Against all odds: Seven of the best comeback stories in the Springbok team

Everyone has a story.

And in the World Cup-winning Springbok team there are many. Every coach and player in the squad has a story; all different, and none bigger than another.

But right now there are some stories of overcoming adversity and making a comeback that truly stir the emotions.

We take a look at the seven best heart-warming comeback stories from the World Cup winning Springbok squad.

Siya Kolisi

The Bok skipper hurt his knee in April while playing for the Sharks in a URC game in Durban. He required surgery to fix the torn ligaments, putting his World Cup, starting in September, in doubt.

Kolisi didn’t play a game until a World Cup warm-up match against Wales in late August, three weeks before the start of the tournament. His recovery from such an injury, which can take nine months to heal, can only be described as a miracle.

Jean Kleyn

The big lock left the Stormers several years ago to play in Ireland where he eventually qualified for the national team and he went on to play for his adopted country at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought he’d play for the Springboks, but a change in eligibility rules saw him picked by the Boks earlier this year and he’d go on to earn a winners’ medal, after playing in the final against the All Blacks.

RG Snyman

A World Cup winner with the Boks in 2019, Snyman suffered two horrific knee ligament injuries in succession in 2020 and 2021 and also suffered bad burns in a fire pit incident in 2021, keeping him out of rugby for almost three years, and only returning for his Irish team Munster and the Boks earlier this year.

But the “Viking” fortunately stayed fit and strong enough to be included in the Boks’ World Cup squad to feature in France … and the rest is history.

Pieter-Steph du Toit

The player of the final in Paris on Saturday, thanks in the main to his staggering 28 tackles made against the All Blacks, and world player of the year in 2019, suffered such bad complications from an injury in 2020 he also lost his leg, and maybe his life.

It took months for Du Toit to fully recover, after a second operation, but he did return to action in 2021 and featured prominently for the Boks in France where he became a two-time World Cup winner.

Deon Fourie

The now 37-year-old played for years at the Stormers as a hooker and was never considered Bok material. He left the Cape for France, to play in their second division, where he converted to a flanker, and then returned to the Stormers in 2021.

He played so well he was called up by the Boks at age 35. He then snuck into the 33-man World Cup squad as a utility forward and ‘third-choice’ hooker, and ended up playing 77 minutes in the middle of the front row in the final. Amazing.

Duane Vermeulen

The 37-year-old just about gave up the game after the victory in Japan in 2019, but was persuaded to continue, though he joined Ulster in Ireland. He missed the 2021 series against the British and Irish Lions because of injury and also struggled with his form in 2022, putting his place in the Bok team in doubt.

He didn’t tour with the Boks in November last year, but he returned in 2023 invigorated and a new man and started both the semifinal and final in France.

Handre Pollard

He scored 22 points with the boot in the 2019 final in Japan and then suffered injury after injury and only played for the Boks on occasion in the last few years. And then he was not picked for the World Cup squad to go to France because of a persistent injury problem — a major blow.

But a tournament ending injury suffered by Malcolm Marx in the second week in France opened the door for Pollard to be recalled. And he ended up starting the final and ending the tournament with a goal-kicking record of 13 out of 13.