John Dobson: Springboks Rugby has never been in a better place
John Dobson warns that the gap between the Springboks and Ireland could widen.
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson says that he has never seen South African rugby in a better place than it is right now and warns that the gap between the Springboks and rest could grow.
Under the tutelage of Rassie Erasmus, whether as head coach or director of rugby, the Springboks have claimed back-to-back Rugby World Cups, winning a British and Irish Lions series in between.
This was after Bok rugby was at one of its all-time lows following a poor run of performances in 2016 and 2017, which led to Allister Coetzee’s departure and Erasmus’ return to South Africa.
All Blacks were the benchmark, now it is the Springboks
Since then, the Springboks have returned to their former glory as one of the heavyweights in world rugby, but Dobson believes that the national team is in a better place now than it has ever been.
“We’ve always been trailing. There was a period for a while when it was England and for a couple of years, it was Ireland, but for most of our lives, the All Blacks have been the benchmark,” the Stormers boss explained on Off the Ball.
“The All Blacks are in the history books as one of the most successful sports teams in the world of all time. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen South African rugby, particularly in my life, in as good a place as it is now.
“We’ve won two in a row [Rugby World Cups], and we’re not going to fall off a cliff for 2027.”
When Heyneke Meyer left the Springboks after the 2015 Rugby World Cup, South Africa bid farewell to many of their most experienced players of all-time and legends of the game.
This made for a challenging job for Coetzee, who also did not have the luxury of selecting overseas-based players. The constraints paired with expansive tactics that didn’t suit the playing squad resulted in the poor run of form, but Dobson believes this won’t be happening this World Cup cycle and predicts that the Boks will be well placed to complete a hat-trick of title successes.
“Kitshoff will make it to 2027, and Steenekamp is the young loosehead, and everywhere you look, there’s depth,” he continued.
“There are so many crazy good young second-rowers; at number eight there is Evan Roos and Cameron Hanekom. Willie le Roux is old and is playing well, but Damian Willemse is 25 now and is actually the number one full-back and has already won two World Cups.
“Andre Esterhuizen could replace Damian de Allende and Canan Moodie is just 21 years old.”
Gap may widen
The depth in the squad and the up-and-coming talent should strike fear into the rest of the rugby world, according to Dobson.
“If I was the rest of the world, I’d say I don’t think I’ve ever seen South Africa in this position, which is quite scary – but it’s nice for us,” he added.
“I have never seen us like this. It looks like we have a real succession plan. Nobody has done a three-peat, and that’s now the obsession.
“The first obsession was Ireland because, as we saw in Chasing the Sun 2 – it’s easy to make a documentary retrospectively because you can reinvent anything you want – but there was that clip at the end of the pool game where Rassie was throwing a ball up and the crowd was singing Zombie. And you just knew that with someone like Rassie that is just not landing.
“So Ireland was the first step and I have got a funny feeling and I’m not being jingoistic – I’m the first guy to call us for all the things we do wrong – but I just think we’re in a really powerful, strong position now.
“And I think there is a danger of that gap widening between Ireland in number two.”
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