State of the Nation: Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks deliver on ‘favourites tag’ in famous Rugby Championship success as ‘freakish’ talent shines

Jared Wright
Springboks Aphelele Fassi, Jesse Kriel Siya Kolisi and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu during the Rugby Championship.

Here is the South Africa State of the Nation update after the Rugby Championship.

Following the conclusion of the 2024 Rugby Championship, we update you on the state of the participating nations. Finally, it’s Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks.

After a drawn series against Ireland and victories over Wales and Portugal, the back-to-back world champions headed into the Rugby Championship as favourites despite the All Blacks’ historical dominance of the tournament.

Erasmus’ charges duly delivered on their billing even with the head coach tinkering with his team, with 35 players featuring throughout what proved to be an historic tournament performance.

Rugby Championship summary

The Wallabies were up first for the Springboks as they headed to Brisbane – where they boasted a poor record, winning just one of their previous 13 clashes with Australia at the ground. Having habitually underperformed at the venue, the Boks banished their Brisbane blues, laying down a marker with an emphatic 33-7 victory and backed it up a week later with a largely changed team claiming a 30-12 win in Perth despite the conditions and having to go to uncontested scrums.

The performances Down Under illustrated just how adaptive the Springboks were becoming since Erasmus returned, with the maul steaming back to life while the new attacking patterns started to click under Tony Brown’s guidance.

While Erasmus did tinker with his team against the Wallabies, it still proved to be ideal preparation for the upcoming home Tests against their old foe the All Blacks, who arrived in South Africa off the back of battering Argentina at Eden Park after falling to a shock defeat the week before.

The scene was set for a marvellous edition of rugby’s greatest rivalry returning to the iconic Ellis Park and the two sides did not disappoint in a cracking Test match, with the host emerging victorious thanks to a late rally and scores from Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams. The Springboks repeated their final quarter heroics in Cape Town a week later to clinch back-to-back victories over New Zealand and notch up the longest winning streak over their rivals in the professional era as Malcolm Marx grabbed yet another five-pointer with Erasmus continuing his rotation policy.

That policy would come back to bite the Boks as they headed to Argentina looking to claim a famous victory to seal the title and go on their longest-winning streak in the tournament, but it was not to be as Manie Libbok’s game-winning penalty sailed wide. This extended the tournament by another week, setting up a title-decider – of sorts – in Nelspruit against the same opposition. With the Boks celebrating Eben Etzebeth’s milestone in becoming the most capped player in Springboks history, Erasmus’ men delivered their most comprehensive performance to thrash the Pumas 48-7 and lift their first full Rugby Championship since Argentina joined the competition and a first tournament title since 2019.

Outside of the Santiago del Estero disappointment, it was a convincing campaign for the Springboks who flexed their incredible depth and ability to never be beaten. They overcame hefty deficits against the All Blacks but also showed evolution in their game and weren’t nearly as reliant on their traditional strengths at the set-pieces and brute force.

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Standout players

It’s hard not to start with the magnificent Pieter-Steph du Toit. The back-rower was in stunning form during the Rugby World Cup last year but stepped up a gear – who would have thought that was even possible – to produce five sensational performances, seamlessly switching between flank and lock with no dip in his performance. He was our pick for Player of the Tournament and deservedly so. He thrived in his new attacking responsibilities but did not let those detract from his hammer tackles on defence and newly found fondness for a breakdown steal. Doing all this with his father’s hamstring implanted into his leg. The man is ludicrously brilliant with an engine that makes the best diesel bakkies blush.

There were several standout players for the Boks throughout the tournament but the rise of Aphelele Fassi in the set-up cannot go unmentioned. The Sharks star returned to the Green and Gold jumper after a two-year exile after being ordered to work on key areas of his game, which he did. Fassi was always a freakishly talented athlete but in 2024, he has looked a far more confident and well-rounded player and has deservedly been rewarded with six starts in his preferred position this year, including four in the Championship that saw him score four tries. He has created a healthy selection headache for the coaching staff with Damian Willemse returning to full fitness and will be eager to continue his breakout international form.

The usual suspects were also in fine fettle for the Springboks as Eben Etzebeth dispelled Erasmus’ concerns – for now at least – that he would not make the next World Cup and his new locking partner Ruan Nortje was another breakout star with an enormous engine. Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Siya Kolisi, Damian de Allende and Frans Malherbe continued to be key figures and top performers while Grant Williams shone before his injury.

However, perhaps the best Bok outside of Du Toit was the cake-loving prop Ox Nche who dominated the scrums and gobbled up crumbs like it was the tastiest of chocolate caramel treats. The loosehead did not take a backwards step in the scrums and was a willing and effective ball carrier and distributor on attack while never shying away on defence. With Steven Kitshoff sidelined for the tournament, Nche was entrusted with leading the front-row charge and thrived.

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Success story

The Springboks’ tournament was littered with success stories ranging from an historic victory in Brisbane and back-to-back wins over the All Blacks while Etzebeth celebrated a stunning milestone.

There was also plenty of successful innovations with the lineout ploys being a standout while the work of Brown and new defence coach Jerry Flannery shone through. The former has garnered plenty of praise but the latter’s work has been unheralded. Flannery’s defensive system conceded just 10 points in the final quarter of the six Test matches throughout the competition – a truly mind-blowing statistic.

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Meanwhile, Erasmus discovered how deep his depth runs and there were several success stories from that perspective with Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Ben-Jason Dixon, Nortje, Thomas du Toit, Elrigh Louw, Jaden Hendrikse and others making a good fist of their opportunities.

However, the biggest success story has to be the rise of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. We already got a look at the rookie fly-half during the July internationals but he really took off during the Rugby Championship with three successive starts at the beginning of the competition.

He was freakishly calm and unfazed by the pressures of international rugby, performing stunningly against the Wallabies and the All Blacks – particularly versus the latter at Ellis Park. He has a good head on his shoulders and a skillset to match. It’s a real shame that he has sustained an injury that could keep him out of the Bok squad for the remainder of the year but Erasmus has a serious talent at his disposal when he returns.

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Main regret

It has to be Santiago del Estero. The Springboks were riding high and Erasmus rolled the dice and came up a short – by one point. South Africa were on the opposite end of those results in 2023 and there will be plenty of learnings that they take away from the defeat to Los Pumas but ultimately, there will be a bitter taste that they did not grand slam the tournament.

The Pumas were there for the taking even after an underwhelming performance from the Boks on the day and the loss also denied the side a personal winning streak in the competition’s history. The Springboks have been rather ruthless over the last 18 months but in Santiago, they were not.

It’s a small blight on what was dominant tournament performance and while it mattered little in the grand scheme of things, it is a blight nonetheless.

Results

South Africa v Australia (South Africa won 33-7)
South Africa v Australia (South Africa won 30-12)
South Africa v New Zealand (South Africa won 31-27)
South Africa v New Zealand (South Africa won 18-12)
South Africa v Argentina (Argentina won 29-28)
South Africa v Argentina (South Africa won 48-7)

READ MORE: State of the Nation: ‘Impressive’ Argentina continue to make great strides but ‘have not reached their ceiling yet’