Springbok fullback Aphelele Fassi has enjoyed a superb international season and should be in line to tour the UK on the end-of-year-tour in November. Picture: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
The Springboks need to keep their foot on the gas and continue the momentum built up over an almost perfect international season so far, as they look ahead to the November internationals which will close out their 2024 campaign.
The Boks will head to the UK in November where they will take on Scotland, England and Wales, and considering how they have performed so far, they should be eyeing a clean sweep in those games.
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Two moments, a Ciaran Frawley drop goal after the fulltime hooter for Ireland in Durban in July, and a missed Manie Libbok 78th minute penalty from almost in front in Santiago just over a week ago, were the difference in the Boks having an unblemished season.
Both those moments contributed to one-point defeats, with the national side winning all eight of their other games this year.
Only one of their wins could be considered close, the 31-27 result against the All Blacks at Ellis Park, when they had to fight back from 27-17 down in the final 12 minutes.
Although they had to come back from a 9-3 halftime deficit in their 18-12 win a week later in Cape Town, that was a game in which they never looked to be out of control, while they also looked strong in their 27-20 win over Ireland at Loftus in July.
All their other games were lopsided hammerings as they drilled Wales, Portugal, Australia (twice) and Argentina.
The most impressive thing about how they’ve gone about their season is that they have been changing their game and rotating their squad regularly as they look towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
In their 10 games the Boks have used 49 players, while they used 35 over their successful Rugby Championship campaign.
It will thus be interesting to see what kind of squad they take over to the UK, as they will not be able to take as many players as they’ve had available thus far.
Some players who haven’t played for the Boks yet this year, such as Damian Willemse, who just returned from injury for the Stormers, and Steven Kitshoff, who is battling a neck injury, should make it if they are fit.
Other injured players who could be back in the mix include RG Snyman, Franco Mostert, Jean Kleyn and Faf de Klerk, while Canan Moodie has been underutilised since his return.
With the rise of Aphelele Fassi, will a guy like Willie le Roux be needed? And Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will be a shoe in, which begs the question will Manie Libbok be picked, as Willemse’s versatility would negate the need for a third flyhalf.
Wing Edwill van der Merwe had a stunning debut against Wales and then got injured. Will he be in line for selection? And up-and-coming centre Henco van Wyk has yet to make his debut, but is obviously admired by Bok coach Rassie Erasmus as he has mentioned him frequently.
In all, there are a number of other tough selection decisions that will have to be made, and it is an envious position for the Bok management to be in.
In terms of their recent more expressive playing style, Erasmus admitted after the win over Argentina that they may look to reign it in during the November internationals, and not be as attacking and open as they have been so far.
“We’ll pull back a little bit. That’s something we’ve done in the Rugby World Cup finals and British and Irish Lions games. We’re a team who can pull it back and go back to a more traditional style, but we’re getting there with the exciting brand too,” said Erasmus.
It is thus set to be an interesting end to the 2024 season for the Boks, and there will be plenty of expectation placed on them heading into those games.
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