State of the Nation: Springboks create a lasting legacy with back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles

Jared Wright
Rugby World Cup winning Springboks Handre Pollard, Deon Fourie, Siya Kolisi, Jesse Kriel and Bongi Mbonambi.

Rugby World Cup winning Springboks Handre Pollard, Deon Fourie, Siya Kolisi, Jesse Kriel and Bongi Mbonambi.

Now that the dust has settled on another memorable Rugby World Cup, we bring you our State of the Nations pieces, finishing off with Jacques Nienaber’s title-winning Springboks.

Back-to-back in brutal and unapologetic fashion as South Africa played to their strengths and made bold and brave decisions en route to their fourth Rugby World Cup title.

Led by their inspirational skipper and powered by the mantra of giving their country hope, the Springboks were relentless, well-coached and just refused to give up as they went through the most difficult route in the tournament’s history to lift rugby’s most prized possession.

Tournament summary

The Springboks stole the headlines in the build-up to and during the tournament, first by omitting genuinely world-class talents and proven winners Handre Pollard (more on him later) and Lukhanyo Am from their initial squad before thrashing their fiercest rivals in their last warm-up game before the World Cup kicked off.

Once touching down in France, they faced the nervy prospect of then-world number five Scotland in their opening match. Gregor Townsend’s Scots provided a potential banana peel for the defending champions, and by half-time, the underdogs lived up to the hype, trailing the Boks 6-3.

But South Africa rolled up their sleeves and came out firing to secure an 18-3 victory and turned their attentions to a mighty clash against the then top-ranked side in the world and unbeaten Irish. While the game against Romania was sandwiched in between those two fixtures, the Europeans were soundly swept aside and offered little resistance in the 76-0 defeat.

With the clash between South Africa and Ireland billed as the Pool B decider, the Springbok coaches again made the bold decision to field seven forwards and just one back on their replacement bench for just the second time – the other being the thrashing of New Zealand at Twickenham. While the first attempt went swimmingly, the second wasn’t quite as effective as Ireland ground out a 13-8 victory, stopping the Springboks’ driving maul machine just inches short of a match-winning try in the final moments of the encounter.

After defeating Tonga in a bruising battle, South Africa turned their attention to France, where they became the pantomime villain by knocking the hosts out of their home World Cup in what was the game of the tournament. The two sides traded blow for blow, with the heroics of Cheslin Kolbe and Eben Etzebeth ultimately proving to be the difference as they ran out 29-28 victors.

One point was all that separated the two quarter-finalists, and the story would be much the same when we were treated to a repeat of the 2019 final as England fronted up against the Boks. Again, it was the South Africans who emerged victorious in thrilling fashion, coming from nine points down to secure a 16-15 victory.

The 7-1 split on the bench was reintroduced in the finale as rugby’s greatest rivalry took centre stage, and while it looked as if Nienaber’s charges had run out of steam ahead of their clash against the All Blacks, that was not the case. The defence guru’s side again rose to the challenge and held on to a one-point advantage, again, to lift the William Webb Ellis Cup.

Standout players

With such a challenging route to victory and with the margins so close this tournament, South Africa needed some of their world-class operators to produce clutch moments when they mattered, and few did so as well as fly-half Handre Pollard. After initially missing the squad through injury, the 2019 World Cup winner returned in fine fettle to slot 13 successive shots at goal without missing. While he wasn’t quite on top of his game around the park, it mattered little as his accurate boot sent the Boks through all of their knockout matches and saw him become the top points scorer in Rugby World Cup finals.

Staying on the topic of clutch and Eben Etzebeth was comfortably one of the Boks’ best throughout the tournament. There were concerns over his fitness after an injury during the pool stages, but he eased those worries emphatically with a match-winning performance against France. On our count, Etzebeth produced a performance worth 21 points against Les Bleus based on his actions on either side of the ball, including a crucial try to seal the win. He was equally impressive throughout the tournament and was incredibly unlucky not to be named World Rugby Player of the Year.

For much of the past eight years, Jesse Kriel has been overlooked and criticised for his selection and performances in the Green and Gold, and after Am’s injury, many feared that Kriel would hamper the Boks throughout the tournament. However, he silenced his critics and converted most into die-hard fans with a truly sensational tournament. His bloodied face after the victory over France went viral amongst fans, with his sensational defence finally recognised and applauded even by the most casual supporters.

Finally, we cannot forget about the Springboks’ not-so-secret weapon on the bench, Kwagga Smith. The livewire ex-sevens star was another player who was absolutely crucial, not only for his versatility on the bench but for the remarkable impact he made off it. After missing all the knockout matches in 2019, he came off the bench in all three in 2023 and made a telling impact in every single one of them. Most Test forwards tower over the diminutive Springbok, but he is the epitome of the ‘size of the fight in the dog’ and proved as much again this tournament.

Statistic leaders

If one browses over the overall tournament statistics, ‘South Africa’ features sparingly at the top of the charts. They ranked seventh for points per match, fifth for tries, 15th for goal-kicking success, ninth for possession, 13th for 22 entries, 17th for carries and 10th for kicks, to name a few. However, they were in the top three for two crucial stats, including penalties conceded (8.3) and points conceded per 22 entry (1.3).

The Nienaber-led defence also set a new record for the most tackles at a World Cup, 974, the most by any nation in a single edition of the men’s competition, overtaking the 917 they made in 2015. The head coach coined the term ‘superior discontent’ in the Chasing the Sun documentary, referencing a period of the Bok defence in the 2019 final, and it rang true again in 2023 as they fronted up to make 209 tackles against New Zealand, eclipsing the tournament record they set against England (158) in 2019.

Staying with tackles, and the ever-present Pieter-Steph du Toit equalled Thierry Dusautoir’s benchmark of 28 tackles in a World Cup match while his fellow forward Franco Mostert made 49 tackles without missing across the knockout matches. Mostert’s 73 tackles in the tournament ranked third overall and topped the charts for the champions.

While Mostert and Du Toit racked up impressive tallies, Siya Kolisi and Damian de Allende made 10 dominant tackles apiece, a tournament high, with Etzebeth not too far off their tallies with eight.

Cobus Reinach dotted down for a team-high of four tries in the competition, including a hat-trick against Romania, while Pollard topped the points chart for his side with 33.

The super sub Kwagga Smith made a tournament-high 10 turnovers, including three in the final, and managed to turn over or disrupt 41 per cent of the defensive rucks he hit throughout the competition, the best rate of any player to hit 20+ defensive rucks.

Cheslin Kolbe, meanwhile, averaged 14.8 metres per carry, the most of any player at the tournament, making a team-high of seven line breaks.

Success story

Where to start? It could easily go to the inspirational skipper winning back-to-back World Cups from his background, plus his miraculous recovery to be fit in time for the tournament after a knee injury.

It could also go to Jean Kleyn after he was snubbed by Ireland for so many years and played a massive role in the final to become a World Cup champion. Or it could go to sharpshooter Pollard, who shook off his lack of fitness and produced a kicking masterclass to see his side over the line.

Perhaps it should go to Du Toit’s heroics in the final, considering his torrid run of injuries in recent years and the fact that he is charging around the pitch with his father’s tendon surgically inserted into his hamstring. Or an all-time great Duane Vermeulen bowing out with another World Cup trophy.

Maybe even coach Nienaber, who went from a physio and S&C coach to instilling a defensive system that has won two World Cups, one with him as head coach himself. While the Boks have been dubbed by many as big, boring and physical, Nienaber’s side were, in fact, brave, tactically astute, well-coached, capitalised on opposition flaws and played to their strengths more than any other side.

But one story sticks out, and that is of Deon Fourie who just last year became the oldest Springbok debutant just before his 36th birthday and would go on to seal his place in the 33-man squad as a flanker/emergency hooker – the latter being increasingly important as he would play 77 minutes of the final in a taxing position. The veteran forward produced a mighty performance in the final that included 20 tackles and a turnover in a position that few players much younger than him struggle to play over 60 minutes in.

All this after he received a phone call after the match against Tonga with a doctor explaining to him that his father, who was in hospital, had a 50/50 chance to live.

He even captained his country in the closing stages of the final and, upon his return to South Africa, was able to take his Rugby World Cup gold medal to his father’s hospital bed.

Main regret

While there were several side stories and sub-plots throughout their run to the title and after going back-to-back and picking up a fourth title, there will be very few regrets. However, Rassie Erasmus’ activities on social media may just be the one. The Bok boss caused an unnecessary stir with his misogynistic remarks, and instead of celebrating the victory, he opted to have a crack at a journalist.

The controversy around Bongi Mbonambi’s alleged racial slur at Tom Curry seemed to be a matter of lost in translation and one perhaps out of the Bok’s control, but it certainly put a damper on the build-up to the final.

Results

South Africa v Scotland (won 18-3)
South Africa v Romania (won 76-0)
South Africa v Ireland (lost 8-13)
South Africa v Tonga (won 49-18)
South Africa v France (won 29-28)
South Africa v England (won 16-15)
South Africa v New Zealand (won 12-11)

READ MORE: State of the Nation: Written-off All Blacks fall just short of an unlikely fourth Rugby World Cup title

Features Cheslin Kolbe Cobus Reinch Deon Fourie Eben Etzebeth Franco Mostert Jacques Nienaber Jesse Kriel Kwagga Smith

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