South Africa fought tooth and nail for their fairy-tale ending in the Rugby World Cup final against arch-rivals New Zealand on Saturday. Despite a late rally by the All Blacks, the Springboks held on to claim a 12-11 win, and ultimately a second successive World Cup title.
Come what may over the next few years, Siya Kolisi’s charges will be remembered as the greatest Bok side in history — and together with the All Blacks team of 2015, one of the most decorated Test teams.
Since Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber took the coaching reins in 2018, the team has won two World Cups, a series against the British & Irish Lions, and a Rugby Championship trophy.
They are the first South African group to win back-to-back world titles. After the triumphs in 1995, 2007, 2019, and in the wake of the victory in Paris on Saturday night, South Africa has lifted the Webb Ellis Cup a record four times.
Of course, these players and coaches will be remembered for more than just their results. It’s been a watershed period for South African rugby, as Erasmus and Nienaber have backed Kolisi, a black African captain, and a largely transformed team to chase major titles and trophies over the past six years.
Thanks to their success at Stade de France on Saturday, they will finish 2023 at the top of the World Rugby rankings, and it’s fair to say they have shown what can be achieved when South Africans from different races and cultures work together to achieve a common goal.
Closer analysis reveals that their World Cup campaign in France was their toughest yet. Ireland and France went into the tournament as joint favourites. Most predicted that two northern hemisphere giants would contest the final.
The European teams dominated the early stages, with France beating New Zealand and Ireland edging South Africa in the biggest clashes of the pool games. But in the playoffs, the All Blacks and the Boks played smarter rugby, and ensured that the biggest prize in the sport remained in the southern hemisphere for a further four years. The last — and only — time a northern side lifted the title was England in 2003.
South Africa’s strength in depth played a key role in their success over the course of the playoffs. The smart management of the starting XV and the much-vaunted “bomb squad” allowed them to grind out three impressive victories in succession.
Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have backed Siya Kolisi, a black African captain, and a largely transformed team to chase major titles and trophies over the past six years
While the opposition worked hard to neutralise South Africa’s traditional strengths at the scrums and line-outs, the Boks produced several telling displays in those areas. Replacement prop Ox Nche won a series of scrum penalties to alter the course of the quarterfinal, and was at the heart of the set-piece that earned the Boks a late shot at goal in the semis.
Despite losing Malcolm Marx to injury early on, the Boks survived the remaining six matches with one specialist hooker in Bongi Mbonambi and two utility options in Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden. The coaches made the brave decision to recall first-choice flyhalf and goal-kicker Handré Pollard, who had missed out on World Cup selection because of an injury, rather than replacing Marx with another front-row player.
England flanker Tom Curry accused Mbonambi of a racial slur in the semifinal, but the hooker was later cleared by World Rugby and made available for the decider against New Zealand. But Mbonambi left the field in the second minute of the final, after being injured in a reckless tackle by All Blacks flanker Shannon Frizell. Fourie, who starts regularly at flank for the Stormers, was asked to play most of the final in the front row. Though he struggled to find his jumpers with throw-ins at the line-out, especially in the rain, he held his own in the scrums.
Overall, the decision to recall Pollard paid off. He booted a late penalty to beat France in the quarterfinals. He was deployed from the bench once more against England, and nailed a long-range penalty to give South Africa victory by the narrowest of margins.
With rain forecast for the final, Pollard was preferred to Manie Libbok at No 10. Faf de Klerk was also reinstated as the starting scrumhalf because the coaches opted for a more experienced halfback pairing in what promised to be a tactical kicking battle with the Kiwis. The biggest surprise was the makeup of the bench, with the coaches favouring seven forwards and just one back.
Despite the Boks’ 35-7 win over the All Blacks in a World Cup warm-up at Twickenham in August, they went into the final in Paris as underdogs. The All Blacks’ momentum was severely stalled, however, after they lost Frizell to a yellow card (for the tackle on Mbonambi) and then captain Sam Cane to a red.
Somehow the All Blacks found a way back into the contest, and they may have taken the lead if not for a few wayward goal kicks. The Bok coaches emptied the bench in an attempt to lift the intensity, and it was the South Africans who showed more physicality and composure at the death.
The Boks made almost a thousand tackles over the course of the tournament. More than 200 were made in the final, with flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit contributing 28. The Boks set the standard in this area for much of the tournament, and the adage of defence winning World Cups still holds true.
The Boks have developed their game over the past two seasons, and showed more attacking intent in the pool phase of the World Cup. When the playoffs arrived, they reverted to a brand more suited to the nature of those contests.
Unsurprisingly, the coaches backed experienced combinations for those fixtures, with 14 of the 23 players who won the 2019 final in Yokohama redeployed in the 2023 decider. The team that beat the All Blacks in Paris boasted 987 caps — more than any other Bok side in history.
Nienaber, Kolisi, veteran Duane Vermeulen and a few others are set to move on. A large contingent of players, however, will push on to 2024 — and will be available when the team heads to Australia in 2027 to defend their title.
World Rugby recently confirmed that the next global tournament will feature 24 teams as well as a new playoff structure — with a round of 16 preceding the quarterfinals. The top two sides from each pool will advance to the playoffs, as will four of the next best-placed teams.
The 2023 tournament was criticised after the draw — held three years earlier — resulted in three of the world’s top five teams ending up in the same pool (Ireland, Scotland and South Africa) and Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and France all meeting at the quarterfinals stage. In an attempt to avoid such scenarios in 2027, World Rugby will hold the draw in early 2026.
For now, though, South Africans should celebrate what the team has achieved over a period of six years, and the never-say-die performances in France over the course of the seven-week tournament.
BEST FORWARD
Eben Etzebeth was hugely influential in the quarterfinal against France, and one of South Africa’s best in the decider against New Zealand. He won more lineouts than any other Bok player at the tournament (13), and contributed 52 tackles.
BEST BACK
Handré Pollard came off the bench to slot match-winning penalties against France and England, and kicked four penalties in the final against New Zealand. The flyhalf finished the campaign as the Boks’ top point scorer (33), and with a perfect kicking record of 13 consecutive goals.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
In the wake of the semifinal, where hooker Bongi Mbonambi was accused of racially abusing England flanker Tom Curry. World Rugby eventually cleared Mbonambi of wrongdoing, but the accusations and media reactions could not have helped the Boks as they prepared for the final against New Zealand.
BEST TRY
Winger Kurt-Lee Arendse latched onto a cross-kick by flyhalf Manie Libbok in the first pool match against Scotland in Marseille. Libbok confounded the Scotland defence when he looked to the left, yet kicked right to Arendse racing up on the wing.
— Best of the best
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