Bok stats stand out in Rugby Champs

The Springboks may have been exceptional in their last two Castle Lager Rugby Championship matches, and it is easy to see why.

The blend of forwards and backs clicking has been unstoppable, and they’ve racked up a record win in Wellington, handing the All Blacks their worst defeat at home in history and then followed it up with a demolition job in Durban that saw young Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu break the all time Springbok points scorer record.

But those stats are well known and the Boks' dominance is clear to see in the last two games, giving them a more than even chance of winning in London this weekend against Argentina and defending their Rugby Championship title.

The more impressive stats were released by Sanzaar this week, for the entire Rugby Championship and paint an incredible picture - something that is seldom seen in Springbok rugby over the years.

TONY BROWN’S INFLUENCE

Tony Brown’s influence on the side’s attack is clear and when the Bok assistant coach said a few weeks back he was doing more work with the forwards than the backs, it was clear to see why.

The forwards handling has been exceptional of late and the perfect example was Morne van den Berg’s try in the second half on Saturday where several forward offloads simply stretched the Pumas too far and made for what looked like an easy try.

What wasn’t easy was the deft offloading that led to the try, many of these by tight forwards and it was an impressive try because we haven’t often seen Bok forwards use anything other than their power.

For instance, the official Optastats used by Sanzaar says that this season, the Springboks have made 9.2 offloads per game in the 2025 edition of the Championship - that’s at least two more per game than any other team in the competition.

PSDT OFFLOAD KING

Pieter-Steph du Toit underlined why his form as two time winner of World Rugby’s Player of the year is no fluke - as he has made 7 offloads - the most of any player in the competition. Du Toit is also the only player to have made multiple try assists by offload - he has made two.

But those aren’t the only interesting Bok stats. South Africa has made the most metres of any team in the competition - 481m - and conceded the fewest metres (302m) in a single game. They are - along with Argentina - the only two sides in the championship who have gained more metres than they have conceded. The Boks are a staggering +897 metres while Argentina are +8m.

Finally, Cheslin Kolbe has now scored three tries and made five linebreaks across his last two tests and has also scored in the last two games against Argentina. In the last two games he has made five linebreaks and eight tackle breaks, a truly remarkable stat.

Whatever happens on Saturday, the last two tests have been an exceptional affirmation of the attacking strategy of the Boks and their offload game. Bok fans will be hoping it continues.