It’s been nearly a year since that special Springbok night under the Stade de France lights.
South Africa defeated the All Blacks 12-11 to become back-to-back World Champions, a feat their opponents had accomplished three World Cups before.
Since then, Rassie Erasmus’s men have shown no signs of slowing down, highlighted by their recent Rugby Championship triumph, in which they beat the All Blacks twice and thrashed Argentina (48-7) in the title decider.
Springboks the team to beat
It wasn’t long ago that the All Blacks were the most feared team in rugby, led by one of the game’s greats, Richie McCaw, alongside stars like Dan Carter, Sonny Bill Williams, and Sam Whitelock.
Now, it’s the Springboks who have raised the bar.
Retired All Black, Wyatt Crockett, who accumulated 70 international caps and won the 2015 World Cup, believes Erasmus is at the helm of one of the greatest rugby teams in modern rugby.
“It’s been a challenging start coming up against quality opposition, this Springboks’ team is one of the great teams of the modern era, I feel.
“They have won a couple of World Cups, they have a huge squad with massive depth in every position – their B team is not too far off their A team.
“So the All Blacks have been up against some really quality opposition, I’m interested to see the growth towards the end of the year and seeing the lessons that they have learned and their potential moving forward”, he told Ian Smith on SENZ Radio’s Mornings.
What next for the All Blacks?
It’s been unprecedented times for the All Blacks, who seemed to have a stronghold on rugby for decades. They’ve seen legends leave and coaches hired and fired, but now Crockett believes they’re in good hands with coach Scott Robertson.
“Razor is a really astute and totally focused coach – you won’t get anyone more focused than him – so no doubt there’ll be some massive lessons that they will put into place in the end-of-year tour and evolve over the next few years,” he added.
“It’s been a tough start but the key is the learnings that they get from it and how they adapt and grow.”
Do you think this is the best Springbok team ever?
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