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Not so fast South Africa, don't crown yourselves

Siya Kolisi of South Africa poses for a photo with fans of South Africa at full-time following the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between South Africa and Scotland at Stade Velodrome on September 10, 2023 in Marseille, France. (Photo by Michael Steele - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

There’s some suggestion that if the Springboks were to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, in addition to winning a British and Irish Lions series in 2021, it would comprise the greatest rugby dynasty of all time.

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Though unquestionably worthy of respect, statistically the argument is flawed. There is even a case to be made that it isn’t even the strongest period in South African rugby history.

Since 2019 the Springboks have won 32 of 45 internationals but have yet to beat Ireland or France, consistently ranked the best teams in the world in that period.

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Furthermore, the Springboks are only 3-4 record against the All Blacks and have lost to weak Wales and Aussie outfits.

In football parlance, the Springboks are a ‘Cup’ team, not a ‘league’ team. They can reach lofty campaign peaks but are not consistently brilliant over a long span of time.

Unquestionably the most dominant rugby dynasty in history is the All Blacks run from a 33-6 win against Australia on September 19, 2009, to a 29-40 loss to Ireland in Chicago on November 9, 2016. In that span, the All Blacks won the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups and 88 of 97 Test matches.

Their dominance was so ridiculous that they set records for the three longest winning streaks of all time. In 2015-16 they won a record 18 Test in a row after winning 17 in a row between 2013 and 2014 and 16 on the trot from 2011 and 2012. At home, the All Blacks were 45-0.

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A Lions tour only happens every 12 years. Against England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the countries that make up the Lions, the All Blacks were 26-1 from 2009 to 2016. Against South Africa, their record was 13-2.

Tony Woodcock, Owen Franks, Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Brad Thorn, Brodie Retallick, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw, Aaron Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Conard Smith, Julian Savea and Ben Smith are all players worthy of consideration for inclusion in the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

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The only record the 2009-2016 All Blacks didn’t achieve was the record for the longest unbeaten run among Tier 1 Nations. After winning 16 in a row from 2011 to 2012 the All Blacks were held to an 18-18 draw by Australia in Brisbane. They won six consecutive Tests thereafter, before defeat to England at Twickenham.

From the start of the 1987 Rugby World Cup until 1990 the All Blacks went 23 Tests without defeat. The only blot on their copybook was a 19-19 draw against Australia at Ballymore, Brisbane in 1988 (the 11th Test in their run). The All Blacks didn’t defend the World Cup in 1991.

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Prior to the World Cup, it was hard to rival the sustained success of the All Blacks from 1962 to 1969. They only lost two out of 35 Test matches and were unblemished from the fourth Test against the Springboks in 1965 until 1969 winning 17 in a row.

When midweek games counted for something and were tough to win the All Blacks had 59 wins, two defeats and a draw in this period.

From the 1963-64 tour John Graham, Brian Lochore, Wilson Whineray, and Colin Meads were later knighted for their immense service to rugby and the community. Nobody would have complained if Ken Gray, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Waka Nathan received the same accolade.

The 1997 and 1998 Springboks matched the All Blacks streak of 17 consecutive victories, but at the 1999 World Cup were third.

The 1995 World Cup triumph was transformative, but the glorious Kitch Christie era was short-lived ending with 14 successive wins.

Pre-World Cup there are two periods of South African rugby that merit consideration as a ‘dynasty.’

The 1937 Springboks won 27 out of 29 matches on their New Zealand and Australian tour. They remain the only South African side to win a Test series in New Zealand winning the deciding Test at Eden Park 17-3, which was five tries and a conversion to nil.

Responses to their brilliance were unequivocal. WR King wrote in the Standard that “the South African forwards were simply magnificent, and the backs played with machine-line accuracy in every phase of the game.”

New Zealand Truth recorded that “on the day they would have beaten any other team in the world,” while Arthur Carman said that they won “not with mere power, but by their superior brainpower.”

To legendary first-five Bert Cooke, they were “no doubt about it, a great team.”

In 1938 the Springboks carried on the momentum when they beat the British and Irish Lions in a three-match series only dropping the last rubber after winning the first two Tests resoundingly by a combined margin of 45-15. Dannie Craven, Boy Louw, and Philip Nel were just some of the legends of this era.

The Springboks of 1949 to 1954 were arguably more formidable. They only lost a solitary Test in half a dozen years and swept the All Blacks 4-0 in 1949. Goal-kicking prop Okey Geffin famously scored 32 of the 47 points in the series. The 1951-52 tour of the UK and France was completed with a 30-1 record and a Grand Slam. The 44-0 thrashing of Scotland was rated by doyen commentator Bill McLaren as one of the greatest performances he ever witnessed.

P.S. Tier II nation Lithuania won 18 Test matches in a row between 2006 and 2010. Lithuania’s record was passed by Cyprus who won 24 Test matches in a row between 2008 and 2014, eventually stopped by Latvia. England holds the world record for the most consecutive wins in international rugby (male or female) with the Red Roses women achieving 30 consecutive wins between 2019 and 2022. They failed, however, to win the 2021 Rugby World Cup Final played on November 12, 2022, against the Black Ferns. From 2002 to 2009 the Black Ferns won 24 consecutive Tests by more than a converted try. That includes the 2002 and 2006 World Cup titles.

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Comments

44 Comments
S
Sam 625 days ago

All Blacks is making the same mistake again they peaked before the World Cup. Adam above wrights all the records they broke and the long winning streak between 2020 & 2023, which is awesome and have greatest respect for that, however let the Boks enjoy themselves with the fans they are peaking at the right time to make history.

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Jen 625 days ago

What is this tripe? It feels kinda mean spirited. Just let the Bok supporters have some fricking joy and enjoy their team being amazing. No-one is thinking this stuff except the writer.

m
metal ghost 625 days ago

cheese and rice.. we've played Ireland and France once in the last 4 years.

K
Kyle 625 days ago

& the last time SA lost to 🇮🇪 they went on to win the RWC 🏆🏆🏆... Perhaps another astute bit of tactical thinking by Sir Rassie⁉️ 🤷‍♂️😻

C
Chris 625 days ago

sure, the All Blacks were incredible 2015, but the other teams were pretty average then. Hard to compare era's.

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Snash 625 days ago

If boks win the rwc this year, they will have won 50% of the world cups they have entered, leaving ABs on 33%, that's quite a mountain to climb

B
Bruiser 624 days ago

South Africa's winning percentage dropped dramatically when neutral refs were introduced. A non refutable fact. It didnt stop Louis Luyt handing out the gold watches to visiting refs though. Now its Rassie with traffic lights from the stands and intimidation of referees, because SA only lose when the officiating is against them

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BL 625 days ago

30% actually....3 from 10

s
sean 625 days ago

What’s your point journo? Have you resorted to hypnosis’s on what springbok fans will say if we defend our worldcup? We are already have a better ratio in world cups than NZ given we only played in 7.. if the boks win this worldcup they will be up there and rightly so

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BoerBok 625 days ago

So Adam dreams up a hypothesis and then argues with himself?!

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Rupert 625 days ago

😂

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JE 625 days ago

I've also heard from reliable sources that most South Africans self identify as ducks. Perhaps write an article about that? You can just cite this comment as your source...

C
Coen 625 days ago

Hi Adam,

I wonder how legitimate & representative is your source for that suggestion? I am South African but do not share the view as portrayed in your article.


Perhaps criteria for greatest rugby dynasty could be weighted on the following key aspects:


1) Historic win rate % since inception of the game: NZ 77%, SA 63%, ENG 56%, FRA 55%, WAL 53%, AUS 50%, IRE 47%, SCO 44%. This is a good starting point.


2) World Rankings (frequency & duration of time spent at given ranking) - you mention's Ireland & France's recent time at the top of the rankings, but they are both lacking in the #1 ranking from a historic perspective


3) World Cup trophy count


4) World Cup win ratio %. Keep in mind not all nations have played in the 9 x previous RWCs. (e.g. the Springboks did not participate in the 1st 2 World Cups, winning 3/7 tournaments = 43% win rate vs. All Blacks won 3/9 = 33% win rate)


5) Social capital index: if rugby can be used to transform & solve the challenges that politicians fail to resolve, it creates unity & hope for the people. Surely CapGemini can construct something to measure the social, political & goodwill aspects of how the sport of rugby is positively impacting each nation domestically?


6) any other measures to include? i welcome your suggestions


Best of luck to your team.


Go Bokke!

f
fl 625 days ago

If south Africa win the world cup it will be the greatest achievement by any team in history, given their absurdly hard draw, lack of form prior to the AB test, and ageing squad.


That's not the same as being the greatest dynasty of all time, but it is something.

B
Bob Marler 625 days ago

Is this squad too old to be playing at this World Cup?


I get your (old) argument about the “ageing squad” after the World Cup - but what has the “ageing squad” got to do with their chances at this World Cup?


What’s the average age of the Bok squad? And how is this a problem now?

F
Flankly 625 days ago

Stupid article, presumably trolling for a debate. I've never heard the phrase "dynasty" used about any rugby team, and have certainly never heard anyone discussing the "greatest rugby dynasty of all time". In any case it is pointless to discuss things like this - the stats are what they are.

A
Awie 625 days ago

No one:

Absolutely no one on God's green earth:

This fuckin' guy:

"There’s some suggestion that... it would comprise the greatest rugby dynasty of all time"

What a hack 🙄

D
Dawid 625 days ago

What is this article? Is this the official World Rugby news site? wow!

d
darryn 625 days ago

How are we 4-3 to Nz since the last world cup? Its 3-3. And we have yet to beat France and Ireland since the last world cup comment, have played them both only once each on their home grounds and both games could have gone either way.

C
Chiefs Mana 625 days ago

Hardly impressive though when considered a "dynasty"

G
Green and Gold 625 days ago

So you take a picture of one of the most humblest rugby players connecting with some fans and make the assumption that we’ve already ‘crowned ourselves’. This is just propaganda or your fighting imagery battles in your head.

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Rupert 625 days ago

Ummmm is this another Kiwi crying over nothing?

e
etienne 625 days ago

yup

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Rupert 625 days ago

Oh gosh, of course, it's just Rugby Pass being true to their anti-SA editorial policy.

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GG 625 days ago

Really? I know of nobody in SA or involved with the team who are vaguely thinking they are going to be crowned. To be honest everyone I know was shitting themselves that Scotland would beat us, as we know how good they are. We have often lost, and know what it feels like. We respect all opponents, especially the ABs. And we are shitting ourselves for the next 3 games for sure. And if get to the QF then we will try our utmost to win, knowing it will be a massive challenge. We for sure will not state things like Jeff Wilson does, Ben Smith does etc. Rassie knows what it takes and how hard it is to win this thing. And he will never get ahead of himself. So for me this article is nonsense and should be binned as it deserves.

G
GH 625 days ago

Couldn't have said it any better Gerald. Net soos jy daar sê!

e
etienne 626 days ago

Adam Julian is just another sour kiwi pundit. instead of focusing on their team and give them the support they so badly need at this time......what do they do? They turn their back on them. After the Springbok and France loss, all of the sudden most kiwis never liked rugby or followed it!? ( I know I live in NZ) You will never find a Springboks supported doing that. We loyal to our team, we support them through thick and thin, win or lose. We proud of our boys in green and gold we proud of our captain and proud couches. But most of all we proud of our team because of the unity it brings between the ethnic groups of South Africa.


To be honest this article is just sour grapes, and its merely a deflection away from their short coming.

D
Dene-Paul 626 days ago

Your opinion piece headline is extremely insulting and belittling to all South Africans who by nature are a very humble and circumspect people. We haven't crowned ourselves of anything and its just so typical of the media (who've had an axe to grind against the Boks for sometime now) to deliberately misread exuberance and excitement for our national team. While you sit ensconced in safety & comfort - many of our people dont know if they will be alive tomorrow and provide food for their families. So please excuse us if pride in our national teams makes us (just for a moment) take our minds off our immense problems. If you have been to our country (which is amongst the most beautiful in the world) you would've seen for yourself our enormous challenges and you wouldn't have headlined such a provocative piece. Shame on you.

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 626 days ago

Meaningless premise to begin an entirely unremarkable article. No one has crowned SA anything except a few blowhard pundits on SA rugger magazine. And certainly no respectable rugby historian would suggest this would be the greatest rugby dynasty ever. C’mon, all the material you could have written on from the weekend and this is it? Chasing chimeras again.

J
Jimmy 625 days ago

Spot on mate👌

A
Anathi 625 days ago

Spot on, Akansagena. I mean, hasn't Ben Smith written a dozen of these lousy articles already 😌

Disappointing to read such subpar BS. Valuable minutes I can't get back, sadly.

S
SK 626 days ago

Bok record in the last 4 years hasnt been great. Ireland and France has a far superior record in that timeframe. Boks have played around with their team and selections in an effort to build depth however many losses came with the full-strength team available as well. In any case consider that the Boks didnt play at all in 2020 and fell well behind their rivals due to COVID and the lack of rugby in SA domestically and you can also understand why they spent so much time catching up. Domestic scene was completely rebooted after getting the boot from super rugby and only as of 2021/2022 did the SA players get regular domestic rugby against good Northern domestic teams. In addition SA franchises have only recently been exposed to the champions cup. So Boks have remained relevant despite domestic chaos and falling behind.

y
yster 626 days ago

This Kiwi really spend s a lot of time focussed on SA, maybe he is Jeff Wilson's half brother, you have to play what is in front of you. The Bokke have their feet on the ground and have not asked for any tag, favourites or not! Just enjoy the competition and respect it in victory or defeat.

M
Muti 626 days ago

“There’s some suggestion…” Not from the Boks themselves, nor from any of the informed Bok supporters. We would be very proud of this team should they win RWC ‘23, but we’re proud of them already for displaying the potential that can come from togetherness and for inspiring a nation, for the leader that Siya has become and for the individual brilliance of so many of the team, current and historical. We love winning WCs, but we just love WCs because we get to watch our team play in consecutive weeks, we get to experience the highs and lows, our hearts racing at every twist and turn. Everybody knows who the most consistently sublime rugby team of the last couple of decades is (NZ duh) and the unwavering desire to reach those levels then push those levels even higher is what drives us (as supporters and the team). Will we achieve this one day? Maybe, maybe not, but we strive for it and we BELIEVE we will. Not because of ego or entitlement, but because we know what the potential of human endeavour can achieve when it is sought as one. Amandla Awethu! Go Bokke!

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Rupert 625 days ago

Inspired stuff. Far better writing than this pathetic article. Just when you think this website can't sink any lower with their "we hate the Boks" rhetoric, Adam Julian pulls this out of a dark void. The ABs two losses in a row to obviously superior opposition is having a scary effect on many of their supporters.

C
CF 625 days ago

great reply to an ignorant so called writer of a really senseless article.....

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