Boks still chasing that 'perfect game'

As impressive as the last two games have been, the Springboks are nowhere nearer to their strongest lineup and still have a way to go before they get close to the “perfect game.”

Bok fans won’t be complaining too much about the way the Boks have been playing of late, with record breaking wins over the All Blacks and Argentina in their last two matches, and a real sense that their attacking game is coming together nicely.

But while they go into the Castle Lager Rugby Championship decider as firm favourites at Twickenham this weekend as Argentina host them in an unfamiliar home game, the Boks still have a lot of kinks to iron out and are hard at work to still chase that perfect 80 minutes.

While a lot of praise has been levelled at them, coach Rassie Erasmus continued to play down talk that the Boks are in some of their best form ever.

Erasmus was asked if he was going to give the mercurial Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and fellow flyhalf Manie Libbok even more freedom after their Durban exploits. Feinberg-Mngomezulu broke the all time Bok points scoring record with a 37-point haul and was exceptional on the night.

'THE PERFECT GAME'

But Erasmus believes that the team need to chase the goal of retaining their Rugby Championship title, and not by throwing the ball around with wild abandon.

“I think when we lost to Australia, when we were 22-0 up, people tended to think what it looked like and we understand that we are giving too much freedom,” said Erasmus.

“We tried to think that the defence complements the attack and the kicking game and all of the other things, set phases and so on. It's definitely not something that changed dramatically in the last three games. Since (attack coach) Tony (Brown) has been with us, we are all trying to find the balance.

“We are all chasing the perfect game and last Saturday wasn't the perfect game. If you remember, 60 minutes into the game, the game was actually in the balance but I think the way the set phases and the defence went, eventually guys could use the individual skills in the structure. We definitely don't box them in but different players have different skill sets.

“When Andre (Esterhuizen) is playing, we don't tell him exactly how to play the same way. When Grant (Williams) is playing or Sacha is playing, I don't think there is a shift in that in terms of our mindset. You generally change teams from game to game with bigger plans in mind.

The Springboks are ready to go five from five at the Home of Rugby 👏🇿🇦#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/jKqf6gaXiw

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 1, 2025

Erasmus was then asked if this was his strongest side, to which he replied in the negative.

“No, definitely not. We just have two days of training. We only arrived on Monday and we only did a team announcement last night. We have a training session today and tomorrow so this is definitely not our strongest team.”

That may be a scary thought for opposition coaches, and may leave South Africans wondering just what the strongest team may be, and just when they will hit that perfect 80?

Either way, it is an exciting discussion to have.