The ‘stark evidence’ which shows Rassie Erasmus’ Bok evolution as Springboks dominate Rugby Championship stats
A deep dive into the Springboks stats from the 2024 Rugby Championship.
The Springboks are not resting on their laurels as Rassie Erasmus spearheads an evolution of Bok rugby as South Africa attempt to complete an unprecedented Rugby World Cup three-peat.
Following the departure of Jacques Nienaber and Felix Jones, Erasmus returned to the head coach role and hired Jerry Flannery and Tony Brown to fill the vacancies in his coaching team.
The pair have quickly got to work, stamping their mark on the team with Flannery building on Nienaber’s defensive foundations while Brown did the same following Jones’ work with the attack.
Brown’s influence on the Springboks‘ stats was quickly evident, as has Flannery’s efforts on defence, with the stats from the Rugby Championship clearly illustrating the success.
Springboks continue to blitz, just not as aggressively
Since taking over the reins as head coach again, Erasmus has repeatedly expressed the need for the Springboks to evolve and improve their game as they set their sights on the Rugby World Cup 2027.
The improvements in the Springboks attack has been widely praised through the Rugby Championship but the defence has been just as impressive. Nienaber is widely respected as one of the best defence coaches in the world but his successor has done a stand-up job so far.
South Africa topped many of the team stats from the 2024 tournament but one where they are rooted to the bottom is tackle success, with the Boks completing just 83.9% of their attempted tackles. Many of the top coaches nowadays will explain that the tackle success is not a good indicator of an effective defensive system and this is starkly evident with the Boks.
While they ranked last for tackle success, the Boks were the tidiest team on defence in terms of penalties and tries conceded. The Flannery-led defensive system conceded just 38 penalties across the six Test matches – six fewer than the next lowest by Australia and 11 less than the most by Argentina and New Zealand.
Notably, the Springboks’ defence conceded just three penalties in the victory over the All Blacks at Ellis Park – the lowest such count in the tournament. That much saw the All Blacks score four tries but still fall to a 31-27 defeat and for the first time since 2019, they had lost a match despite scoring four tries or more.
While the discipline was on point in Johannesburg, the system clicked into another gear in the 18-12 victory in Cape Town as the Springboks held the All Blacks try-less – a feat that had not been achieved since Ireland’s win over New Zealand in 2018.
The success on defence is further highlighted by the fact that the Springboks conceded the least amount of tries in the tournament (10) – five fewer than the next best effort from the All Blacks.
While Scott Robertson’s side struggled to score points in the final quarter of matches during the Rugby Championship, the Bok defence thrived in the last 20 minutes of the games, conceding just 10 points in the six matches – Hunter Paisami’s converted try in Brisbane and a Tomas Albornoz penalty in Santiago del Estero. This means that South Africa conceded just one try in the final quarter of Test matches during the Rugby Championship with the next lowest number belonging to Argentina who conceded four.
Onlookers have noted that the Springboks’ defence is less aggressive this year than it was under Nienaber’s guide but it’s clear to see that it is not any less effective. In an interview with the Telegraph, Flannery explained why he has adapted the defence from the foundations that the former head coach laid.
“If you play a bit more conservatively in attack, your defence can be in a stronger position all of the time when you turn the ball over,” he explained. “If you play with a bit more freedom, your defence has to be able to adapt quicker.”
Tony Brown’s attack
That brings us to the attack, where former All Blacks fly-half Brown has made his mark. It’s been clear to see that the 2024 Springboks have been more willing to get the ball wider, quicker and the stats underline their success in doing so.
South Africa topped the tries scored (24), clean breaks (50) and metres gained (3,053) in the Rugby Championship while finishing second for defenders beaten (139) and carries (730). While this suggests that the Springboks kept the ball in hand more than the other teams, that was not the case as they kicked 167 times across their six Tests – 29 times more than the next-highest tally by the All Blacks. However, on 24 occasions, South Africa regained possession from the kick – 14 times more than any other team illustrating that while they are evolving their attack it is off the foundation of traditional strengths over the past six years.
Perhaps one of the most telling stats of Brown’s influence is the fact that the Springboks scored 11 tries from first-phase possession with the former All Black’s strike plays taking an effect on five occasions with the other six coming from the maul.
The Springboks also averaged the most opposition 22 entries (11.5) per game and had the joint-best ruck success with 96% across the competition.
Traditional strengths
Much can be made of the new influences from the Springboks’ coaching additions but some of the strengths have remained.
While the Springboks had the worst scrum success in the tournament (79%), they were the most successful in winning penalties doing so on 16 occasions – a whopping 10 times more than the All Blacks’ scrum. The Boks also scored three tries from the platform set by the scrum with Argentina being the only other side to better than tally doing so by one.
Despite the setbacks in the second-row with the likes of Lood de Jager, RG Snyman and Franco Mostert missing the entirety of the Rugby Championship, the Springboks’ lineout still operated at an 86.9% success rate, the second-best in the tournament. As mentioned above, the Boks scored six tries from mauls – five more than any other team – with a total of 12 tries coming from the set-piece, a tally only the All Blacks matched with Australia and Argentina both managing six apiece.
Biggest concern
While there were plenty of positive stats to take away from the Springboks’ Rugby Championship campaign, one telling stat which will be a major concern for Erasmus is the number of yellow cards.
Both South Africa and New Zealand saw seven players sent to the sin bin during the campaign. In the first Test against Australia, Malcolm Marx, Marco van Staden and Jesse Kriel were all sent to the naughty corner for 10 minutes. Full-back Aphelele Fassi also visited the sin bin in the first Test against the All Blacks with Jasper Wiese and Willie le Roux yellow carded in the victory over New Zealand in Cape Town. Lastly, Kurt-Lee Arendse was yellow carded in the defeat to Argentina with Los Pumas pouncing to score two tries while he was off the pitch.
READ MORE: World Rankings: Why the Springboks remain second despite winning the Rugby Championship
