South Africa should be everyone’s favourite second team. If you’re not from South Africa, the Springboks should be your second favourite team. You could of course be from South Africa and then have them as your second favourite team, but that would be super weird. And while it may be difficult for some to replace Fiji with the Boks as their second favourite team, it is worthy of consideration.
It has been quite a journey for South African rugby over the past 30 years. If a drama was pitched to Netflix on the history of rugby union, South Africa would have been prime candidates for the baddies role, given the country’s chequered political history. Diplomatic immunity? I doubt it.
Yet, while South Africa still grapples with complex societal issues, in rugby it leads the way. Unlike any other rainbow in existence, the rainbow nation really did find a pot of gold at the end of it. And in that little pot was sitting Rassie Erasmus and his Boks.
Through silverware alone, the Boks are the definition of success over the past eight seasons. Back-to-back Rugby World Cups in 2019 and 2023, a Lions Series in 2021 have now been bolstered by victory in the Rugby Championship. A victory, it must be said, achieved with some heavy squad rotations. South Africa used 35 players in the Rugby Championship and 49 in total in the 10 Test matches played this calendar year. But the Boks’ metamorphosis from baddie to goodie is about more than just winning. You can be a winner and still be unpleasant, look at the world’s most famous winning loser, Donald Trump.
The first major progression the Boks have made for their global appeal is in the brand of rugby they play. If you think South Africa play 10-man rugby, with a monster pack of forwards and a goal kicker, then you haven’t seen them play recently. That stereotype died a long time ago. Yes, the Boks have a pack of Marvel monsters – actually a multi-pack of Marvel monsters – but they are also flanked by a series of magical pixies in Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse and their counterparts.
Thanks to Erasmus, front-row forwards get the WWE-style entry they deserve. Half man half sofa, Frans Malherbe, is part of world player of the year discussions.
Kolbe in particular has become the benchmark for the undersized wing – overtaking even Shane Williams and Jason Robinson. All three have thought patterns which can trigger a motion sensor and the feet to match, but only Kolbe actively bounces locks and back-row forwards like they’re inflatable toys. If anything, the Boks should no longer be known for picking big forwards, but playing small, undersized wings. A selection policy at odds with the rest of Test rugby.
The Boks are also the first team to build a rugby bridge between the northern and southern hemisphere. Prior to the past few seasons, the hemispheres have almost been viewed as two separate rugby planets. Which is made even weirder when you consider Japan are often considered to be a southern team – even though any map will tell you they’re based in the north. One can only assume this decision was taken by the same group who put Australia in Eurovision. We digress. With the South Africans joining the United Rugby Championship, they’ve become the first nation to play their club rugby in one hemisphere and their Test rugby in another. In that regard alone you could argue they’ve done more to bring the two rugby ‘worlds’ together than any other nation.
The Boks have pushed innovation to the max with the introduction of the 6:2 forwards and backs bench split and the (bonkers) 7:1 arrangement. Love or loathe these approaches, they have changed the game and our interpretation of it. This new strategy on forward replacements, especially changing forwards en masse, has made many realise just how important front-row players are.
Prior to Erasmus’ bulk replacement of the tight five, most props came on without anyone really knowing they were on the field – except for maybe their own mothers watching them trot onto the pitch. Now, thanks to Erasmus, front-row forwards get the WWE-style entry they deserve. This has also sparked far more media recognition. A decade ago, most conversations around the top five players in the world revolved around fly-halves and wings. Now half-man, half-sofa, Frans Malherbe, is part of world player of the year discussions. So too half-man, half-faster sofa, Ox Nche, who has arguably been the player of the Rugby Championship.
The Boks also became the first of the ‘big three’ southern hemisphere nations to start selecting players who were based overseas. It was a masterstroke. Much the like the Pumas, they allow plenty of their bigger, more expensive names to stretch the budgets of other nation’s CEOs, not their own. A policy which more unions should utilise.
But by far the greatest achievement of Bok rugby in recent years has been the galvanizing of their core supporters in South Africa. Rugby was once viewed as the preserve of the white population. Today, a camera operator can point their viewfinder anywhere in the crowd they like, and find evidence of a people and a nation united. It’s heartwarming.
The Boks in particular have taken the game forward like Pieter-Steph du Toit hitting a short ball on a blocker pattern.
Many will argue rugby has gone backwards in the last decade. It hasn’t. The Boks in particular have taken the game forward like Pieter-Steph du Toit hitting a short ball on a blocker pattern. And it doesn’t look likely to change any time soon. If they aren’t your second favourite team, they should be.
Disclaimer: none of this applies to Irish rugby Twitter and some parts of Welsh rugby Twitter. Please do not burn the author’s house down. Terms and conditions apply.
After Los Pumas, Bokke has managed to capture my attention and interest. Innovations have been able to generate victories, at key moments in their evolution. Since RWC2019 I have seen them play in many possible ways without too many ups and downs. From my role as an analyst, they never cease to impress me.
cracker column. thanks!
Good, fun article.
Gotta admire how Rassie has rallied the South African people around this team, how he’s an out-and-out competitor finding an edge wherever he can get it. Always innovating and breaking the mould. The accusations of boring, simple rugby don’t hold anymore either.
Love them or hate them you just have to admire them right now.
Villains of world rugby atm in my opinion, and I mean that in the best way possible
😄😄😄😄 Hilarious piece. Love it!
Boks are my favourite team, and always will be.
SA are like the German football sides of the 1990's, they are efficient and will do anything and everything to win but their play is essentially one dimensional and boring to watch. Even Rassie has acknowledged this by hiring Tony Brown to try and get the players to do something on the field other than just contestable kicks and rolling mauls. A little bit of catch and pass would be a good start.
They are playing some great running rugby this year. They’ll get killed playing ing it against the All Blacks though.
Clearly you haven't watched the Boks in 2024.
Actually the Boks pass and run and score more than any other team. Your one dimensional view is blind as a bat
There are just so many candidates. Clermont are the best sports fans in the World in any sport, never mind rugby. French fans generally are amongst the best in the World, so they are right up there. Anyone who has been to Buenos Aires will tell you how great Argentina is, with a real party atmosphere and passion that can't be beaten. South Africa is always great and the vast majority of their fans are brilliant. I've been plucked from the crowd and invited into corporate boxes on several occasions. So most of my ''second teams'' are based on their fans.
French fans are the best in the world? The same French fans that threatened Cobus Reinach and his family (because he plays in France) after the Boks beat Les Bleus in the World Cup QF?
Oh yes, wonderful fans.
They're definitely gaming the system as much as possible. They use the HIA system to rotate players after they empty their bench and they milk penalties via guys like Kolbe running into props and pretend to have been flattened. Kolbe being the same guy who deliberately slaps down passes.
They also are producing a steady stream of positive drug tests.
Definitely admire some of their play, the blend of attacking flair coming through makes them better to watch than last year.
As an Allblacks supporter I don't give much thought to a second team to support. I thought England played tremendously well this year and were unlucky to lose both tests to the Allblacks by a whisker.
Argentina have really lifted their peak but are still troughing straight after their highs.
Fiji are always a great watch.
But for sheer technical brilliance and quality with a small player base the Irish would be first pick if it wasn't for the poaching of overseas professionals and the bitter Sexton.
So, with some brilliance, all legit homegrown talent, brilliant backs, quality homegrown coach with Contempi, tough warriors like Matera and the even more terrifying loose forward it would have to be Argentina. The puma on the jersey being a cool touch.
The Puma's will definitely win RWC and it's not far away. They are not afraid of any team, have beaten all the other top sides and their country are prolific football talent with football giving the rugby team a real boost with footwork, goal kicking, clearance.
They regularly make the semis and yes they choked against the Allblacks at RWC but NZ rugby is rapidly weakening as evidenced by it's top super side signing a retired Wallaby at ten due to its lack of confidence in it's homegrown pivots and it's increasingly one dimensional player depth.
It would be of no surprise that the Puma's dominate the Allblacks within a decade of the direction of travel continues as expected.
Typical 📦 comment
If I should break down the NZ players and history,what a sorry tale for the tape with their off field shenanigans. Not even to talk of of all their illegal plays that gets called by refs these days and was what made the AB's great, getting away with murder in the past. Free wins given on a golden platter. Maybe do your homework first, and triple check facts(not your own made up facts) from REPUTABLE sources who can back it up with stats. Not opinions. You are a sad excuse for an AB fan. AB's fans aren't usually so pathetic, but hey, every town has its own town drunk isn't it?
Name the so called regular positive drug players. Except for Elton Jantjies who hasn't been part of SA rugby for a long time now, there hasn't been any others. You are no rugby guru. Just a sad little excuse with opinions no one agree with not care about
Snoooooring
Mmmm … sound like a bitter Kiwi ?
Sorry, but this is utter nonsense:
"They also are producing a steady stream of positive drug tests." No 'They' are not. A few players outside the Bok squad like Jantjies and Nkosi have tested positive and often players are testing positive once they've moved to another country to play club rugby. Meanwhile, the ABs seem to have no problem turning a blind eye to wife beaters.
"Kolbe being the same guy who deliberately slaps down passes." Really he goes out to do this every game? How many players get carded for going for interceptions and getting it wrong? Why not mention them? Is it because it happened against the ABs in the World Cup final?
"Kolbe running into props and pretend to have been flattened." Tyrel Lomax changed his line and took Kolbe out. Clear yellow card and the latest in a long line of dumb plays by the All Blacks who, let us not forget, collected two red cards for dangerous head contact in the last four games they played against the Boks.
If you don't like the Boks, fine. Just find better reasons than this.
Remind us how many wife beaters the All Blacks have in their squad?
As a Saffa I love supporting Japan as my second team. Love their style of play.
After 2007 everyone loved to hate the Springboks. After 2011 many felt they got what they deserved and felt they were overrated. After 2015,16, and 17 everyone was laughing at them and some felt downright sorry for them. After 2019 everyone loved what they stood for but hated the direction they were taking the game and after the 2021 Lions series everyone despised their brand of rugby lamenting that it was a threat to rugby and outside of the spirit of the game. Now in 2024 everyone seems to be praising them as the great innovators and the most adaptable team and now people are showing them love. How will they be viewed by the rest of the rugby world next? Its anybody's guess.
Just so. Much better analysis than so called rugby guru's
Bravo. A little perspective goes a long way.
Didn't read the article is I doubt it's anything new but yes fully agree. Some people it is about more than the rugby, and those are the ones that I can imagine having jumped on board (it should be a point to capture those people for SARU as well).
Further to that though, the actual rugby of the South Africa nation will be capturing peoples hearts. I have always enjoyed watching SA games of SR or CC (Currie Cup) because of the way they'ved played (going back at least two decades, not just recently). Everyone thinks of their tough forward players, and they do have a plethora of massive individuals, but at the less constricted level below Internationals theres not really enough of those players to hamper the games or turn them into grind fests. Instead their games of rugby have been largely based on fast backs and firm hard grounds where players kick a lot. It means great open rugby, I might have some cherry blossomed vision of this buts that how I remember it. Now of course it is a bit more orchestrated with the Springbok side, they are constructing plans for these players rather than just letting them loose (not something they 're known for doing at national level), and as a result world fans are getting to see some of the real talent (and stories) that they've always had.
Hope that was on topic.
It was but the styles have changed a lot. Look at the Bulls and the Stormers. The Sharks is a bit overbearing with stars and underperforming successes. The Lions is playing amazing rugby with no name players. The Boks may have been one dimensional at one stage, but the local teams always loved running rugby. It just didn't translate to Test rugby until recently
Beautiful article.
Waiting for Ben Smith article. I think Fiji will always be people's 2nd choice.
BOKs with Rassie have really turned it around. You really have to admire what they are doing.
The innovation ( Matt Williams) has been great. Brings another dimension
The All Blacks must be most peoples first choice then, even over their own country 😆
SA are probably the most disliked team in world rugby.
As this is the antithesis of a Ben Smith article, I wonder if it'll get more engagement. Like a love always wins type situation...🤷♂️
Saffa with a NZ passport here. Kinda ended up as a hybrid supporter. I thought that was an amazing article but of course I am biased. I agree with this because Boks and Rassie are trying hard to turn around the stigma surrounding the Boks...though a stigma they rightfully earned through our/their checkered past both socio-politically and on the rugby field (cough-Bakkies-cough). What a topsy-turvy world we live in where Ireland are amazing, AB's aren't dominating, the French actually care about rugby for an extended period of time, Australia are...meh, Scotland has one of the most creative flyhalves and bruising wingers, a RWC seeding that created the most mental WC ever and finally....though they're only heroes in South Africa, the Springboks are the anti-heroes of World Rugby.
Well said
At 4 from 8, Boks have 50% win rate at World Cups (did not play in 87 & 91) - can anyone ever catch up? It becomes increasingly difficult to match. So for eg ABs have won 3 from 10 - they would have to win the next 4 world cups (7 from 14) to match 50% etc. If Boks win 2027 its 5 from 9 ie 55% etc
They lost a game to New Zealand at the 2019 World Cup and to Ireland at the 2023 World Cup, so not really a grand slam world cup like the imperious New Zealand sides of 2011 or 2015 or the great England side of 2003. Quality side but still lost matches at the competition and haven’t dominated in between world cups to be considered a great dominant side. Though this side may evolve into that, they aren’t far ahead of Ireland, France, New Zealand and England.
How do they do it!
We won't be alive to see it if it does happen so we (Boks) are safe.
Always have been for this 66 yr old AB fan. They are THE strongest opponent we have ever had.
Respect.
As a 52 year old Bok supported, the AB's are....... I'll cancel whatever to watch the best compete... To watch the Black jerseys, with the white numbers play against my Boks......
Respect.
Paul, you are invited to the next braai, and the wine will be the best red. On one condition, no
Moaning about refs, no moaning about 7:1, no moaning about anything. Just a genuine love of the game and all that is good about it. And Siya invited
And no mention of that wit Kant either..
Lekker
How on earth was this piece allowed to be published on Rugbypass? Was Ben Smith absent today?
Since being promoted to Head of Editorial, he’s made it to the top and doesn’t need to rely on formulaic Bok baiting articles to get noticed anymore.
He can take it easy now and ride the gravy train.
Ben Smith is in your head.
Thanks Paul, entertaining article. Rugby is growing! Kwagga is King!
Great article. Really enjoyed it. Made me sign up to comment 😅
Ironic give they are clearly the third best team in the world now.
Still couldn't beat Ireland or France without direct help from an incompetent ref.
But forgive the poor author of this article. He's Welsh and they're utter shite at rugby - so he is clearly grasping at straws these days
It didn't take long for this moron to show up, must have Bok envy, Ireland's number one passion at the moment, do they give trophies for that?
I thought RP is moderating comments now.....how is this offensive kant allowed to post?
Turn that frown upside down
Long live the refs 👍
*given
This comment is offensive to referees and I’m appalled it hasn’t been removed yet.
I don't see how most of the things in this article are positives? Like, most of them aren't negatives either, they're just facts I don't particularly care about.
Noted. But I’m pretty sure the boks are your second favorite team. You only seem to comment on Eng and SA articles.
Fantastic article. Thanks. You and Tim Cocker are now unofficially honorary SA citizens.
Oh don't be so easy.
JK. Be easy. Enjoy the readmission 30 years ago 😄
Refreshing to have another NH scribe write positively about the Boks! 👊
We salute you, Paul! Please come to SA soon. We would love to have you in our beautiful country.