Opinion: From unrated no-hopers to world-beaters

Jon Cardinelli

The growth of the Springboks over the past four years can be measured by the number of players in the 2021 Team of the Year conversation, writes Jon Cardinelli.

The current group of Boks has won a World Cup, a Rugby Championship and a series against the British & Irish Lions. It wasn’t too long ago, however, when South African rugby was in a dark and seemingly hopeless place.

Over the course of two horrific seasons in 2016 and 2017, the Boks sustained an inaugural loss to Italy, an historic away defeat in Argentina as well as record beatings at the hands of the All Blacks, Wales and Ireland. By the time Rassie Erasmus replaced Allister Coetzee as head coach in early 2018, the Boks had slumped to seventh place in the World Rugby rankings.

Fall of a global superpower

Critics lamented the fall of a global superpower. Many questioned the local structures and the quality of the local players. Former Bok coach Nick Mallett stated that no-one in the South African team deserved to be in the World XV conversation.

It was an interesting time to tour with the Boks as a South African journalist. In various interviews, overseas coaches, players, journalists and fans made it clear that the Boks had lost their fearsome aura, and that the two-time world champions were in danger of becoming largely irrelevant.

I remember one particular incident that followed the team announcement press conference in Cardiff ahead of the final Test of the 2017 season. One British reporter pulled me aside, and then asked me to identify the individuals who had been selected to face Wales.

“Not exactly a team packed with names like Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield,” he said. “Who are these guys?”

That South Africa team went on to lose 24-22 to a depleted Wales side. Six of those 23 players have not played for the Boks since.

When Erasmus took over in 2018, he was adamant that the situation could be salvaged and that the Boks could win the World Cup.

When I got the chance to interview the new Bok coach, I asked whether he believed that South Africa had the players to turn things around in such a short space of time. He answered in the affirmative, before explaining that he would cast the net wide in the club game at home and abroad.

Fast forward to the present. The players who were unrated or unknown in 2017 are global superstars in 2021. Thanks to the revolution initiated by Erasmus, many of those same players have realised their true potential, while several more have earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as the game’s elite.

Lukhanyo Am came off the bench in Cardiff four years ago to make his international debut. By the end of the 2021 season, Am had established himself as the standout number 13 in world rugby.

Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth – who served as vice-captain and captain respectively under Coetzee – have undergone a transformation while playing for Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber. As 2021 draws to a close, many have singled out Kolisi as the game’s standout openside flank and Etzebeth as the best number four lock following a series of influential performances across an important season for South Africa.

Others in the World XV conversation, or among the respective writers and publications’ top players, include Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff, Trevor Nyakane, Lood de Jager and Handré Pollard. All of these players featured in the Cardiff clanger four years ago. The rugby world certainly views them in a different light today.

It’s also worth mentioning that two of South Africa’s best players played very little Test rugby in 2021.

Flank Pieter-Steph du Toit, the 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year, was injured in the second Test against the Lions and forced to miss the bulk of the season. Wing Cheslin Kolbe, arguably the world’s best player in a Covid-hit 2020 campaign, broke down with his own season-ending injury during the 2021 Rugby Championship. Both of these special players would have been in the World XV conversation if not for these setbacks.

Nearly four years ago, Erasmus alluded to this ongoing conversation in the rugby community. The most respected players and teams are discussed at length. Those that are perceived to be less relevant – such as the Bok class of 2017 – are neither celebrated or criticised to the same extent.

Erasmus feared that the situation would deteriorate in 2018 unless the Boks made a statement. Four years and a host of major trophies later, and the South African players have done exactly that.

Whether certain Bok players deserve to be ranked higher or lower on the various lists, and whether the team itself deserves its official number one ranking, will be debated at length. The irrefutable fact, of course, is that these players have improved to the point where they are now recognised and celebrated as some of the best in the world.