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CHAMPIONSHIP WRAP: No question Boks were the best team

rugby06 October 2025 06:00
By:Gavin Rich
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Cheslin Kolbe @ Getty Images

South Africa’s final game in their back-to-back Castle Lager Rugby Championship triumph was a microcosm of their campaign - their biggest opponent proved to be themselves, and it meant that their dominance wasn’t reflected in the scoreline.

A two-point winning margin over Argentina at Twickenham will suggest to people who look back when the current events are consigned to history, that it was a narrow squeak for Siya Kolisi and his team. It wasn’t. Once they got the bit between their teeth shortly before halftime, it was clear there was only going to be one winner.

When the Boks scored 26 unanswered points from the 37th minute to the 58th, it was effectively a repeat of what happened to New Zealand in Wellington and Los Pumas in Durban in the second half. There was just one team on the field, and the game and the Championship were effectively wrapped up in those minutes.

GAME MANAGEMENT CAN IMPROVE

But if there is one major learning for the Boks to take from their winning campaign that should weigh more heavily than all the others, it is around game management. The Boks didn’t need to play as if they were chasing the game once they went 16 points up, and it was the seven-point gift presented to them when the Boks tried to run from their own half in a manner that might not have looked out of place in a touch rugby game on the beach that gave the Pumas some much-needed breathing space.

With that intercept try from Cheslin Kolbe’s loose pass happening shortly before the scheduled departure from the field of by far the most influential Bok player on the day, Malcolm Marx, the Bok finish to the game was more nervous than it needed to be. They lost discipline a bit in that period. And yet they still had it under control, and the try that reduced it to a two-point end margin came when the game had effectively been won.

The Rugby Championship log reflects a similar distortion of reality. In the end, the Boks and New Zealand ended on the same number of log points. It was the South African team’s superior points differential that separated them, and in some media forums, the headline asked the question: “The Boks won the TRC but were they the best team?” That wasn’t a question that needed to have been asked.

WIN MARGINS REFLECTED BOK DOMINANCE

The Boks were the most dominant team, and by some distance, with their 33-point and 37-point winning margins in Wellington and Durban reflecting the standard they have set. Had Kolbe’s pass gone to hand and not been intercepted by Bautista Delguy, it probably would have been a 30-point or more margin at Twickenham too.

That there was the appearance that there wasn’t much separating the teams, given by the final log, was really down to the Boks’ fatal loss of concentration, or maybe it would be better to call it the over-confidence they were seduced into, at the end of a dominant first quarter against Australia in Johannesburg at the start of the competition.

That first 20 minutes, when the Boks went up 22-0 and everything they touched turned to gold, showed the standard that they can operate at - but then they overplayed and, with balance lacking in their all-round game, they ran themselves off their own feet and paid the price. The difference between that game and the most recent one in London was that the poor pass that Wallaby centre Joseph Sua’ali'i intercepted in Johannesburg was fatal for the Boks whereas Kolbe’s more recent blip wasn’t.

Wallaby coach Joe Schmidt clearly did not forget that opening 20 minutes, when he said his team “couldn’t breathe”, and he wasn’t referring to the effects of altitude there, for he referenced it when asked a week later, after the Boks won in Cape Town, if there had been an improvement in the home team’s play.

Clearly he didn’t really think so, even though the result at DHL Stadium was different. He said the first quarter at Ellis Park was the best window of rugby he’s ever seen from the Boks. If we were to ask him now, he might also throw in the second half in Wellington and in Durban. Or even that dominant third quarter in London.

WE STILL HAVEN'T SEEN 80-MINUTE PERFORMANCE

You will note that these are all just portions of games that are being referenced, which is what is ominous for future opponents - it means the Boks still have to produce an 80-minute performance. In the last four games, their execution has been off in the first half every time, and then they’ve hit the straps after halftime. What will happen when they are good from the start and sustain that?

It is something France and Ireland, the two big opponents on the end-of-year tour, might be contemplating as they look forward to what could be seismic clashes in Paris and Dublin. That is the next step for the Boks, who have proved themselves to be the dominant southern hemisphere nation despite the fact that they are still growing and the fact that their high-risk, high-reward approach will still mean the odd hit, like the momentum shift that was sparked by Argentina’s intercept try.

GAME GROWTH MATCHED BY INDIVIDUAL GROWTH

The Boks have grown their game immeasurably over the past two months, and their growth as a team has been matched by individual growth. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s dazzling record-breaking performance in Durban was the biggest statement, but over the past few weeks, other relative newcomers like Canan Moodie, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Ethan Hooker have announced themselves as potential match-winners, while Ruan Nortje, Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok and others have cemented their reputations.

That is not to mention the old stagers who have produced when necessary, as Damian de Allende did big time this past weekend, while Marx and the ever-green Pieter-Steph du Toit would compete with each other for my Man of the Championship award if there was one. Wilco Louw smashed the opposition at every first scrum after coming onto the field, but Thomas du Toit has also picked up momentum.

Eben Etzebeth remains Eben Etzebeth, skipper Kolisi has shown good form once reunited with the No. 6, and Handre Pollard was the match-winner in the Cape Town game against the Wallabies.

So what could go wrong? Well, France are probably the one nation that can challenge the depth of South Africa, so they will be a big challenge, but the biggest obstacle to the Boks is themselves. In the past two games, they gifted at least 21 points to the opposition. It’s part of the growing process, but when they stop doing that, it is hard to see anyone beating them.

Final round Castle Lager Rugby Championship results

Australia 14 New Zealand 28

Argentina 27 South Africa 29

 

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