Springboks: Bryan Habana gives ultimate compliment to Rassie Erasmus’ ‘phenomenal’ team
Former Springboks winger Bryan Habana (inset) and the Boks stand to attention during their anthem before a Test.
Despite being part of a superb Springboks World Cup-winning side in 2007, Bryan Habana has hailed Rassie Erasmus’ current crop as South Africa’s greatest-ever team.
A legendary winger, Habana is the Springboks’ all-time leading try scorer, having crossed the whitewash on 67 occasions in 124 Tests between 2004 and 2016.
He achieved almost everything there was to achieve in rugby during a decorated 15-year career as a professional and was a key member of the Springboks squad when they won the Rugby World Cup for the second time in France in 2007.
Habana‘s attacking brilliance at that year’s global showpiece saw him equalling legendary All Blacks flyer Jonah Lomu’s World Cup record for the most tries at a single World Cup (eight).
The 2007 Springboks side is widely regarded as one of the best ever teams in the history of international rugby and Habana’s try-scoring feats at that year’s tournament were rewarded when he was crowned as the International Rugby Board’s World Player of the Year.
High praise for current Springboks side
However, despite that side’s exploits, Habana believes the current Springboks era under the guidance of head coach Erasmus is the best yet to emerge from South Africa.
Since taking charge of the Springboks in 2018, Erasmus has guided the Boks to back-to-back Rugby World Cup triumphs in Japan and France in 2019 and 2023.
They also clinched a 2-1 series victory over the British & Irish Lions in South Africa in 2021 and after winning the Rugby Championship for the first time in 2019, they also won the prestigious southern hemisphere tournament again for successive years in 2024 and 2025.
The Boks finished the 2025 international campaign with a 85.71% win ratio after being victorious in 12 out of 14 Tests played and are firmly entrenched as the number one side in World Rugby’s official rankings list.
Habana identified Erasmus’ support system within the Springboks camp, bringing expertise and understanding his players, as the key attributes to the team’s success.
“In my opinion, [it’s] easily the best Springbok collective we have ever had. Any success is not just one-directional,” Habana told News24.
“Rassie took over after a period of disastrous time, where there was a lot of misalignment in the general SA Rugby structure. He probably didn’t get as much support as what he should have potentially gotten…
‘Rassie has obviously put in a fundamental plan’
“There’s been a real clear understanding of what the players need to do to be able to be in this position. Rassie has obviously put in a fundamental plan that goes cross-organisational in terms of the young guys coming through along with the experience and understanding their roles and responsibilities.
“He has never sort of stayed stagnant in by doing the same things repeatedly over and over again. He’s brought in phenomenal expertise, Jacques Nienaber initially, and then he brought in the likes of Daan Human, and we’ve seen the Springboks scrumming physicality.
“We’re all calling this new, adapting phase of which the Springboks are playing at and we’ve got Tony Brown, Felix Jones and Jerry Flannery. It’s definitely a combination of alignment within the international rugby structures, a phenomenal, innovative, forward-thinking coach/manager in Rassie and the assistant coaches.
“Then there’s players understanding their contribution individually and [the] need to make and play for the greater good of the team.
“This team has a phenomenal understanding of how important winning is, and what the Springboks mean to the whole of South Africa, particularly when winning.”
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
READ MORE: Bulls: Johan Ackermann gives clarity on request for input from Springboks coaches
