Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

How Springboks’ World Cup success has raised the bar for Blitzboks

Players of South Africa lift the trophy after their teams victory during day 2 of HSBC Dubai Sevens at Sevens Stadium on December 3, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

When Springboks captain Siya Kolisi lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in triumph for the second time at as many Rugby World Cups, rugby-mad South Africa rejoiced as one.

ADVERTISEMENT

For a country with a history of division, disruption and discrimination,  the Springboks’ success at rugby’s showpiece event has become a vessel for unity within the Rainbow Nation.

President Nelson Mandela famously presented captain Francois Pienaar with the World Cup trophy at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park in 1995 – it might be the most iconic moment in rugby’s esteemed history.

Video Spacer

Rugbypass TV

Video Spacer

Rugbypass TV

Watch rugby on demand, from exclusive shows and documentaries to extended highlights from RWC 2023. Anywhere. Anytime. All for free!

Join us

Springboks fans had to wait a while for another World Cup title, but captain John Smit and the rest of the 2007 champion squad can rightfully take their place among the legends of rugby union.

But there’s something unique about the current crop of world champions. South Africa became the second nation to go back-to-back when captain Kolisi led the Springboks to World Cup glory in October.

Fans fortunate enough to be at Stade de France on that fateful Parisian night witnessed history, but the magnitude of the achievement became apparent when the Springboks returned home.

Thousands mobbed the streets in various cities around the nation as they joined in on the World Cup celebrations along with their rugby heroes. The Springboks are more than just rugby players.

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

The Springboks’ transformative success has raised the bar for other athletes who aim to represent the nation on the rugby field with honour, pride and humility – and they know it.

After helping the Blitzboks win the Dubai SVNS for the eighth time in 10 tournaments, Sevens great Rosko Specman explained how the Springboks’ success is motivating the team on the new-look SVNS Series.

“It is very special. It’s a great turnaround for the guys because last season we weren’t on par, there were a lot of youngsters and you could see the youngsters have improved,” Rosko told RugbyPass on the field at Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium.

“The guys are sticking to the system now and they work for each other, as you saw today, when the guys break the line the guys are chasing. They’re working for one and not as individuals.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It’s something happening now in the team.

“As you saw this year, the Springboks won the World Cup back-to-back and that is the drive that we have now. We also want to be number one in the world again.”

With probably the most supporters out of any team in Dubai behind them, South Africa took the field last weekend with a bit of a point to prove.

The Blitzboks had beaten Ireland in the Cup final a year earlier, and with that comes pressure – but the sense of belief and almost the expectation of success was far more desperate after last season.

South Africa stalled during the rest of the 2022/23 season as they fell to an uncharacteristically poor seventh-placed finish on the circuit. Up until this point, they still haven’t qualified for the Olympics either.

But nothing else mattered to this team last weekend other than the Dubai SVNS. It presented the Blitzboks with an opportunity to redeem themselves on the world stage, and they made the most of it.

“We know if we stick to our structure that we can be there on top of the world because we were there before, it’s just hard to get back there again,” Specman added.

“The results are there but you know what’s the nicest thing? Next week we must start all over again and try to be on top again.

“It’s never an easy task for this team and we try to make sure we fight every day because next week, if we don’t pitch up, we cannot play finals and that’s our home tournament.

“Tonight we will enjoy this time and when we get on the plane we’ll just go back to zero, start all over again, and fight again because now we’re playing in front of our home crowd.

“It’s a lot of pressure and this team can get energy from pressure.”

Following a five-year stint in 15s, Rosko Specman returned to the SVNS Series last weekend in what proved to be a major boost to a talented side with plenty to prove.

Related

Specman, 34, won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and has also played a Test match for the Springboks. That’s experience that can’t be bought.

The SVNS great seemed to fit back into the Blitzboks’ squad with relative ease during the Dubai SVNS, and Specman will undoubtedly continue to play a big role ahead of the Cape Town leg.

“It’s really great to be back, the guys welcomed me back with open arms,” he said.

“For some of the guys I’m almost 15 years older than them so I think that has also given me the drive to give my everything every day on the training field.

“You don’t have a guarantee in this team and that’s the fighting spirit that I have. While me knees are still strong I will keep going.”

Tickets are on sale now for the next SVNS Series event in Cape Town on December 9-10. Can the Blitzboks go back-to-back in front of their home supporters next weekend?

ADVERTISEMENT

KOKO Show | July 8th | Bernard Foley stops by to talk the Wallabies winning and Lions being tested

England v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Georgia vs Ireland | Men’s International | Full Match Replay

Lions Share | Episode 2

Chile vs Romania | Men’s International | Full Match Replay

USA vs Belgium | Men’s International | Full Match Replay

Touchdown in Dublin, The Red Sea Returns & We Prepare to Face Argentina | Ep 2: The Ultimate Test

South Africa v British & Irish Lions | 2009 | Second Test | The Vaults

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 33 minutes ago
Beauden Barrett weighs in on controversial yellow card

Yeah theyve been back and forth on this ruling for years. They dished out yellow cards anywhere on the field, then basically went to scrums instead, then started penalizing again, and it is only recently that the yellow card has been used again.


For instance Aaron Smith got penalized by Barnes for sticking his hand out in the RWC in France and the TMO intervened wanting the harsher punishment (as it appears that’s where WR has the refs moving towards again), even though both Barnes and the TMO said/worded the infringement the same it would appear Barnes seemed happy to accept he should have carded him.


I actually felt sorry for Barnes in that WC/Final, he seemed to have developed a good feel for the game and ref’d those situations perfectly but was overridden but the TMO on multiple occasions.


The trouble with the law is that this weeks does look similar to Villieres, but it’s entirely possible BB was playing the man instead of the ball (which you can’t say in Villieres case). In that A Smith case there was still traffic well out from the goalline, and in that Eben example it was more deliberate and only 5m out with an overlap (and if talking about that French game, they ruled that to have gone backwards so we don’t quite know what they would have done). That last situation had been when, for the last few years, a penalty would possible be upgraded to a card, not so much the Villiere (or Smith) example. But that’s obviously changed. Back to Beauden though, the real problem with the law (we can accept a YC as long as they are consistent) is that he could put his arm into that exact same position for ether action, tackle, or block, and the ref has no real way of knowing which. This extends to the development of certain ‘slapping’ tackle techniques, where a tacklers intent is mostly to stop the offload, and includes getting the arm in the path of the ball, whether still held by the attacker, or released by them. This action is no less illegal and deliberate in it’s intent than Ebens. It’s not even reactionary (not that you can be lenient in those situations) like Villieres. And it has the exact same effect on the game, whether its its clearly been passed to a team mate, or someone it’s trying to offload to a team mate, of removing skill/attacking play.


Actually another aspect of contention with the law is that it is now classed as foul play. It’s been referenced that in this weeks example the pass went forward, into Barrett, so his hand wasn’t even in the correct position to block a legitimate pass, but because they ruled his intent was to block it, now being “foul” play the forward pass is ignored. So you’ve got someone sent from the field blocking a pass that wasn’t even a pass.

35 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING All Blacks player ratings vs France | Lipovitan-D July Series 2nd Test All Blacks player ratings vs France
Search