Individually, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was the biggest winner among Rassie Erasmus’s Springboks, but the success of the national squad is never singular. It will always be the collective that takes gold with these Boks.
Erasmus, post the 2019 Rugby World Cup success, demanded consistency and a winning record closer to 90 than 70 percent. The Boks, historically, have averaged a 64 percent winning record.
That has never been good enough for Erasmus, who made the distinction between winning a World Cup and consistently being the best team in the world.
The Boks, said Erasmus on numerous occasions, have shown an ability to win World Cup titles, but were not quite as emphatic in winning consistently and setting the standards in between World Cups.
This has all changed in the past two seasons, with the Boks having lost just four times in 31 matches going back to their last Pool match win against Tonga at the 2023 World Cup in France.
In 2024 they won 11 of 13 Tests, which included winning the Castle Rugby Championship. In 2025 they delivered a masterclass in consistency and in silverware. They won 11 from 13 Tests, and defended the Rugby Championship title.
They won in Wellington, New Zealand, against the All Blacks, in Paris against France and in Dublin against Ireland.
Australia did the unimaginable at Ellis Park and scored 38 unanswered points to beat the Boks 38-22 for a first victory at the venue since 1963. It was a match that taught Erasmus and his coaches plenty about the evolution in their style of play, the cost of imbalance in all-out attack and the jeopardy in playing at such a scintillating pace that it does more damage to the big Bok forwards than it does to the opposition.
The lessons were learned and by the time the Boks had ended their season with a 73-0 win against Wales in Cardiff, Erasmus spoke of his pleasure about the growth of a squad who were comfortable in being the best team in the world and learning to deal with the expectation of being match favourites.
The defeat against the All Blacks in Eden Park, Auckland, was a history-making opportunity lost, a rarity for these Boks.
The lessons were learned and by the time the Boks had ended their season with a 73-0 win against Wales in Cardiff, Erasmus spoke of his pleasure about the growth of a squad who were comfortable in being the best team in the world and learning to deal with the expectation of being match favourites.
The Springboks, traditionally, have thrived on being written off, insulted or considered next best. Not these Boks.
Malcolm Marx was named World Rugby’s Player of the Year, with Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ox Nche among the final four nominations.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was ranked Rugby Pass’s No 1 player out of a 100. Rugby Pass is owned by World Rugby.
It was a season of Springbok records, individually and collectively.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored 37 points in the win against Argentina in Durban, beating Percy Montgomery’s 35 points.
The Boks beat the All Blacks 43-10 in Wellington and Wales 73-0 in Cardiff. There were record scores conceded by both opponents in their home stadiums.
The records and awards made for great reading and if there are records and awards, then there are usually victories and titles, but the biggest victory for Erasmus is the development of squad depth in every position.
Erasmus, post the 2023 Springboks’ World Cup success, insisted that for the Boks to win an unprecedented third successive World Cup title, he would need 45 players capable of starting a World Cup final, at least 3 per position.
He is very close to finalising the 45 and he had no hesitation making on average eight changes to the starting XV for most Tests and a match-day average of 12 in 23 every time the Boks played.
Significantly, only three of the starting XV against Wales in Cardiff started the 2023 World Cup final.
Erasmus did not hesitate to play newbies, to test different combinations and to do it in the biggest Test matches of the year.
He backed form and fresh legs in the back end of the Rugby Championship, and in the five November Tests, all of them won, the evolution of the squad, in who was starting and who was finishing, was no longer rugby’s big secret.
Individuals were praised, but always with the understanding that no No 10 could flourish without a quality set of forwards, that the lifter is as important to winning the lineout as the hooker throwing in the ball, and that any contestable kick is only as good as the effort of whoever is chasing the kick.
The Boks, having started 2025 as the No 1 ranked team in the world, finished the year as the No 1.
Job done.
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