South African rugby has never been healthier than it is right now, and it has never had such a global on-field presence as right now. It all speaks to the stars being aligned for the Springboks to win a record fourth World Cup title in France later this year.
In the past few days, wherever you look, the headlines are of South African players — and for all the right reasons.
Leicester-based Jasper Wiese was named England’s Premiership Players’ Player of the Year at the Rugby Players Association (RPA) awards. It is the most prestigious award for any player because it is the one that is voted for by all the players in the league. It is acknowledgment from the opposition as much as it is a compliment from Wiese’s teammates.
Wiese’s Leicester were beaten in the semifinals of the Premiership last weekend, but his individual reward reinforces the consistency and impact he has made as a player in the league this season. He played 14 league matches and totalled 130 tackles, 11 offloads and 218 carries, but beyond his statistics was his ownership of any gainline collision. He invariably crashed through the first tackler and seldom was cut down by the second tackler. When Wiese carried, he left a trail of five-plus tacklers. His power in the tackle has been Jonah Lomu-like.
Veteran Duane Vermeulen showed he won’t go easily into the night with a standout season at No.8 for Ulster, but on current form it must be Wiese who starts in the No.8 jersey, alternatively as the closed-side flank option. There will be rotation, given it is World Cup year, but why keep Wiese for the finish when you can get 60-plus minutes of carnage out of him starting?
Wiese isn’t the only South African doing wonders in the Premiership. Sale’s Sharks have for the past few years leanted heavily on the South African influence and on occasion there have been as many as 10 South Africans in the match 23.
Wiese isn’t the only South African doing wonders in the Premiership. Sale’s Sharks have for the past few years leant heavily on the South African influence and on occasion there have been as many as 10 South Africans in the match 23. The Du Preez brothers, Robert, Dan and Jean-Luc have been among the best for Sale. All three would make most international teams, but not one of the three is expected to be in the World Cup squad, such is the quality of players available to Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber.
South African players are sought after in France, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and especially Japan. It is the work ethic, aligned to the playing skills and raw power of our South African players that is such a seduction to overseas club owners, and when watching a final, be it the Heineken Cup, Europe’s Challenge Cup, France’s Top 14, England’s Premiership and Japan’s League One, know there will be South African players excelling.
Many of them are in the current Springboks set-up, but some of the biggest performances overseas have come from players not yet capped internationally or capped but not regulars in the Rassie Erasmus/Nienaber era that started in 2018.
South African coaches are also thriving overseas. Franco Smith has transformed Glasgow Warriors and Frans Ludeke has guided Spears Kubota to this weekend’s Japan League One final against defending champions, the Panasonic Wild Knights. Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx was one of five South African players in the match 23, while World Cup winners Lood de Jager and Damian de Allende starred for the Wild Knights.
The domestic game in South Africa is booming and the Stormers are at the forefront of the revival, evidenced by next weekend’s Vodacom URC Grand Final being sold out in less than three hours. The Stormers got a record 44,000 to pay to watch them play against the Bulls at the DHL Stadium in the quarterfinal, broke the record a week later with 47,000 for the semifinal against Connacht and will again break the record with a crowd in excess of 50,000.
Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok won the fans vote for the URC player of the season — a vote that included fans from Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and South Africa.
At a time when there is so much darkness in South Africa, given the load-shedding schedule, it is rugby and South African rugby players that have brought the light to our weekends and our mood on a Monday.
