It’s been quite an up-and-down year in the International Rugby scene. We’ve seen some shocking results and we’ve seen an evolution in the style of rugby played under Jacques Nienaber at the Springboks.
Nienaber and his team of coaches received flak from journalists, pundits, and fans alike for their boring kicking-dominated game plan in 2021. It was the style of play that won them the 2019 RWC – but to be fair, covid didn’t allow for any adjustments in their game plan.
The entire 2020 season was lost, and when things picked back up again, the Boks had the 2018 and 19 game plan skeletons already tried and tested. Now, with a proper 2021 season under their belt, they had some sort of base to work from in the new year.
This year, the Springboks were much more confident at throwing the ball around and running the ball from all ends of the park. Ahead of the first Wales Test in early June, Nienaber spoke about the team’s goals and objectives.
The two main objectives, style of play and gaining experience can be considered a pass.
We’ve seen a few fresh faces in the Bok team this year, and the youngsters made full use of the opportunity.
Kurt-Lee Arendse stands out among the pack as the stand out player of 2022. However, Jacques Nienaber and his team will need to work out how they’re going to balance Kurt-Lee and Cheslin Kolbe.
When it comes to our National Rugby team, losing is never an option, and should never been celebrated, but you are naive if you think that you will never lose. It’s sport – a professional sport, and the margin for error is growing smaller and smaller as we look toward the World Cup.
So, with our crown being on the line, should we be concerned with a 61,5% Win record Jacques Nienaber described the RWC 2023 as a knockout from the get-go. He believes we’re in the so-called group of death.
I do feel that, with the glimpses we’ve seen from the Boks in 2022, they have what it takes to go all the way again.
Here’s the thing – in 2018 – the year Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber took over the reins of the Springboks, the Springboks win record was 50%. And from that awful win percentage, that Springbok squad could go on to lift the William Web Ellis trophy.
It’s true, one learns more from failure than from success, and what we’ve seen from the Boks this year has been an evolution from what was criticized as a boring, one-dimensional kicking game.
They have been playing brave rugby, running it from all ends of the park. It’s a sign of a team who is confident in its game plan, it’s team mates and team objectives. The question remains, will we win the Rugby World Cup next year? No one can say that for sure, but we may come close.
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