Springboks’ World Cup triumph among greatest ever sporting feats?

Has there ever been a better performance at a major world sporting event than the Springboks triumphing in France to become the first ever four-time winners of the Rugby World Cup?

It is an amazing achievement, showing incredible grit, determination, fight and the belief to never give up, after the Boks clinched a third consecutive one point win, this time over their fiercest rivals, the All Blacks, to lift back to back Webb Ellis cups.

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When the current Bok management team, featuring SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and coach Jacques Nienaber arrived on the scene to head up the national team in 2018, the Boks were in a shambles after two disastrous years under former coach Allister Coetzee.

They immediately set a long term target of winning the 2023 World Cup in France, but stunned many by winning the title in Japan just over a year after taking over the coaching hot seat.

That changed the entire dynamic of the Boks heading into the just concluded World Cup in France, as they were not coming in as a side desperate to reclaim former glory, but as a marked team as the defending champions.

The Boks then had to battle through various difficulties over a ridiculously tough campaign to emerge victorious once again.

What could have been an early hammer blow to their campaign came as early as the second week of the tournament when arguably the world’s best hooker Malcolm Marx suffered a serious knee injury and was ruled out of the rest of the competition.

Handre Pollard

However, that allowed the Boks to bring in Handre Pollard, who was not originally selected due to injury, and he proved to be a match winning addition as he nailed all of his shots at goal over the rest of the competition, including four penalties for the Boks’ only points in the final.

An injury to Makazole Mapimpi, although not a starter, against Tonga, then saw the Boks bring in Lukhanyo Am, who didn’t play a minute, and they were lucky that not calling in a specialist hooker didn’t come back to bite them.

The Boks took a risk backing utility forward Deon Fourie as the back-up to Bongi Mbonambi, with loose forward Marco van Staden available in an emergency, but luckily was not needed as Mbonambi went off injured early in the final and Fourie deputised well enough.

World’s top teams

To win the World Cup, the Boks incredibly had to face every team in the top six of world rugby, with their only loss coming against third ranked Ireland (13-8) in the pool stage, a game they could have easily won if they didn’t miss their shots at goal.

They, however, beat sixth ranked Scotland 18-3 in the pool phase, fifth ranked England 16-15 in the semifinal, fourth ranked hosts France 29-28 in the quarterfinals and the second ranked All Blacks 12-11 in the final to complete a remarkable showing on the biggest stage.

The performance by the Boks, in beating who they did, and the fashion in which they did it, must stand among some of the very great sporting triumphs of all-time.