These are the weeks when you know the Springboks are world champions and South African rugby is at an all-time high. These are the weeks made for the world’s best. These are the weeks, as in this week, when you just feel good about rugby in South Africa.
No, the Springboks have not started their international season of 15 Tests and one exhibition match against the famed Barbarians.
And no, South Africa have not been crowned champions of the north and south in any club competition in the past week.
What has made this past week so enjoyable is the confirmation of FNB as the front jersey sponsor of the national teams, with back-to-back world champion Springboks the window to the world. Pick n Pay, another of the iconic South African brands, is on the back of the jersey and Betway and Coca-Cola will make up the playing strip.
MTN, so magnificent as the primary sponsor for the Springboks in the past eight years, have ended their jersey sponsorship, if not their involvement in rugby. They will continue to make a difference in rugby and extend to embrace other sports in the country.
The sponsorships have financially increased 10-fold in the past eight years, such has been the pulling power of a transformed World Cup-winning Springboks and an administration that is getting so much right.
Castle Lager is settled as the Rugby Championship and incoming tours sponsor and SAB, by way of their many brands, will be strong and active in South African rugby.
The sponsorships have financially increased 10-fold in the past eight years, such has been the pulling power of a transformed World Cup-winning Springboks and an administration that is getting so much right.
Nationally, the game is purring and to add to the feel-good factor this week, the EPCR bosses Dominic McKay (chair) and Jacques Raynaud (CEO) were in Cape Town.
I was fortunate, along with my podcast partner Zelim Nel, to get an hour conversational interview for the Keo & Zels rugby podcast with McKay and Raynaud, and their love for South African rugby, for South Africa and for the country's addition to the biggest competitions in Europe, was as poetic as it was electric.
South Africa is loved up north. South African rugby has been welcomed with enthusiasm and anticipation and the hype has been matched on the field, off the field, by way of broadcast viewership and a digital footprint that has increased beyond 20% from within South Africa.
The Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup are preparing for next weekend’s round of 16 and three of the four South African URC clubs will play in the Challenge Cup.
The Stormers were eliminated in the Champions Cup pool stages and the Cheetahs, who were based in Amsterdam for their home games, did not make it to the play-offs of the Challenge Cup.
The achievements of the South African teams in the past three seasons in competitions, with the most prestigious 30-year history, were lauded by McKay and Raynaud, who heaped praise on the Sharks for winning the Challenge Cup in just their second attempt.
South Africa is there to stay, is the message, and South Africa as a finals double header destination is also on the cards as the competition leadership looks to extend the reach beyond Europe and rugby’s four home unions of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
There is awe for the passion of the game in South Africa and there is joyous envy for the support the game gets in South Africa, at national and club level.
The Bulls and Sharks are currently third and fourth in the URC with 13 of the 18 league rounds played. Both are at home this weekend, the Bulls to the improving Italian outfit Zebre and the Sharks to league leaders Leinster.
The latter are without a run on XV of Irish internationals but they still can field a match 23 stronger than most in the league.
Two South African home wins would entrench the Bulls and Sharks in the top four and a home quarterfinal.
The Stormers, in Belfast on Friday night, and the Lions, in Glasgow on Saturday night, are among the congested pack of 11 teams fighting for the remaining four play-off spots.
The awe, from up north, is in what South Africa has achieved in the first three years of the URC, hosting all three finals and winning one of them when the Stormers beat the Bulls in the inaugural final in Cape Town.
Add to that the Challenge Cup title win for the Sharks and the message from up north is to be proud and to stand tall if you are South African.
This week, more than many, it has been no effort to puff out the chest, smile and with a mixture of humility and euphoria, boast about South African rugby, off the field as much as on it.
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