it is that franchises and the Boks need to be on a war footing. This will not be the last disciplinary travesty to take place and they need to be prepared.

While I don’t know this to be the case, perhaps the Bulls were a bit complacent at what they were going to face, but if it wasn’t clear then, it is clear now.

WAR FOOTING NEEDED

And all SA teams will have to be ready to defend every charge as if it was the worst. There may not be an anti-SA bias, but that doesn’t excuse the legal teams for not being on a footing as if there was.

In every sport when one team dominates, the rest of the league/competitors can’t wait for them to lose.

It wasn’t surprising to see Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times in London on Sunday acknowledge the Boks are in good form, but in the same breath acknowledge he wants the Boks to lose.

“Will they maintain the old philosophy, with which they won the past two World Cups — a massive pack and a massive replacement pack (the “bomb squad”) but with genuine world-class talent behind the scrum. It is decades since they were only a forward machine. Now they are just a machine. I do know how much we’d love to turn them off,” he wrote this past weekend.

Jones is not alone, there are many wanting the Boks to fail. I do not believe there is a conspiracy against the national side, but the success creates envy and jealousy and it is a short road to something more.

The best thing SA Rugby can do between now and 2027 is to be prepared for anything. And make sure there aren’t more victims in the process.

The last time the Springboks played Japan it was when they won their quarterfinal against the host nation at Tokyo Stadium during the 2019 Rugby World Cup. It was a close game for a while before the South African power took its toll.

Of course, it is not really that game that most neutral observers will think of when the names Springbok and Japan are lumped together. That would be Brighton, 2015. The first game the Boks coached by Heyneke Meyer and captained by Jean de Villiers played at the tournament hosted by England.

The Bok loss that day reverberated around the world and completely overshadowed what happened later at that World Cup for the South Africans - Fourie du Preez took over the captaincy when De Villiers was injured in the next game against Samoa in Birmingham and they won their group before progressing to the semifinal. Where they lost a close game to eventual winners New Zealand by just two points.

A lot happened off the back of that result. Eddie Jones was the Japan coach, and it was because of that win that he was seconded to the England coaching role after that World Cup. That was a role he stayed in until the Boks thumped England at Twickenham in November 2022, just under a year out from the next World Cup in France.

Jones then coached his native Australia during a disastrous World Cup campaign that saw them fail to get out of the group stage for the first time. And now he is back with Japan.

With Saturday’s game at Wembley being the first time Jones has coached Japan against the Boks since that fateful, or memorable depending on who you support, day in Brighton in September 2015.

Du Preez, who knew Jones well after playing for him at Santori, warned his fellow Boks ahead of that game a decade ago not to underestimate Japan. With so many of the Boks now playing in Japan, it will be interesting to learn if there are similar warnings being issued behind closed doors as Saturday’s opening to a tough tour approaches.

However, while Japan will be respected, this week is very much the calm before the storm for Rassie Erasmus and his Springboks. South African rugby has grown since Brighton, and they should be able to deal with Japan with a second or third string team should it be necessary.

But with a seismic clash with the northern hemisphere leaders at the moment, France, up the next week, it is going to be interesting to see what selection the coach comes up with for the Wembley game.

Ideally it should be a chance to blood less experienced players, like the young Stormers prop Zachary Porthen, but with the last Castle Lager Rugby Championship game now four weeks ago, there is surely also a need for the Bok first choice combinations to realign before what could be a massive test match.

BOKS HAVE PLAYED MORE RECENTLY THAN FRANCE

Yet whatever combination Erasmus does come up with on Saturday will have played international rugby more recently than the French team did.

Officially the last test match France played was in New Zealand in July, but the French didn’t take a full strength squad to the All Black series. So the game in Paris on 8 November will be the first time the France full strength side will have been together since March, when they clinched the Six Nations.

That might be to the Bok advantage, and there have been some injuries in the French camp, plus of course Antoine Dupont, their talisman, is still out with a long term injury. But the Bok buildup hasn’t been untroubled either, with the management no doubt waiting on any appeal that there may be on the verdict in the Jan-Hendrik Wessels disciplinary.

 

🇿🇦 v 🇯🇵
What would you choose? 😆
Don't miss the #Springboks' only test in London this year - tickets here: https://t.co/UNjzSaefPI 🔗#ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/OsalWqqYi9

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 23, 2025

 

HOLDING THUMBS ON WILLEMSE

As a player who is effectively the new Ox Nche and the new Malcolm Marx all rolled up into one, Wessels will be missed if he is not there. But Gerhard Steenekamp is back after missing the entire southern hemisphere international season so there is cover, which makes the fullback situation even more pressing if rumours about Damian Willemse’s hamstring injury are proved correct.

Stormers director of rugby John Dobson didn’t seem too concerned after his team’s win over Benetton and reminded us that he let Willemse play on after he felt his “hamstring strain”. So maybe there’s nothing to worry about.

However, with Aphelele Fassi injured and Willie le Roux left at home, it does beg the question about what Erasmus will do should the current first choice No 15 - in the absence of Fassi - be ruled out of any games.

There is plenty of utility value in the group, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu could be as at home at fullback as he is at flyhalf. You suspect though that it is at No 10 that the Boks will most benefit from him getting game time.

After the France game the Boks will move on to Italy, which should present Erasmus with another opportunity to experiment, before the second big game of the tour in Dublin against Ireland.

The Boks haven’t won in Ireland since 2012 and they weren’t happy when they had to share the series with the talkative Irish in South Africa last year so it will be a game the South Africans will be desperate to win before they close out the tour with another experiment opportunity against Wales in Cardiff on 29 November.

Springbok End of Year Tour

Japan (Wembley Stadium, London, 1 November)

France (Stade de France, Paris, 8 November)

Italy (Allianz Stadium, Turin, 15 November)

Ireland (AVIVA Stadium, Dublin, 22 November)

Wales (Principality Stadium, Cardiff, 29 November)

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus had high hopes for the team’s five-week tour to the UK and Europe as he departed for London with a small group of players and management on Sunday ahead of next weekend’s opening test against Japan.

The squad departed for London in different groups in the last few days, with the full group set to assemble in the UK on Monday morning.

The Springboks will face Japan at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 1 November, which will be followed by tests against France at Stade de France in Paris (8 November), Italy at the Allianz Stadium in Turin (15 November), Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin (22 November), and Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff (29 November). All five matches will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Erasmus looked forward to the tour on Sunday but admitted that it would be challenging with five test matches lined up and the quality of the opposition they are facing abroad.

The #Springboks are on their way to Europe for five gruelling Tests, but they are excited about the tour and to measure themselves against some of the best teams in the world - more here: https://t.co/n76la6hKBE 🛫
Catch all the action live on @SSRugby 🔥#ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/XOdpuoxMTS

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 26, 2025

“We are excited about the tour and to measure ourselves against some of the best teams in the world,” said Erasmus.

“A lot of hard work has been put in behind the scenes since the Castle Lager Rugby Championship for this tour, and hopefully this will set us in good standing to build on our season so far.

“Obviously, the conditions are vastly different in the UK and Europe to South Africa this time of the year, but fortunately, most of the players in the squad have been exposed to those conditions either during their Vodacom United Rugby Championship tours or by playing for overseas clubs.

“The time zone is also very similar to South Africa, which means we can slot back into full test mode immediately from our first training session on Monday.”

Commenting on the opposition, Erasmus said: “Japan have been improving steadily over the last few years, and they defeated us a few years ago, so we have no doubt they will come out guns blazing next Saturday and throw everything at us.

Yes, we know this result didn't go to plan...

But, we look forward to some more big carries against Japan in London next weekend. Get your tickets for Wembley today 🔗 https://t.co/UNjzSadI0a#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/qrdZ2EADVO

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 23, 2025

“The last time we faced France in Paris was in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal, and that result will psyche them up going into the match against them. They are also ranked fourth in the world currently, and Ireland third, and we all know how tough matches at the Aviva Stadium are against them.

“Italy, meanwhile, put up a brave fight against us in Pretoria in the Castle Lager Incoming Series, and that will give them confidence going into our match in Turin, and Wales will also be up for the challenge after recovering from a tough few years earlier this season, when we line up against them at the Principality Stadium, so we need to be ready mentally and physically each week to get the desired results.

“It won’t be easy, but we have a quality group of players, and we know what they are capable of doing when we stick to our structures and play to our potential on the day.”

The left wing - often one of the most celebrated positions in rugby - and a try-scorer’s paradise. 

This position requires strong defensive skills, including a high work rate and aerial ability, and often a left-footed kick to keep play closer to the center of the field. To hear team-mates tell it, often they’re referred to as the “loneliest position in the team” as they can go full games without seeing the ball. It gets worse, others call them the “lottery winner” because by the time they get the ball, every other member of the team needs to have done everything right, and they get to score, thereby winning the lottery.

They’re known for their bright boots and try celebrations - often also called the team cheerlader or professional sunbather - who spends most of the time in one corner of the field, waiting for the ball to come their way, like a tourist on the beach.

Those are all flippant examples from the net and team-mates though, and the left wing is a key position, often known for speed. They need to possess exceptional aerial skills, a good boot and the ability to turn defence into attack.

So here are our five candidates, all exceptional finishers in their own right.

> > > GO TO THE BOK DREAM TEAM SITE AND VOTE NOW < < <

[https://www.supersport.com/bokdreamteam]

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Kurt Lee Arendse (Springboks 2022-present)

Scrumcapped wingers and Springbok jerseys are such a combination. KLA as he is affectionately known is a hotstepper of note, and a finisher beyond comprehension. The fleet-footed winger made his name at Sevens and then moved to the Bulls where he was exceptional, forcing the selectors to bring him into the Springbok setup and he has never looked back.

An exceptional try scoring record sees him with 20 tries from 27 test matches, which is phenomenal given the opposition he has scored against and Arendse, often seen as diminutive, punches far above his weight on the international stage.

And the best is he can only get better.

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Bryan Habana (Springboks 2004-2016)

When Bryan Habana made his debut against England at Twickenham in 2004, it was the famous “men against boys” test and the Boks lost comprehensively. But even then it was clear that there was a special player on the field. He scored a try and started a road to 124 test matches where he is now considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game.

A superb finisher, an interception expert, whose trademark dive will be remembered by many across the world, Habana was part of the golden era that won the 2007 World Cup and beat the British and Irish Lions in 2009.

In 2007 following the Boks World Cup win he was named World Player of the year after equalling Jonah Lomu’s tournament record of 8 tries during the World Cup.

By the 2015 World Cup Habana had equalled Lomu’s overall record of 15 tries in World Cup matches and scored 67 tries in his illustrious career.

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Makazole Mapimpi (Springboks 2017-current)

The scorer of the first try ever for a Springbok side in the World Cup final, Makazole Mapimpi, or Drex as his team-mates know him, is a player that will forever be in the hearts of Springbok fans.

A supreme competitor, Mapimpi literally had to fight his way to get to the top and is the perfect example of someone you just can’t keep down. From fighting his way up from being born in a rural area outside East London, through the Border Bulldogs, Southern Kings and then to the Sharks, Mapimpi has never had it easy, but he never gives up.

Mapimpi’s try scoring record for the Springboks sits at around 70 percent and is exceptionally high for an international player.

Mapimpi made his test debut for the Springboks on 2 June 2018 against Wales in Washington, D.C. at the age of 27.

A double World Cup winner, Mapimpi’s name will always be etched among the legends in a Springbok jersey.

---

Pieter Rossouw (Springboks 1997-2003)

“Slaptjips” as he was known, apparently because the sight of his running legs was like potato chips slapping together, Pieter Rossouw was an exceptionally gifted finisher who made his mark for Western Province, the Stormers and the Springboks. 

A terrific finisher, and great at escaping tackles as well, he became one of South Africa’s most prolific try-scorers of the era. One of his best remembered tries was the one in Wellington in 1998, which gave the Springboks their first victory in New Zealand since readmission.

An SA player of the year nominee in 1997, Rossouw won Tri Nations in 1998, and three Currie Cup titles with Western Province in 1997, 2000 and 2001. 

In coaching, he won a Currie Cup and two Super Rugby titles with the Bulls.

---

Chester Williams (Springboks 1993-2000)

The original Springbok poster guy - Chester Williams - was known as the “black pearl”, coined by international journalists ahead of the 1995 World Cup. Williams was the face of the 1995 event, and was the first non-white Springbok since his uncle Avril and Errol Tobias appeared for the Springboks in the 1980s.

A groundbreaking star, Williams was soft spoken but did some big talking on the field. 

He made his debut for the Springboks at the age of 23 against Argentina on 13 November 1993 in Buenos Aires, a game that the Springboks went on to win 52–23 and in which he also scored a try. Williams was on the Springboks team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, notably scoring four tries against Western Samoa in the quarter-finals. His Boks career, hampered by knee injuries in 1996 and 1997, ended with a 23–13 win against Wales on 26 November 2000 in Cardiff. In total he played 27 games for the Springboks, scoring 14 tries and a total of 70 points.

He later became a very successful Springbok Sevens coach. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 49. 

 

 

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has singled out tests against France and Ireland as the most "challenging" during a five-international tour of Europe in November.

The record four-time Rugby World Cup winners arrive in London this weekend to prepare for the first match, against Japan at Wembley Stadium next Saturday.

Then, on consecutive Saturdays, the Siya Kolisi-captained Springboks face France in Paris, Italy in Turin, Ireland in Dublin and Wales in Cardiff.

France want to avenge a one-point World Cup quarterfinal loss to eventual champions South Africa two years ago after an epic encounter.

Ireland have won the last three tests against South Africa in Dublin, including inflicting a humiliating 35-point defeat on the tourists in 2017.

"The matches against the French and Irish will be like World Cup knockout games," Erasmus told reporters before the squad left Johannesburg.

"We will see how our players adapt to playing high-pressure tests in the intimidating cauldrons of Paris and Dublin."

Erasmus says the tour is one of the most demanding undertaken by the Springboks for many seasons – last year they played only three tests during November.

They beat Scotland, England and Wales in 2024, and expectations are high among millions of Springbok supporters that the team can complete another clean sweep.

A vote in a South African rugby magazine showed 46 per cent of respondents believed South Africa would win all five internationals, and 42 per cent felt the tourists would win four.

"I am calling this a challenging tour because of the quality of the opposition we are going to face," said Erasmus, a key figure in the coaching teams that won the 2019 and 2023 World Cup tournaments.

"Ireland and France are currently ranked third and fourth in the world behind us and New Zealand, and while the other tests might seem easier on paper, you dare not write off any opponent.

SEEKING CONSISTENCY

"The Irish and French are always tough rivals and both won four of five Six Nations Championship matches this year. Beating them in Dublin and Paris will be huge challenges.

"Japan have beaten us before," he said, referring to a stunning group triumph by the Brave Blossoms in Brighton at the 2015 World Cup.

"Italy put up a good fight against us in Pretoria last July despite lacking many first choices and Wales won in Japan, proving they are again on an upward trajectory."

South Africa travel to Europe having won seven of nine tests this year. The highlight was a 43-10 victory over New Zealand in Wellington and the lowlight a 38-22 defeat by Australia in Johannesburg.

The Springboks pipped greatest rivals the All Blacks on points difference to win back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time.

"We delivered a few good performances, but also a few disappointing ones. Now I want to build consistency on the tour."

With an eye on the 2027 World Cup in Australia, where South Africa hope to become the first country to win the competition three times in a row, Erasmus has experimented.

His aim is to have at least three players competing for each position when he comes to choose the World Cup squad.

South Africa took only one fly-half, Manie Libbok, to the 2023 World Cup, before being bolstered by a second, Handre Pollard, after hooker Malcolm Marx was injured.

Pollard did not miss a goal kick as South Africa pulled off one-point knockout victories over France, England and New Zealand to retain the title.

Libbok and Pollard are in the squad for Europe, but it is the younger third playmaker, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who is overshadowing them with his all-round game.

He scored a Springbok record 37 points, including three tries, in a 67-30 Rugby Championship demolition of Argentina in Durban last month.

"Sacha did incredible things, but it does not just happen. He has grown a bit over time. There have been many mishaps in the lead up to this game," noted Erasmus.

The Springbok squad announcement for the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour to Europe may have raised a few eyebrows with who was left out, and who was put in, but the one aspect that has gone a bit unnoticed is the confidence the Boks have in their options at fullback without the likes of Aphelele Fassi and Willie le Roux on tour.

While Fassi is still injured, and Le Roux is slowly heading into the Bok sunset, allowing a new generation of players to stake their claim, the Boks seem to only have named Damian Willemse - at first glance - as the only option at 15.

Willemse is, of course, not just a 15 and is a versatile utility back that can play at 10 and 12 as well, and possibly anywhere in the backline.

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Rassie Erasmus names his Springbok squad for the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour 🇿🇦

Stormers prop Zachary Porthen is the only uncapped player to be included in the squad, while a number of players have been named on a standby list 🚨#SSRugby | #QuilterNS pic.twitter.com/qWTxAElkQr

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 20, 2025

But in the context of the current squad, he is quite possibly the best option for 15, and nobody needs reminding that the Boks won a World Cup with him at 15.

Outside Willemse, however, the Boks are blessed with a number of utility backs, versatile in their approach and able to be swiss army knived into a position that isn’t normally what you would associate them with.

This, coupled with the success the Boks had in defending their Castle Lager Rugby Championship title, shows that selecting one fullback isn’t really a crisis for the current Bok management, nor would the odd experiment be out of place.

So let’s have a look at the possibilities for the fullback role should Willemse not fill it, be moved to 12 or 10 for a game or in any other possibility.

SACHA FEINBERG-MNGOMEZULU

South Africa’s shooting star, the hero of Durban and the name on everyone’s lips at the moment is the obvious candidate to take over the 15 role if the Boks need him to.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu has slotted into the fifteen role before and is likely to do it again - expect it to happen when coach Rassie Erasmus looks to give either Manie Libbok or Handre Pollard a run at 10.

The thing with Feinberg-Mngomezulu is that he is a superb talent, a potential generational player and most coaches with that sort of player in their side will tell you one thing. They want him on the field at all times.

So it wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea to have him there for the Boks, and it is more than likely the first choice back-up plan for Willemse.

CHESLIN KOLBE

Again we ask ourselves, is there anything that Cheslin can’t do? The fleet-footed magician has scored tries that have taken our breath away, has flummoxed defences and often punches above his own size and weight against the best in the world.

It isn’t a surprise that Bok captain Siya Kolisi calls Kolbe “the GOAT” and says he is his favourite player. Kolbe stepped up to the kicking duties when it was required in the World Cup and can easily slot in at 15.

That would even give the Boks the option of a scrumcap back three with Kurt-Lee Arendse and Edwill van der Merwe. All fast, all powerful and it could be devastating.

KURT-LEE ARENDSE

Arendse played 15 early on in his career and even at the Bulls and while he is more accustomed to scoring tries on the wing, he could slot into the 15 role if needed by the Boks.

A supreme attacker, and a superb defender, KLA has not played international rugby since the Wallaby test at Ellis Park because of injury but has been selected and is expected to play a role on the tour. Who knows? It could even be at 15.

EDWILL VAN DER MERWE

Could there have been method in the Sharks’ madness? Edwill van der Merwe has been playing 15 for the Sharks in recent weeks and it wouldn’t be surprising that this could be to help the national squad out?

While there has been no suggestion that a request came from the Bok management, Van der Merwe’s penchant for scoring tries suggests he is another player you would want on the field. He has an impressive points scoring record and it wouldn’t be a massive surprise should he be deployed there.

CANAN MOODIE

One of the more intriguing possibilities is Moodie at 15. A tall winger, who has publicly said he loves playing 13, Moody seems more destined to come into the midfield than at the back, but what about the possibility? He has a decent foot, has the size and speed to make it and is good under the high ball. Positionally he may have to adapt a lot but the idea has been spoken about for a few years now, and perhaps it may be left field, but who knows?

There are a lot of other ideas that coach Rassie Erasmus may have. Manie Libbok has played 15 as well, and there are other players who could slot in there. But for the Boks the fullback isn’t only the last line of defence, he is the second playmaker as well, and in this regard it will be very interesting to see who the Boks line-up with during the tour.

And what new exciting possibilities there may be.

SA under-20 captain Zachary Porthen received a surprise call-up to the Springbok squad for the five match Castle Lager Outgoing Tour, signalling that coach Rassie Erasmus sees him as a future key figure in the Bok squad.

Porthen, who led the SA under-20 team last season, and is currently playing for the DHL Stormers, isn’t likely to be a major part of the team’s plans, but will gain a lot from learning in the Bok environment on such a long tour.

The Boks will face Japan in the first of five tests on consecutive Saturdays at Wembley Stadium in London on 1 November, before lining up against France at Stade de France in Paris (8 November), Italy at the Allianz Stadium, Turin (15 November), Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin (22 November), and Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff (29 November).

Porthen, who made his DHL Stormers’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship debut in May and is currently on tour with the team in Italy, is the only uncapped player in the 36-man squad, who will depart for London in different groups from their respective franchises and clubs on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

There are also returns for Johan Grobbelaar, who missed out on the tests this year when Scarlets hooker Marnus van der Merwe was selected. Grobbelaar is back in contention as one of only two hookers selected, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels covering as a swinger in both prop and hooker.

Gerhard Steenekamp returns from injury and takes his spot among the front row, and with Grobbelaar back Erasmus could reunite the much-vaunted Bulls front row somewhere on this tour.

But it also means there is no place for World Cup winners Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch. Mbonambi missed the New Zealand leg of the Rugby Championship because of personal reasons but returned to the squad for the Argentina games. However, with Malcolm Marx starting, the Boks obviously feel his back up needs to be a player that will have one eye on the future.

Koch hasn’t played for the Boks all season and is seen as slowly being phased out of the system, along with Faf de Klerk and Makazole Mapimpi, both of whom failed to be selected as well.

Willie le Roux hasn’t been selected either, although this wasn’t unexpected, and Le Roux is likely to be on standby if needed, but will concentrate more on his role at the Bulls in the near future.

But that means that Damian Willemse - in the absence of the injured Aphelele Fassi - is the only 15 in the group right now, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu his likely back-up.

There are several other players - including wingers Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, who is back after injury, who could slot in at 15 if needed.

Among the forwards, Ben-Jason Dixon and Jean Kleyn - both injured and who missed the Rugby Championship - return to the side while the backline picks are very much in line with selections all season.

Interestingly enough Juarno Augustus has been put on the standby list in case of injury with Lukhanyo Am’s name also standing out in his absence. Bulls winger Sebastian de Klerk’s consistent performances mean he will be on standby as well and could be called up in case of an injury.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi is in line to become only the ninth South African test centurion on the tour after racking up his 98th test cap in the team’s 29-27 victory against Argentina in their final Castle Lager Rugby Championship match at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, earlier this month, which saw the Boks clinch the southern hemisphere title for the second time in a row.

Among the injured players not considered for selection are Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, Frans Malherbe, Trevor Nyakane, Jean-Luc du Preez, and Aphelele Fassi.

“We are excited about the makeup of this squad,” said Erasmus. “Most of the players in the group have been with us throughout the season, while others are back from injury or have done the job for us before in the last few years.

“It’s also great to see a young player like Zachary, who has emerged through our junior structures, come through the ranks into the senior set-up, and we are excited to see what he can do at this level.”

Erasmus added: “With five tough matches lined up, we always planned to select a manageable squad, and we have a solid bunch of players on standby, some of whom have been with us during stages this season, and uncapped players such as Sebastian and Juarno, who have continued to impress us with their performances.

“With Neethling and Salmaan currently in the process of returning from injury, it’s important for us that they get more game time for their Vodacom URC franchises, which was the main reason for excluding them from the 36-man squad.

“Obviously, players not included on the standby list could also be called up should the need arise.”

Looking ahead at the tour, Erasmus admitted that while it would be challenging given the quality of the opposition they will be facing, the team was eager to get back on the field.

“It’s a longer tour than usual and we are facing top-class opposition, but we are looking forward to it,” said Erasmus.

“Ireland and France are currently ranked third and fourth in the world, while Italy, Wales, and Japan are in 10th, 12th and 13th place, and we’ve seen in the last few years that you cannot write off any team.

“Ireland and France are always tough opposition, and they both won four out of their five Six Nations matches, with France emerging as the eventual champions, and we know how challenging it is to beat them both at home.

“Japan have beaten us before, Italy put up a good fight against us earlier this year in Pretoria, and Wales beat Japan, proving that they are again on an upward trajectory, so it’s going to be a challenging tour.

“We have delivered a few good performances but also a few disappointing ones this season, so this will be a good opportunity to test ourselves and see if we can build consistency from week to week. That said, it is going to take a massive effort, and we are excited about the tour.”

Springbok squad for Castle Lager Outgoing Tour:

Props:

Thomas du Toit

Wilco Louw

Ox Nche

Zachary Porthen

Gerhard Steenekamp

Boan Venter

Hookers:

Johan Grobbelaar

Malcolm Marx

Jan-Hendrik Wessels

Locks:

Lood de Jager

Eben Etzebeth

Jean Kleyn

Franco Mostert

Ruan Nortje

RG Snyman

Loose forwards

Ben-Jason Dixon

Pieter-Steph du Toit

Siya Kolisi

Kwagga Smith

Marco van Staden

Jasper Wiese

Scrumhalves

Cobus Reinach

Morne van den Berg

Grant Williams

Flyhalves:

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu

Manie Libbok

Handre Pollard

Midfielders:

Damian de Allende

Andre Esterhuizen

Jesse Kriel

Wings

Cheslin Kolbe

Kurt-Lee Arendse

Ethan Hooker

Canan Moodie

Edwill van der Merwe

Players on standby:

Forwards:

Juarno Augustus

Neethling Fouche

Bongi Mbonambi

Salmaan Moerat

Asenathi Ntlabakanye

Evan Roos

Vincent Tshituka

Backs:

Lukhanyo Am

Sebastian De Klerk

Makazole Mapimpi

Players in previous squads but missing

Jean-Luc Du Preez (injured)

Vincent Koch

Bongi Mbonambi (Standby)

Marnus van der Merwe

Aphelele Fassi (injured)

Willie le Roux

Makazole Mapimpi (standby)

Lukhanyo Am (Standby)

Both coaches will be desperate for their teams to win the Greatest Rivalry Series between the Springboks and All Blacks that was confirmed on Thursday evening at the start of what should become an iconic part of the rugby calendar, but it could also be a significant lift for both teams’ challenge for the following year’s Rugby World Cup.

New Zealand’s coach Scott Robertson described South Africa as the ultimate test for any team and said it was perfectly timed to help the All Blacks' challenge grow for the following year’s RWC in Australia.

“This tour has a real place in the global rugby calendar. It’s a chance to test ourselves physically and mentally in the toughest environment there is,” said Robertson.

“The timing, just before a World Cup, gives us a perfect opportunity to build depth and find out more about ourselves. The rivalry with South Africa has so much history – political, cultural, and sporting. That’s why it’s called Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry. It’s more than marketing; it’s two proud rugby nations with decades of battles behind them.”

South Africa’s Rassie Erasmus got his first taste of Bok rugby as a player when he was part of the end of year tour to Europe in 1996 (the tour actually started in Argentina but he was called on as a replacement later in the trip) so knows all about what a proper tour can do. Listening to him speak about it, you almost get the impression he envies New Zealand for being the touring team next year.

"ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO GET TIGHT AS A TEAM"

The All Blacks will play four games against the local URC franchises among the seven they play in South Africa, with the eighth tour game being the Fourth test to be played at a neutral venue.

“Tours are one of the best ways to really get tight as a team,” said Erasmus. “You spend so much time together, you get to know each other better, players, coaches and staff, and you even start to understand the culture and fan base of the country you’re touring. You get frustrated with each other, but that’s how you grow.

“In my first tour it was a time when we were away for seven weeks. Even though the game is more professional now, I think most players still enjoy touring. It builds connection and team spirit, and it is great for the brand too.”

However, while the All Blacks should get a great chance to grow their depth by going on a tour such as the one scheduled for next August and September, it will also tighten the Boks to be playing such a tough series together, one which is scheduled to take place every six years and will rival the British and Irish Lions tours in level of importance for players are part of it.

“The name ‘The Greatest Rivalry’ says a lot, but it’s not meant arrogantly. The history between us and New Zealand is incredibly rich – from the New Zealand Cavaliers rebel tour (to South Africa in 1986) to the flower bomb incidents in Auckland in 1981. This is not about saying it’s better than the Six Nations or anything else. It’s just a recognition of how deep and special this rivalry is.”

1996 WIN WILL INSPIRE ALL BLACKS

What Erasmus did not mention was the last proper tour and series between the two nations - 1996, when the All Blacks won a series in South Africa for the first time under the captaincy of Sean Fitzpatrick and with John Hart as the New Zealand coach. It has not been forgotten by key All Black personnel, however, and it is sure to be a galvanising memory for tourists who would have witnessed the Kiwi triumphs from afar when they were all very young.

“I remember those 1996 tests really well. Fitzy (Fitzpatrick), Marshy (Justin Marshall) and a decorated All Blacks side doing what no one had done before and winning a series in South Africa,” said Robertson.

“It was an amazing moment in our rugby history. A seven-week tour with four tests and a couple of franchise games is something unique. Watching how the British & Irish Lions managed their tour of Australia gave me a few insights, because we’ll be doing something similar next year. It’s a huge opportunity for both nations, and for fans on both sides, to see two great rivals go head-to-head again.”

Robertson added that the move of South African teams to the United Rugby Championship had made the tour possible.

“Honestly, if the South African teams had stayed in Super Rugby, this tour probably wouldn’t have happened. Their move north created the opportunity. The URC sides are strong now – full of Springboks and depth – so those midweek matches will be proper contests, not just warm-ups.”

KIWI SKIPPER SEES TOUR AS CAREER HIGHLIGHT

All Blacks captain Scott Barrett stuck to the theme set by the two rival coaches by saying that the tour would be a career highlight for him.

“The rivalry between our nations is huge, and I’m really excited about the chance to play the Springboks in a full three-match series. Any player in New Zealand aiming for this tour will want to be at their best. It’s the ultimate challenge. A seven-week tour and three straight tests in South Africa. Those tests will be incredibly physical. You’ll want to build form through the early games, then be ready for three very intense matches. It’ll be brutal at times, but that’s what it’s all about: testing yourself against the world champions in their own backyard.”

RUGBY’S GREATEST RIVALRY TOUR FIXTURES 2026

Friday 7 August: DHL Stormers v New Zealand at DHL Stadium, Cape Town


Tuesday 11 August: Hollywoodbets Sharks v New Zealand at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban


Saturday 15 August: Vodacom Bulls v New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria


Saturday 22 August: First test – South Africa v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg 


Tuesday 25 August: Lions v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg


Saturday 29 August: Second test – South Africa v New Zealand at DHL Stadium, Cape Town 


Saturday 5 September: Third test – South Africa v New Zealand at FNB Stadium,

Johannesburg


Saturday 12 September: Fourth test – South Africa v New Zealand (venue to be announced)

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, an alternating quadrennial tour between South Africa and New Zealand, was confirmed on Thursday, marking a defining new chapter for the intense rivalry between the sport’s most successful and storied nations.

In the tour’s maiden year, South Africa will host New Zealand in August and September 2026.

The All Blacks kick off the tour against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town on Friday, 7 August and take on the Hollywoodbets Sharks, Vodacom Bulls and Lions, to complement a four-test series against the Springboks.

Ellis Park (Johannesburg), DHL Stadium (Cape Town), and FNB Stadium (Johannesburg) are confirmed as South African test venues, preceding a landmark fourth test hosted at a neutral international venue.

Details of the fourth test will be confirmed in the coming months.

A tour like no other! Sign up at https://t.co/QgfIb3NQaD 📝#RGR26 #RugbysGreatestRivalry pic.twitter.com/DEgg6gra59

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 16, 2025

By reigniting rugby’s traditional roots, the tour will renew the legacy of a rivalry known for its fierce competition and societal significance across the last century.

Next year marks 30 years since New Zealand’s last major tour of South Africa, where the visitors embarked on an eight-match schedule, culminating in a historic 2-1 test series win.

In the reciprocal 2030 iteration, South Africa will conduct their first professional era tour to New Zealand.

'A CENTURY OF DRAMA'

SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said: “This fierce competition between two very proud nations has delivered more than a century of drama on rugby fields across the world, including two Rugby World Cup finals.

“We saw last year how much it means for Springbok supporters to welcome the All Blacks to South Africa, and we can't wait to see them tour our country next year, as we rekindle our friendship with our greatest adversaries.

“Today's announcement promises more drama, physicality, strategy, and unpredictability in a rivalry regarded as one of the most intense in world sport.

“This tour will also mean so much for our four franchises and their players – facing one of the best teams in the history of the game – as well as their fans, who will have the opportunity to see their team in action against international opposition for the first time since 2009. We know next year's tour will be nothing short of epic.”

'RIVALRY STEEPED IN HISTORY AND RESPECT'

Mark Robinson, CEO of New Zealand Rugby added: “The rivalry between the All Blacks and the Springboks is fierce, but it’s also steeped in history and respect. Rugby's Greatest Rivalry is everything that is great about traditional rugby tours while finding new ways to offer more for fans to see and engage with. All eight matches during this tour will be a showcase of our sport for fans, whether they are in New Zealand, on the ground in South Africa, or across the globe.”

'UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE AWAITS'

Back-to-back Rugby World Cup winning Springbok captain Siya Kolisi said: “This is going to be something huge and something this generation will never forget. These are the tours we’ve only heard of. To experience this for the first time, where it’s like a Lions tour, is unbelievable for us as a group.

“I have no doubt the Springbok fans will be there waiting to welcome the All Blacks fans to South Africa. Let’s get excited; let’s get behind it and, people of South Africa, it’s an opportunity for us to show the world once again who we are and what we are about – we certainly can’t wait for it.”

'EVERYTHING ON THE LINE'

All Blacks captain Scott Barrett said: “This is a huge rivalry, and one that is founded off mutual respect, but for 80 minutes these are two teams that every time they play there’s everything on the line. The intensity is right up there, and it is shaping up to be a heck of a tour. The format will be great, and there will be a whole lot of excited fans watching from home, and travelling with us as well. We are looking forward to it.”

Tickets for the tour, including match bundles, will go on general sale early next year. Fans can sign up to be the first to hear and gain priority access to pre-sales by visiting greatest-rivalry.com

History. Pride. Legacy 🔥

Thirty years in the making - this is a tour like no other 🌍

Sign up for presale access to Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, coming to South Africa August–September 2026, at https://t.co/QgfIb3Oo0b 🔗#RGR26 #RugbysGreatestRivalry #Springboks

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 16, 2025

RUGBY'S GREATEST RIVALRY TOUR FIXTURES 2026

Friday 7 August: DHL Stormers v New Zealand at DHL Stadium, Cape Town

Tuesday 11 August: Hollywoodbets Sharks v New Zealand at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban

Saturday 15 August: Vodacom Bulls v New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Saturday 22 August: First test – South Africa v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Tuesday 25 August: Lions v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Saturday 29 August: Second test – South Africa v New Zealand at DHL Stadium, Cape Town

Saturday 5 September: Third test – South Africa v New Zealand at FNB Stadium, Johannesburg

Saturday 12 September: Fourth test – South Africa v New Zealand (venue to be announced)

The wait is over for eager rugby fans in Cape Town and surrounds, following the opening of a second Springboks retail store at the popular Canal Walk shopping centre, featuring the new range of off-field team branded clothing.

National team stars Babalwa Latsha, Cobus Reinach, Cheslin Kolbe, Frans Malherbe, Lood de Jager, and Selvyn Davids, as well as the Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde, were on hand for the official opening on Wednesday evening, performed by SA Rugby president, Mark Alexander. The debut store opened its doors in Sandton City three months ago.

The store features SA Rugby’s official Nike replica teamwear as well as an exciting new range of off-field supporters wear, designed to be worn “not just on Saturdays”.

“The Springbok store in Sandton has been an unprecedented success since opening a few months ago and we’re very excited to open the second one here in Cape Town,” said Alexander at the launch event.

“This store is more than a retail space – it’s a statement of intent, a declaration of unity, and a tangible extension of the values that define South African Rugby – from grassroots development to the elite level of the Springbok jersey.

“Wearing your team’s replica kit at matches is important but our new off-field offering allows supporters to show their allegiance to the Boks every day – whether at work or at play, smart or causal.

“We live in a time where our brand is often ambushed and used without permission, without contribution and without respect for the journey that brought us here. Let me be clear: the Springbok is not a commodity, it’s a symbol of sacrifice, unity and national pride.

"Those who trade on its image without investing in its future do not build, they borrow. They do not uplift – they exploit.

“This store stands in contrast. It is built on integrity, on partnership and on purpose. It invites every South African to wear the jersey with pride, knowing that behind every stitch is a story of progress, resilience and shared commitment.

“Since launching this new range we’ve seen a massive uptake in fans keen to show their support for the Boks in every kind of social setting – from the office to the braai and at matches of course.

“With Cape Town being one of the busiest tourist destinations in our country, we’re expecting people to flock to this store to buy something that represents one of the best and most famous South African brands, and we can’t wait to welcome them to the Springbok store in Canal Walk.”

The range as well as official team Nike wear is also available at a dedicated official Springbok online shop at www.springbokretail.com for fans both at home and overseas.

The opening of the stores in Johannesburg and Cape Town marks the successful completion of a strategic goal set by the Executive Council of SA Rugby to answer South Africa’s hunger for the Springbok brand. A third store is being planned for Pretoria.

Rian Oberholzer, SA Rugby CEO, said: “We’ve been stepping up our commercial programme over the last few years and the success of the store in Sandton City showed us that the timing was right for us to move into this space, as it’s another way in which we can add value for our supporters, while offering more than just replica team jerseys.

“When we launched in Sandton in July, we made it clear that we wanted to open more stores in due course, and the Canal Walk outlet is the first to follow, where rugby fans can choose from a range of clothing and other items to show their support for our national teams.”

AT LEAST THE KRUGER GATE FROGS SHOWED EXCITEMENT

“Bokke, Bokke, Bokke…” To me it was unmistakable. The frogs that created a nightly symphony at my timeshare at Burchell’s Lodge, near the Kruger Gate entry to the Kruger National Park (it is still called that), were in awe of Malcolm Marx and singing their approval.

My colleague Brenden Nel, who had joined me to cover the final Castle Lager Rugby Championship game and the second round of the Vodacom URC from the bush, thought I was stretching it and that it was proof I should go back to diluting my whiskey with water. So did another friend and colleague from the industry, Liam del Carme, who tends to be cynical about these things. But to me it was unmistakable - “Bokke, Bokke, Bokke…”

Which if it was the case was a considerably tuned up version of the excitement generated by the Springboks, meaning the rugby team and not the antelope (we don’t get those here by the way, it’s not arid enough), elsewhere among their support base. You know the Boks are doing well when their supporters believe a 16 point lead, which it was quite late in the game, is too close for comfort. And it is a much improved Argentina they are playing against.

In the end it was just two points, but the Boks gifted Argentina the converted try that brought them back to within nine and the last one was a consolation effort when the game was already won and lost. Had Cheslin Koble found a teammate with the speculative pass that was intercepted the Boks might well have scored and then it would have been a winning margin approximating the more than 30 points in Durban the week before.

The rather muted response to the Bok win, with the narrowness of it on the scoreboard even drawing comments that suggested they were short of being satisfied from the Boks themselves, is an indication that five weeks can be a sod of a long time in rugby. It was about five weeks ago it was all doom and gloom after the Boks lost to New Zealand at Eden Park. Now the expectation is that they don’t just win every game, they win it in style, or we won’t be satisfied.

That is the expectation the Boks will have to learn to live with going forward now that they’re inhabiting a different stratosphere to the one they inhabited before.

PARIS GAME TOO BIG NOT TO GO ALL IN

We will know in the coming weeks what Rassie Erasmus intends to do with his selection, but while the wise course of action might be what I suggested a few weeks ago, there has been a subsequent adjustment to my thinking when it comes to what should be a seismic clash between the world’s best teams in Paris in early November.

The World Rugby Rankings don’t reflect that the French are up with the Boks as the standout nation, but for my money they are. They are the only country that can boast anything near the rugby depth that this country does. Anything can happen in a World Cup knockout game and let’s not forget that the Boks won the last global showpiece event by winning three successive playoff games by a solitary point. They very nearly exited the tournament at the hands of a very average England team.

But if you want to talk about a threat, France rank above France, Ireland, England and, because some people genuinely think they may be good enough to challenge at their own World Cup by 2027, Australia.

That their ranking doesn’t reflect that is mainly down to their coach Fabian Galthie’s decision to send an under-strength squad to their recent three match series against the All Blacks in New Zealand. They lost 3-0 but came close in two of the games, thus reflecting the options Galthie has at his disposal. By some reckonings it wasn’t even a France second string team, but a third string.

Galthie made his selection with the tough schedule faced by his players in mind, and Bok coach Erasmus is in charge of a playing group that, because of the 12 month South African season, is even more physically and mentally taxed than the French are. And if he selected his team for the November tour around that consideration, and he wouldn’t be the first Bok coach to do it as Jake White did it in 2006, I’d understand.

Given that the franchises still pay a significant proportion of the Bok player salaries, Erasmus shouldn’t always rely on the franchise coaches to make the necessary sacrifices around resting the Bok players. Erasmus should take on some of that load, and he’s created enough depth to do it.

But for many reasons, and not just because it is the southern champions against the Six Nations champions, therefore European champions, the game against France has become massive. So too has the meeting with Ireland in Dublin later in the tour. Aviva Stadium is a venue where the Boks haven’t won in a sod of a long time. So it needs an all in approach, although resting some key players who may need it wouldn’t be a bad idea and the Boks probably have enough depth to ride it.

MARX WAS MY MVP

Talking of resting, there wasn’t much rest for Malcolm Marx during the international season. The hooker was the one constant presence in the Bok starting team almost throughout, and while in the early stages of the Championship I thought he was a little short of a gallop, possibly because he was carrying an injury, he was excellent over the last few weeks.

To my mind it was as much his departure from the field as the intercept try that coincided with it that brought Argentina back a bit into the game at Twickenham. Marx was the most influential player before that. Which is not to say I disagree with those who say Pieter-Steph du Toit is the best rugby player in the world. PSTD is the best. No argument. Just that Marx is the one player the Boks currently can’t do without.

It may sound like a funny thing to say when the Boks won the last World Cup final with a player who had played mostly flank for a decade deputising at hooker, and with Marx having been ruled out of the tournament at an early stage. But the succession plan for Marx must be one thing that keeps Erasmus awake at night, and you can tell that by how little rotation there has been when it comes to the No 2 jersey.

From an age viewpoint, Marx will still be up with it at the next World Cup, but the progress of Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who in my view is the next cab off the rank at hooker, will be closely followed over the next year. As will that of Marnus van der Merwe and some on the outside looking in, such as Bulls hooker Johan Grobbelaar and the Stormers’ Andre-Hugo Venter. Both have shown promising form in the early stages of the URC.

ACKERMANN FACES INTERESTING DILEMMA

Mention of Wessels as a hooker option cues the subject of the enviable dilemma faced by new Bulls coach Johan Ackermann. He will be losing Wilco Louw next season when the Ceres farmer returns to his old team, the Stormers, but for now he has a ridiculous surfeit of riches. Grobbelaar has been outstanding, but with Gerhard Steenekamp now back from his injury, Wessels may have to challenge for the No 2 jersey. And the Bulls also still have that superb finisher, Akker van der Merwe, on their books.

KEPLER SUMMED UP BOK PROBLEM YEARS AGO


He wasn’t talking about the Springboks, but about the Proteas team he captained at the time, but Kepler Wessels may have been spot on about the challenge faced by Rassie Erasmus when he spoke about the occasional inconsistency of his team more than three decades ago.

It will be recalled that when South Africa made her return to international cricket there was an immediate impact made following the initial feeling out ODI series in India under the captaincy of Clive Rice. The Proteas thrashed Australia in the first match they ever played in a Cricket World Cup - and it was played in Australia. They went on to be unlucky losers in a semifinal that changed the way that the sport dealt with rain interruptions. Hello Duckworth-Lewis.

And yet while they frequently surprised everyone by how well they managed their return at both test and ODI level, there were also fairly frequent blowouts. Which prompted the words I remember from Kepler: “You have to understand that while there is a lot of talent in this team, international cricket is still new to the players and that will mean there will be inconsistency for a few years.”

The Boks aren’t new to international rugby, but they are on a growth curve not unlike the one that Kepler’s team was on all those years ago when it comes to bedding in a transformed approach that in time could make them unbeatable but for now, because it is high risk and high reward, might mean there are a few blips in the short term.

KIWIS THE LAST STUMBLING BLOCK TO GLOBAL SEASON

Details of the tour that will go with the Rivalry Series between the Springboks and All Blacks will be made known shortly, but there is one detail that hits me as an obvious drawback - while the franchise opposition the Kiwis will face should be strong, if the games are played in August surely they will be played out of season for local franchise players?

While the Boks will still be playing then because they are on a non-stop conveyor belt, the month of August should be when the rank and file players are just starting out on their conditioning and preparation for the following season, which will kick off at the end of September. How are they going to fit a plum and tough game against the All Blacks into their off-season?

Fortunately this may be a temporary problem because there are signs that the move towards a much needed global season might be happening. Australia have made it known they will fit in if the Rugby Championship is rescheduled from its current August and September window to March to coincide with the timing of the Six Nations.

Of course they had to do that because they want the Championship to continue, and at the moment both South Africa and New Zealand might need that competition less than the Wallabies and Pumas do. Already it appears that the Championship will be suspended next year to accommodate the SA/NZ series and, riveting as the most recent one was, it will become less of an annual event.

Argentina, who have the bulk of their top players playing in the northern hemisphere, will be keen to play the Championship in March too, so it is only now New Zealand that stand in the way. The Kiwis have apparently been the main stumbling block to the inception of a global season for some time now, but they are becoming isolated in their quest to stick with the traditional southern and northern seasons and my money says that it is now inevitable that in time they will fall in line.

And it will be a good thing too because the current situation faced by South Africa, where the Boks are playing the Championship when the northern opponents they face at club level are resting, and playing URC and the European games when their southern opponents are resting over Christmas, is ridiculous.

LAST GAMES BROUGHT PERSPECTIVE ON WALLABIES

I was accused of being a bit negative about the Wallabies during their series against the British and Irish Lions. I felt the Lions win wasn’t that great an achievement because they were just playing against Australia. Then came the Johannesburg test, where they scored 38 unanswered points against the Boks, and suddenly there was some egg on the face.

But while acknowledging that the Wallabies have undeniably improved under the coaching of Joe Schmidt, and have an identity now whereas they had no identity under the coaching of Eddie Jones, the last two games of the Championship have brought a different perspective on the Aussies to the one that was building around them back in August.

Two successive defeats to a not particularly good All Black team left them second last in the Championship, with two wins in six. Yes, an improvement, but they were lucky to beat Argentina in the first game in Townsville, and could easily have ended last. They may be getting some League stars back before the World Cup, but anyone who thinks they are real contenders for global supremacy at this point is being fanciful.

FELT LIKE A COW

I travelled to where I am now from northern Zululand last week via Eswatini and am pleased to report that the passport control process at both ends is still as seamless as it was when I last made the transit to Mpumalanga through that country in 2014.

The only out of the ordinary process that confronted me came in a roadblock encountered about an hour’s drive into the country. I came across a police roadblock and the focus wasn’t on whether I had been drinking or on my drivers licence, but on a request to walk through a tray of water.

“Please make contact with the water,” was the command. I felt like cattle must feel when they are sent through a dipping trough. Well okay, that’s a major exaggeration, and it certainly didn’t put me out like it might Molly the Moo Cow.

NOT QUITE SPRINGBOKKEN BUT NOT RHINOSTEREN EITHER

There happened to be a bus of foreign tourists also going through customs at the exit from Zululand near Golela. I couldn’t help but overhear their excited conversations about their experiences of Africa thus far.

Clearly they had visited some private reserve where there wasn’t an overabundance of big game because one of the conversations went like this:

“Have you seen any game yet?”

“Yes, we were really excited. We saw an impala. That was our first encounter with an African antelope.”
Assuming they were going to spend time in one of the Swazi reserves, like Royal Hlane, which you drive through on the national road and encounter a road sign warning cyclists and pedestrians to watch out for lions and elephants, and then Kruger, the words that went through my mind were “You ain’t seen nothing yet”.

In the Kruger impala are known by the guides as “the MacDonalds of the bush”, mostly because every predator wants to eat them but also because they are so plentiful. They are behind every anthill and tuft of grass. If my American friend (I think he was American) could get excited about seeing one impala, I fear the excitement he might feel in the Kruger might just be the end of him (he was old enough to have a dickey heart).

Of course if he was heading to the Kgalagadi instead it would be springbok, and not impala, he would be getting excited about. Foreigners getting excited by Springboks? It didn’t happen often in the past, but the new blend to the game the team that plays with the leaping Bok as its emblem is moving towards is going to change that.

The excellent Afrikaans rugby writer Louis de Villiers once wondered why Paul Roos, when he arrived with his South African team in the UK in 1906, told the local journalists “You can call us Springbokken”. At the time the Boks were playing a style of rugby that Louis felt would be more suitable to a request to “call us rhinosteren”. That’s changed, although if you looking for any likeness between Pieter-Steph or Eben Etzebeth with a pronking springbok you will be wasting your time.

So which animal then? Well, the honey badger, or the ratel as they call them in another language, has a proper strut about it. It might be a bit small, but so is a springbok, and after an encounter in a camping site a few years ago they are the one animal I am properly scared of.

Looking back at the Springboks performances in the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship, one thing is clear. This isn’t about Tonyball anymore, it is more about Totalball.

The tendency to coin a phrase to encompass everything has never quite fit this Springbok side, who can switch back easily to type and revert to their physical, direct blunt force approach, but what we have witnessed in recent weeks is not a simple switch to another style, it is a bold step in the right direction to make the Boks an all-encompassing team.

There have always been coaches around the world who have feared the day the Boks match their brute force - whether in the setpiece or the forwards - with the attacking flair they have been so circumspect to employ in the past.

But the performances - especially in Wellington and Durban and to a lesser extent Twickenham and Eden Park - have shown that this team is very much heading in the right direction and is very close to achieving the type of rugby game they want to play.

SLOW STARTS

This is not downplaying the work they still have to do. Any Bok fan will admit there still are a lot of work-ons for the side - none the least the slow start they seem to have picked up in recent weeks, but on the back of defending the Rugby Championship, and with a five game tour ahead of them in the next few weeks the Boks will be looking to take a bigger step towards their new found gospel, and preach it to the unbelievers in the northern hemisphere that watched their Rugby Championship exploits from afar.

One of our colleagues - Jon Cardinelli - coined the phrase this week in a piece for Rugbypass, and quipped that the Boks are no longer looking to “Tonyball” but to “Totalball” and that is spot on.

The side has not shirked its core values. The setpiece is still an attack to launch from. The scrums still dominate and look for penalties and the physicality is still something to behold. But Brown’s work has not been to transform the backline but to unleash them. And the biggest winners have not been the backs, but rather the forwards.

NEW LEASE ON LIFE

Veterans Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi have a new lease on life, and are playing some of their best rugby of their careers - a bold statement given the performances they have put in the Green and Gold jersey in the past.

Anyone who doubts this just needs to look at the stats, where Du Toit sits comfortably in the top 10 players in the Rugby Championship in terms of carries, but then also surprises to be in the top 10 with clean breaks as well.

Du Toit made the second most offloads in the competition - read that again - alongside James O’Connor and was joint eighth in clean breaks - normally a stat that you wouldn’t expect him to be anywhere near.

How about defenders beaten? Jasper Wiese is the first forward on the overall Championship stats list and eighth overall - having beaten 15 defenders, despite missing the first three games of the Championship because he was suspended.

The stats don’t lie - another forward enjoying a renewed lease of life is Malcolm Marx, the fans’ man of the match in the Twickenham win and the player who was the top joint top try scorer in the Championship with four.

SURPRISING OFFLOAD STAT

Offloads? Eben Etzebeth has the same amount as Damian Willemse and is sixth overall, even though he missed a test or two.

The evolution to Totalball is something exceptional and it is the forwards who have led the way. Players like Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu have rightly received their plaudits, and deservedly so, but the stats show that the Boks have not shirked their responsibilities, and have fronted up, but this time their fronting up has a new face.

This is a physical pack that has skills, that can offload and beat defenders. This is a high-paced unit that has only got started, but still lays a significant platform for the backs.

It may sound oversimplified, but the move to “totalball” was overdone at Ellis Park, where the Boks ran themselves off their feet and were sucker punched by the Wallabies. Since then they have been more circumspect, more balanced and have put their attacking game into motion with a decent defensive system and much more.

TOTALBALL IS HERE

While Tonyball was originally credited, Totalball is more apt because suddenly the aerial game has become a catalyst. Defences can’t organise when you disrupt them and get a kick return and the Boks have coupled that with an ability to attack and strike blows when it matters.

The ability to have forwards in this aerial battle has helped, and it has launched something bigger and better.

Critics may point to the fact the Boks lost at Ellis Park and Eden Park and say there is an overreaction to the positive spin around the Boks at the moment. But they can’t see the forest for the trees.

This is a revolution that is churning on, which has gained momentum and which has struck a few significant blows. Bok rugby couldn’t be healthier at this moment and while the challenges will come in the next month - especially in Dublin and Paris - the Boks will put their heads down and work even harder.

The momentum shift over the past month will be frightening to a lot of opposition coaches ahead of 2027, but it is still very much a work in progress.

But those 20 minutes at Ellis Park at the start, those 40 in Wellington and Durban tell a tale that can’t be ignored.

Totalball is here to stay, and the Boks are smiling.

There is no other way to say it, this is the golden generation of Springbok rugby, and a survey across the landscape says one thing - it can only get better.

This Bok generation has now won back-to-back World Cups and back-to-back Rugby Championships. They have defeated the British and Irish Lions, and they are the No. 1 side in the world.

The past seven years in Springbok rugby have been one of guts and glory, of determination and success, and while Rassie Erasmus’ side continues to set the pace, the rest of the structures are gaining fast and ensuring this success will continue for a time to come.

Even though the win at Twickenham wasn’t as exceptional as the one in Durban, the Bok wobble at Ellis Park had been buried, a new crew of Bok upstarts are making their names on the international stage, and while the Boks have used 50 odd players this season, they have not sacrificed quality, form or their spot at the top of the rankings.

🏆 𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 🏆

For the first time in history, the Springboks win back-to-back tournaments after one of the most entertaining editions ever 👏🇿🇦#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/Z0Le4Wgx3C

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 4, 2025

BOKS A LEVEL ABOVE ALL BLACKS

New Zealand may have finished on the same points as South Africa in the Rugby Championship, but it would be hard to find many of their fans who believe the All Blacks are currently on the same level as the Boks.

The Wellington massacre underlined that, and underlined what a missed opportunity it was at Eden Park, where a poor start cost the Boks a record victory against their greatest rivals.

At under-20 level, the Junior Boks were worthy World Championship winners, and the structures being put in place certainly point to that continuing. Coach Kevin Foote has his eye on the next generation of players and is actively looking to make sure that the Junior Boks dominate that competition when they defend the title.

The Sevens team are World Series champions, and while the anomaly of the current warped Series meant they only had to win the Series finale to claim that title, it is theirs until it is taken away.

The SA under-18 team dominated their recent series against England, France and Ireland, and a random look at any Saturday on SuperSport Schools will show just how much talent there is coming through.

DIVERSITY HAS BOLSTERED RESULTS

The wonderful thing about this generation is that the talent is so diverse, and so varied, and here I’m not only talking about demographics. One of rugby’s most enduring successes over the past few years is the way the discussion about race has been totally put on the back burner, and how pure talent dominates, no matter what form it is in.

At the Springboks, there is the opportunity on the wing, for instance, to continue with the scrumcap brilliance of Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, or Edwill van der Merwe, or put some brute power in Ethan Hooker on the wing, or the sublime grace of a Makazole Mapimpi in full flight.

You only have to look at the URC teams to know that there are youngsters across the teams that are making their breakthrough, and several Currie Cup heroes that have been drafted into some of the URC squads as well.

The key to this continuing is structures and opportunities. And here, quietly behind the scenes, Dave Wessels has done a remarkable job. Whether it was bringing Swys de Bruin in for the Women’s World Cup and his continued involvement in the development of the Springbok women’s team, or Foote at under-20 level. The level of excellence has been raised.

Wessels has now got plans for a proper under-19 and under-21 league to be confirmed by SA Rugby, as well as a potential under-23 league, which would solve the problem during the URC season of so many players not having a second tier to keep themselves match fit.

GLOBAL SEASON STILL NEEDED

A glance at the URC squads is notable for the long injury lists, and that is a consequence of a never-ending season, underlining the fact that something needs to be done to get to a global season and an off-season for the top players that is consecutive and has positive consequences. That is a fight that is going on at World Rugby board level and has made progress in the past few weeks, with Australia signalling they aren’t against moving the Rugby Championship to the same time as the Six Nations.

The holdout is New Zealand, but as things stand, the game will move on even if they don’t come to the table, and that conundrum will be solved in time.

But for now, there has been glory. SuperSport’s social media showed Siya Kolisi’s plethora of cup wins in a post this past weekend, and it is easy to forget how dark things were before 2018 and just how low Springbok rugby had sunk.

The country has more rugby players than any nation in the world, but the challenge has always been to manage them properly, use the talent correctly, and get the most out of them.

MORE STILL TO COME

SA Rugby aren’t quite there yet, but there have been massive strides over the past few months.

And to think of all the success that has already been achieved, and what is still to come.

This isn’t to say it is a given. There are always challengers who will try and out-think and out-play you, but the challenge is to stay ahead of the pack.

Two years back, many were wondering if it was even possible for a team to challenge for a third consecutive World Cup after winning two in a row.

Time will answer that question, but standing now, at the end of the Rugby Championship with less than two years to go to the tournament, it certainly looks like a possibility.

A lot can happen between now and then, but where we stand right now, the Springboks and South African rugby as a whole have set a standard of excellence and are in the middle of a golden generation.

Rugby fans across the country can enjoy it even more knowing that the best, potentially, is still to come.

Handré Pollard has been named this week’s Springbok Dream Team winner, securing a commanding majority of the public vote and reaffirming his place as one of South African rugby’s most trusted generals.

With over 70 per cent of the vote, fans made their voices heard: when it comes to composure, control, and clutch performances, Pollard still stands tallest.

Why Pollard Was the Right Choice

Few players in Springbok history have delivered under pressure quite like Pollard. From his nerveless kicking in two World Cup finals to his tactical mastery in tight contests, he’s the embodiment of calm in chaos.

Even in a season where younger flyhalves are being blooded, Pollard’s recent performances - including a flawless kicking display against the Wallabies - reminded fans of his enduring value. His game management, defensive grit, and ability to turn pressure into points remain unmatched.

Pollard doesn’t just play rugby. He plays test rugby - the kind that wins trophies.

A Touch of Class: Morné Steyn

Finishing second in the voting was Morné Steyn, the only flyhalf in history to win two British & Irish Lions series - and the man who kicked the winning penalty in the 2009 decider. His legacy is built on precision, poise, and a quiet ruthlessness that defined an era.

Steyn’s presence in the top two adds gravitas to the poll - a nod to the golden age of tactical flyhalves who knew how to win games with their boots and their brains.

Pollard’s win this week isn’t just a celebration of past glories - it’s a reminder that some players never stop being relevant. And in the eyes of the fans, the Ice Man still burns brightest.

Check out what Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and his players had to say after their victory over Argentina at Twickenham, London, on Saturday earned them the 2025 Rugby Championship title.

COACH RASSIE ERASMUS

PLAYERS

South Africa’s final game in their back-to-back Castle Lager Rugby Championship triumph was a microcosm of their campaign - their biggest opponent proved to be themselves, and it meant that their dominance wasn’t reflected in the scoreline.

A two-point winning margin over Argentina at Twickenham will suggest to people who look back when the current events are consigned to history, that it was a narrow squeak for Siya Kolisi and his team. It wasn’t. Once they got the bit between their teeth shortly before halftime, it was clear there was only going to be one winner.

When the Boks scored 26 unanswered points from the 37th minute to the 58th, it was effectively a repeat of what happened to New Zealand in Wellington and Los Pumas in Durban in the second half. There was just one team on the field, and the game and the Championship were effectively wrapped up in those minutes.

GAME MANAGEMENT CAN IMPROVE

But if there is one major learning for the Boks to take from their winning campaign that should weigh more heavily than all the others, it is around game management. The Boks didn’t need to play as if they were chasing the game once they went 16 points up, and it was the seven-point gift presented to them when the Boks tried to run from their own half in a manner that might not have looked out of place in a touch rugby game on the beach that gave the Pumas some much-needed breathing space.

Back to back 🏆#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/amBv1y3QJP

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 4, 2025

With that intercept try from Cheslin Kolbe’s loose pass happening shortly before the scheduled departure from the field of by far the most influential Bok player on the day, Malcolm Marx, the Bok finish to the game was more nervous than it needed to be. They lost discipline a bit in that period. And yet they still had it under control, and the try that reduced it to a two-point end margin came when the game had effectively been won.

The Rugby Championship log reflects a similar distortion of reality. In the end, the Boks and New Zealand ended on the same number of log points. It was the South African team’s superior points differential that separated them, and in some media forums, the headline asked the question: “The Boks won the TRC but were they the best team?” That wasn’t a question that needed to have been asked.

WIN MARGINS REFLECTED BOK DOMINANCE

The Boks were the most dominant team, and by some distance, with their 33-point and 37-point winning margins in Wellington and Durban reflecting the standard they have set. Had Kolbe’s pass gone to hand and not been intercepted by Bautista Delguy, it probably would have been a 30-point or more margin at Twickenham too.

That there was the appearance that there wasn’t much separating the teams, given by the final log, was really down to the Boks’ fatal loss of concentration, or maybe it would be better to call it the over-confidence they were seduced into, at the end of a dominant first quarter against Australia in Johannesburg at the start of the competition.

It's all over in London. The #Springboks have retained the Castle Lager Rugby Championship 🇿🇦
Thanks for two tough games @lospumas and good luck for the rest of the year 🤝#ForeverGreenForeverGold #ARGvRSA pic.twitter.com/GcvF56nStY

— Springboks (@Springboks) October 4, 2025

That first 20 minutes, when the Boks went up 22-0 and everything they touched turned to gold, showed the standard that they can operate at - but then they overplayed and, with balance lacking in their all-round game, they ran themselves off their own feet and paid the price. The difference between that game and the most recent one in London was that the poor pass that Wallaby centre Joseph Sua’ali'i intercepted in Johannesburg was fatal for the Boks whereas Kolbe’s more recent blip wasn’t.

Wallaby coach Joe Schmidt clearly did not forget that opening 20 minutes, when he said his team “couldn’t breathe”, and he wasn’t referring to the effects of altitude there, for he referenced it when asked a week later, after the Boks won in Cape Town, if there had been an improvement in the home team’s play.

Clearly he didn’t really think so, even though the result at DHL Stadium was different. He said the first quarter at Ellis Park was the best window of rugby he’s ever seen from the Boks. If we were to ask him now, he might also throw in the second half in Wellington and in Durban. Or even that dominant third quarter in London.

WE STILL HAVEN'T SEEN 80-MINUTE PERFORMANCE

You will note that these are all just portions of games that are being referenced, which is what is ominous for future opponents - it means the Boks still have to produce an 80-minute performance. In the last four games, their execution has been off in the first half every time, and then they’ve hit the straps after halftime. What will happen when they are good from the start and sustain that?

Big try for the Springboks just before half-time 💥

With Rassie watching on from the sideline, Cobus Reinach goes over after a powerful scrum 💪

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— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 4, 2025

It is something France and Ireland, the two big opponents on the end-of-year tour, might be contemplating as they look forward to what could be seismic clashes in Paris and Dublin. That is the next step for the Boks, who have proved themselves to be the dominant southern hemisphere nation despite the fact that they are still growing and the fact that their high-risk, high-reward approach will still mean the odd hit, like the momentum shift that was sparked by Argentina’s intercept try.

GAME GROWTH MATCHED BY INDIVIDUAL GROWTH

The Boks have grown their game immeasurably over the past two months, and their growth as a team has been matched by individual growth. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s dazzling record-breaking performance in Durban was the biggest statement, but over the past few weeks, other relative newcomers like Canan Moodie, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Ethan Hooker have announced themselves as potential match-winners, while Ruan Nortje, Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok and others have cemented their reputations.

That is not to mention the old stagers who have produced when necessary, as Damian de Allende did big time this past weekend, while Marx and the ever-green Pieter-Steph du Toit would compete with each other for my Man of the Championship award if there was one. Wilco Louw smashed the opposition at every first scrum after coming onto the field, but Thomas du Toit has also picked up momentum.

Eben Etzebeth remains Eben Etzebeth, skipper Kolisi has shown good form once reunited with the No. 6, and Handre Pollard was the match-winner in the Cape Town game against the Wallabies.

So what could go wrong? Well, France are probably the one nation that can challenge the depth of South Africa, so they will be a big challenge, but the biggest obstacle to the Boks is themselves. In the past two games, they gifted at least 21 points to the opposition. It’s part of the growing process, but when they stop doing that, it is hard to see anyone beating them.

Final round Castle Lager Rugby Championship results

Australia 14 New Zealand 28

Argentina 27 South Africa 29

 

Given where they started the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, the fact that the Springboks ended with back-to-back championship wins and retained their No. 1 status while growing the squad is testament to just how good the current squad is.

Cast your mind back to the start of the tournament where the Boks were underwhelming in many pundits' eyes after regulation wins over Italy and Georgia in the Incoming Series, and then contrast it against the celebrations at Twickenham for winning the Rugby Championship.

A lot has changed, and a lot has stayed the same. This is no longer a Springbok side at the start of the evolution.

This is a Springbok side that is evolving at a rapid rate. Where they started the Championship with a sucker punch loss to the Wallabies, a defeat that reverberated in World Rugby circles and where the Boks were very much their own worst enemies, this same side finished the Rugby Championship as the leader of the pack of countries chasing that No 1 spot, confidence and having unleashed a new attack.

LOADS OF WORK-ONS STILL

It hasn’t always been perfect, and there are a lot of work-ons still for this coaching group before they get to play the perfect 80 minutes, but in terms of resilience and fight, in terms of new stars coming to the surface and in terms of results, there is very little that can be criticised.

The Boks have chopped and changed, evolved and won and while this has been the most competitive Rugby Championship for decades, they have dominated it despite the final log saying they only won it on points difference.

There are those who will doubt it, and those who will point to the flaws of this side, but few will remember that they started the Rugby Championship with a very different team. They started the tournament with a clear idea who the No 1 player in each position is, and they finished it with a very different idea.

In almost every position, there are three players who can slot in at any moment, and in some there have been some shooting stars.

LONDON WIN SHOWED BOKS CAN WIN IN OTHER WAYS

London’s finale may not have been the big win the Bok fans wanted, but it showed a side that managed to control a game for most of it, and while there are still flaws, knows how not to panic, and knows how to claw their way back from setbacks.

In terms of gains this Springbok team has ended the season with a star like Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and some strong contenders for permanent starting spots. While Durban will always be remembered for Sacha’s exploits, the rise of players such as Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie, Wilco Louw, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Ruan Nortje will always be seen as a positive.

Some of them started already last season, and just took that extra step up this season, leaving Bok rugby in a very positive space going into the last five games of the year.

The Rugby Championship proved the Boks are a step ahead of the pack, and that they still have work to do. But slowly they are moving to a new attacking level. As Twickenham showed, their game management still needs work, there are still flaws on defense but when they get going there isn’t a team in the world that can stop them.

NOT FINISHED PRODUCT

They are not the finished product yet, but they are at least 20 per cent better than they were when they won the Rugby Championship last season.

And their growing pains may be there, but they are positive and they are moving through a process at an alarming speed, something that will worry other nations ahead of their quest for a Rugby World Cup three-peat in 2027.

This is the Boks' golden age and it is only getting better.

There are five games left until the end of the year and the World Cup draw for 2027. Those five games bring their own challenges. But the Twickenham win was a massive achievement in securing the back-to-back Championship, and even coach Rassie Erasmus admitted they were still learning.

FAR FROM PERFECT

“I’m satisfied with the result and winning the Castle Lager Rugby Championship back-to-back. This was a massive game for us, and although it was a far from perfect performance, I would prefer to see us learn while we are winning than losing,” he said after the game.

“We are still in a good position for the Rugby World Cup draw, but there is no doubt we have five tough matches ahead, and there is a lot of work ahead for us.

“The reality is that Argentina defeated Australia, New Zealand, and the British & Irish Lions, so we’ll celebrate tonight and take that positive from this match.”

Given where they started and the horror of the Ellis Park loss, the way they finished was such a vindication of the attacking transition that it won’t be abandoned.

The Boks know they can get better, and that is the frightening prospect.

The rest of the world know it as well, and will be hoping someone in November can stop them, or at least find a way to slow them down.

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi said he hoped his side's Rugby Championship triumph would provide fresh inspiration to South Africa as a whole following the world champions' thrilling 29-27 win over Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday.

"I think I've worn this jersey when nobody wanted to watch us play and when it was hard to get a win," Kolisi, who previously skippered South Africa to back-to-back world titles in 2019 and 2023, told reporters.

"And now, at this moment, no matter how tough it is in the game, we know how to win, we know how to fight, we know how to dig deep."

One of the closest-fought editions of the southern hemisphere tournament ended in dramatic style with the Springboks winning successive Rugby Championship titles for the first time as they topped the table ahead of New Zealand on points difference, with their 67-30 thrashing of Argentina in Durban key to this latest success.

"I know what we do on the field doesn't change a lot in our country," said Kolisi. "But I know the feeling that it gives people, that South Africa is going to walk tall and people that look at us in the places that we come from, they look at us and say they know that it's possible no matter how tough things are."

The flanker added: "This win is not just for us, but the people of South Africa."

Argentina led 13-3 ahead early in Saturday's match before South Africa scrum-half Cobus Reinach and hooker Malcolm Marx both scored two tries apiece in a match where the Springboks dominance of the scrum – a traditional Argentina strength – proved decisive.

But with South Africa leading 29-13 heading into the final quarter, the Pumas staged an impressive rally, with wing Bautista Delguy scoring his second try of the game.

Three minutes from time, Santiago Carreras' penalty from the half-way line, which would have reduced South Africa's lead to six points, hit the right post in what proved to be a crucial miss.

Carreras' superb cross-kick sent in Argentina replacement Rodrigo Isgro for a last-minute try which the full-back converted in the last act of the game as the Pumas just fell short.

'STAY IN THE PRESENT'

South Africa, already a record four-time world champions, are bidding to become the first side to win three Rugby World Cups in a row at the 2027 edition in Australia.

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus, however, said: "I think one of our goals is to stay in the present, do well, and not just focus on the World Cup."

But with South Africa deploying close to 50 players during the tournament, Erasmus accepted building squad depth came at a cost.

"I think the character was OK, but tactically there's a lot of things to fix," he said after a match where rising star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu had a much harder time than when the fly-half scored a Springbok individual match record 37 points in Durban last week.

"But I think definitely trying to build squad depth played a role in the lack of continuity."

Argentina captain Julian Montoya was proud of his side's improved showing in front of a crowd of over 70 000 dominated by Springbok fans in what was technically a 'home' game for the Pumas, albeit this defeat meant they finished bottom of the table, a point behind Australia.

"Last weekend it was tough," he said. "We weren't proud about that. But today we saw our character and we were better."

The hooker added: "You don't need to be an expert to realise the scrum was our biggest weakness today. But we keep going."