Who’s hot and who’s not: Springboks ‘full of brutal beauty and irresistible skill’ but ‘crying shame’ injuries leave ‘jarring sour taste’
Who's Hot and Who's Not: Springbok midfielder Jesse Kriel and, right, injured All Black skipper Ardie Savea
It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.
THEY’RE ON FIRE!
Springboks: They’re the world’s No.1 for a very good reason and we yet again saw precisely why on Saturday in Soweto. They were in a pickle with 56 minutes elapsed at the Calabash, falling 17-12 behind to a sucker punch All Black try, but their response was rugby heaven, a monstrous 17-point riposte that was full of brutal beauty and irresistible skill.
Everything from Jesse Kriel’s lung-bursting, jaw-dropping run to the exquisite, unstoppable scrum and maul execution rounded off by the fist-pumping Malcolm Marx oozed class, and it has left the rugby world wondering what can be done to stop South Africa in next year’s bid for an unprecedented hat-trick of successive World Cup titles. Simply put, they know how to win when it matters most and that’s an elixir which is the envy of all their rivals.
World Rugby rankings: Springboks hold onto top spot as All Blacks gap grows
Rassie Erasmus: Love or hate him, you just can’t ignore the mad scientist-like head coach who keeps pushing his Springboks onto higher levels. He made a tit of himself the previous weekend in Cape Town with his F-bomb post-game media briefing, but he had the gumption to admonish himself for this when following up in Soweto.
Asked for his thoughts on the epic Test that his side had just won 29-24, he embarked on a tangent to state his regret about the language he used in the DHL kerfuffle. “I don’t want to swear again because I got into trouble last time, and I really apologise for that last week – it was not well-mannered and I apologise.” Fair play. He could have ignored the issue completely but instead tackled it head on and fessed up that he had overstepped the mark.
Refereeing: The fear surrounding Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in South Africa was that it would be tainted by suspect refereeing decisions or dodgy, time-consuming TMO reviews, but the opposite was the welcome outcome. Between Matthew Carley, Angus Gardner and Nika Amashukeli, the consistent level of no-nonsense authority they wielded means that the series will be compellingly remembered for the rugby and not the whistle.
Yes, there was the played-out-in-the-media scrum spat featuring Erasmus and his New Zealand counterpart Dave Rennie, but that was off-field theatre rather than an on-field controversy stoked by the officials, who also deserve kudos for their less indulgent manner towards their TMOs. Rugby fluency had been dying on its arse, given the overzealous influence from the eye in the sky, but these types of frustrating interventions were reigned in across the last three Saturdays.
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry: July’s launch of the Nations Championship was a new dawn for Test rugby, with teams flying into countries for one-off matches and flying off again before they had even unpacked their bags, but what has unfolded in recent weeks in South Africa was a pointy demonstration that old-school type tours still very much must have a prime place in the calendar and the concept must be allowed to continue and thrive.
Of course, next Saturday’s denouement is a gimmicky nod to the sport’s exasperating, bull-headed attempt to try and sell the sport to an American population who really don’t give a fig, but the Greatest Rivalry series in South Africa was a wonderful success and has whetted the appetite for its reprise in four years when the Springboks are scheduled for a long-stay visit in New Zealand. These tours are a superb way to let the sport fire the imagination and dominate the headlines, unlike the contrived blink-and-you-miss-it, air-miles Nations Championship concept.
The scrum: Rugby’s most emblematic set-piece has been shabbily disregarded for far too long, with countries such as New Zealand and Australia keen to depower it and make it resemble a morbid rugby league-type restart rather than a full-on eight-on-eight contest with game-defining consequences. To see last Saturday’s penalty try awarded to the Springboks gladdened the heart, not because South Africa scored it but because it highlighted how teams with ambitions of success must be capable in all aspects of the game, not a select few.
Following on from Ireland’s scrum capitulation in Dublin last November against the Boks, to see the All Blacks so troubled by the power of the South African eight was a reminder that teams need to get their set-piece in order and stop chickening out of the fight by getting their boardroom administrators to dilute the scrum with law tweaks and all the rest of that carry-on. The scrum is an integral part of the game and it’s up to others to catch up with South Africa on the field, not ambush them off it.
Wallabies: It says a lot about the suddenly-raised ceiling Australia are now operating under new boss Les Kiss that their unprecedented series win in Argentina wasn’t celebrated with unbridled enthusiasm. This sombre reaction was a positive indication of their ambition after the underwhelming Joe Schmidt era was consigned to the dustbin. It’s now very much all roads leading to next year’s home World Cup with grand designs on achieving, not just trying to be competitive.
The Wallabies were right to dwell more on leaving a second Test win behind them in Mendoza rather than over-egg how the draw sealed them the series. They were cruising near the interval, 14 points up, but Jeremy Williams’ costly yellow card highlighted how they need best behaviour from everyone if they are to blossom at RWC 2027. That was the debit sheet, but to their credit, they deserve kudos for not losing their heads when falling 28-21 behind, leaving Argentina in front for just six minutes. Applying the pressure to force the penalty try equaliser was a ballsy response in that situation.
Top 14: We’re three weeks away from the United Rugby Championship and the English Premiership commencing their new campaigns, but the latest French league marathon is already underway and a round one result that most piqued the interest was Ronan O’Gara’s side dramatically defeating champions Toulouse with a last-gasp Antoine Hastoy penalty on Sunday night.
Toulouse had the on-the-road victory seemingly wrapped up when leading 10-24 with 50 minutes elapsed but their bench offered nothing, and this failure, damningly described as “catastrophic” by coach Ugo Mola, left them vulnerable to the 17-3 turnaround that gave La Rochelle their 30-27 victory. The champions’ collapse was an entertaining way to get the Top 14 started.
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COLD AS ICE!
Ardie Savea/Cheslin Kolbe: With 26 minutes of Saturday’s third Test elapsed, it was unfathomable that New Zealand skipper Savea could wind up in our Cold As Ice! category, but here he is. The way he brought the fight to the Springboks in Soweto was awe-inspiring, scoring two tries and lighting fires all around the pitch, and it was a crying shame to see him exit just six minutes later with his shoulder dislocated by a bruising ruck clear-out from Marx. With it went New Zealand’s best chance of victory.
Kolbe didn’t have a similar type of impact on the third Test as Savea did, but his 10th-minute exit was just as disappointing as the player of the second Test in Cape Town was primed to shine before a jaw fracture prematurely ended his involvement. Rugby is a wonderful sport when played properly, but it also comes with jarring sour taste consequences and to have stars such as Savea and Kolbe missing next weekend’s series finale in Baltimore is evidence of the damaging collisions involved. A mention, too, for Australia’s Carter Gordon, whose leg break in Argentina will see him sidelined for the next while. Rugby’s certainly a cruel sport in these circumstances.
All Blacks: Rennie’s side can still draw the series two-all if they win in America on Saturday, but not leaving South Africa with a lead will haunt them, especially as they went one-nil up with that super late flourish in Johannesburg on August 22. Everyone can see the delightful way they are trying to play, having Cam Roigard energetically run the show and look to get the ball to the edge as quickly as possible, but there will be questions now about their stomach for fighting in the trenches.
Yes, the All Blacks have left South African soil having outscored the hosts 13-8 on the aggregate try count, but their seven- and five-point losses in recent weeks, which saw the Boks successfully convert five penalty kicks to zero from the hosts, suggest they could be more pragmatic with parts of their game plan. Their unacceptably creaky scrum certainly needs a hurry-up, and while the lineout executed with greater zip in Soweto after the axing of Codie Taylor, it can’t be forgotten that their one stolen throw provided the possession for the Kurt-Lee Arendse try.
Thirty years on, Malcolm Marx’s fist-pump completes Springboks latest chapter of dominance
Baltimore: Rugby has always had a frustrating ability to get in the way of itself when it comes to making sense, and next weekend’s gimmick in the United States of America is another potentially dastardly example. Instead of everyone shaking on it in Soweto and being thankful that three brilliant Test matches on South African soil had produced a conclusive winner, we’re instead confronted by the prospect of New Zealand being able to draw the series even though it has now shifted to a location eight thousand miles away from where it enthralled fans these last three Saturdays.
It’s nuts that this latest match is considered the defining last leg of the Greatest Rivalry series, allowing the All Blacks the opportunity to make it two-all, instead of being treated as a one-off exhibition designed to get some American eyeballs on the sport five years out from the 2031 World Cup in that country. It suggests a desperation on World Rugby’s part that its gamble of backing the US could become a calamitous commercial failure. Regarding the here and now, though, in the same way that Sean Fitzpatrick’s All Blacks won the famed 1996 South African tour 2-1, Erasmus’ Springboks must be celebrated for their 2-1 result.
Argentina: Felipe Contepomi has recently been linked with taking over at Leinster following Leo Cullen’s impending departure after the conclusion of the 2026/27 season. You can understand why: the respected Argentine has played and coached at the province, and you would have to imagine he has the ability to work there a third time and become the head coach.
Leinster have mentioned they could wait until after next year’s World Cup before getting to work with Cullen’s successor, whoever that ultimately turns out to be, but right now Contepomi has a fight on his hands to get Los Pumas fully primed for that tournament. Last Saturday was another example of his fits-and-starts Test situation, the 28-all draw versus Australia generating more questions than answers about his team’s direction. He has a heck of a job on his hands to get things right there before any return to Leinster becomes a credible next step.
Bonus points: It was only last May when the silliness of the bonus point system in England was glaringly exposed. Pat Lam’s Bristol has just been obliterated, embarrassingly leaking 94 points in a record loss at Northampton, but the Bears boss was still able to arrive at the post-game media briefing accentuating the positive that his team had earned a point for scoring enough tries for a bonus.
It was daft that they were being rewarded despite a 14-to-five try count in a match they humiliatingly lost by 61 points, and this nonsense cropped up at the weekend in the opening round of the PREM Cup with Northampton the beneficiaries. Phil Dowson’s side were battered 96-42 at Saracens, yet they were awarded a bonus point for scoring six tries in reply to the hosts’ 14. What a joke. Badly beaten teams should be getting absolutely nothing in these situations.
Racing: Mention of hammerings, the Top 14’s opening round wasn’t immune from mismatches as reigning European champions Bordeaux blasted their Parisian visitors 64-5. The performance was certainly evidence that UBB are targeting getting back on track in a competition where they failed to reach the play-offs last June and, for English fans, it was interesting to see new arrival Tom Willis score two of his side’s 10 tries.
However, what will intrigue is the potential fall-out at Racing. Their previous match was last season’s semi-final, a fixture they damagingly lost 71-17 versus Toulouse in another 10 tries to two surrender. The off-season was supposed to have provided the space for a reset to recover from that elimination, but the Jacky Lorenzetti club are still in the thick of it, judging by what happened on day one of the new term.