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622 items · Springboks · Analysis
Du Toit's dream scrum: Marx, Etzebeth, and the Springbok culture he exported to Bath
Du Toit names Marx and Etzebeth as his ideal scrummaging hooker and lock, praises Kolisi's set-piece staying power, and reveals how Springbok scrum standards followed him back to Bath.
Pietersen sees identity taking shape despite Sharks' playoff miss
Pietersen argues the Sharks' youth-heavy squad is finding its identity despite missing the playoffs, pointing to emerging players and a 54-19 season-ending win as signs of genuine progress ahead of next season.
Burger pinpoints the real value of Erasmus's alignment camps for uncapped players
Burger breaks down why Erasmus's alignment camps matter beyond selection optics — the training intensity reset alone leaves a lasting mark on young players, and both Mahashe and Siyaya are tipped for Test debuts.
Matfield tips Van der Mescht as Erasmus's 2026 wildcard
Matfield has singled out Van der Mescht as a dark-horse Bok lock for 2026 — worth reading for the full breakdown of what's caught Big Vic's eye.
Matfield tips Van der Mescht as Bok wildcard — and backs Papier's long-overdue call
Matfield backs Van der Mescht — a resurgent Northampton lock he likens to Snyman — as Erasmus's big 2025 wildcard, while welcoming Papier's call-up and downplaying the absence of veterans like Le Roux as tactical rotation rather than the end.
Zekhethelo Siyaya: The Sharks' 18-year-old gem already on Rassie's radar
Zekhethelo Siyaya, the Sharks' 18-year-old back, has turned four URC appearances into a Springbok alignment camp invitation — the piece profiles why Pietersen and Erasmus are already taking notice.
Sharks teenager Siyaya turns heads — and earns a Bok alignment camp call-up
Sharks teenager Zekhetelo Siyaya has turned a handful of URC appearances into a Springbok alignment camp invitation — the piece makes the case that South African rugby has another scrum-capped, sidestepping gem on its hands.
Sharks' 18-year-old Siyaya already on Erasmus's radar
Sharks teenager Zekhethelo Siyaya has lit up his debut URC season with sidestepping brilliance and already earned a Springbok alignment camp call-up — the piece profiles why the 18-year-old is being talked about as the future of Sharks rugby.
Rassie's Nations Championship reckoning: the July squads that will shape RWC 2027
A demographic deep-dive into the seven leading RWC 2027 contenders argues the Nations Championship compresses the selection cycle by a year, placing Erasmus at the sharpest decision point: defend the title with the 2023 spine or finally acknowledge the cost of carrying an ageing pack into Australian conditions.
Danny Care takes aim at Janse van Rensburg's England call-up
Danny Care argues that clearing Janse van Rensburg to play for England — at the expense of Ojomoh and Lawrence — undermines what international selection should stand for, with the former Junior Bok's eligibility switch via residency drawing sharp scrutiny ahead of a World Cup cycle.
Contepomi wants to rewrite the Barbarians script against the Boks
Contepomi talks up the June 20 Baa-baas fixture as a genuine contest, not a lap of honour — he wants to reverse last year's 54-7 result and sees Erasmus's serious approach to the game as validation that his side should prepare accordingly.
Stormers stunned at Cardiff as Feinberg-Mgomezulu struggles and Welsh underdogs gate-crash the play-offs
Cardiff's fully-deserved win over the Stormers books their URC play-off spot, with Feinberg-Mgomezulu's error-filled night emblematic of a Stormers side who were outpaced and outworked throughout — and whose second-place seeding now hinges on Leinster's result.
Du Toit backs England's young tightheads — but says patience is non-negotiable
Du Toit rates Fasogbon and Sela as future Test props but defends Borthwick's patience, explaining why tightheads need careful handling early in their careers — and still backs Stuart as England's best for years to come.
Du Toit opens up on battling through rugby's toughest prop depth chart
Du Toit reflects on a stop-start Bok career he attributes to playing in South Africa's deepest-ever prop generation, and details how Erasmus's staff use targeted, low-frequency contact to keep overseas-based players aligned with Springbok systems.
Du Toit: Scrummaging against Ox Nche in training is harder than Test rugby
Du Toit says Bok scrum training — going up against Nche, Steenekamp and Venter — is harder than Test rugby, and breaks down the technical and physical differences between loosehead and tighthead that explain why South Africa's scrum is built the way it is.
TMOs are killing the game — and school rugby proves it
A sharp column using the disallowed Mahashe try as the centrepiece of a broader argument that TMOs have abandoned their 'clear and obvious' brief — applied forensic scrutiny to one try while waving through questionable scores elsewhere in the same game. Also covers New Zealand's overseas eligibility self-sabotage and the URC final-round permutations.
TMO overreach is killing the game — and the Lions paid the price
The Mahashe disallowed try becomes a flashpoint for a wider argument that TMOs have abandoned the 'clear and obvious' mandate in favour of forensic overreach — with the Lions and the spectacle of the game paying the price. The column also takes aim at the All Blacks' overseas-player policy and previews the URC playoff picture.
De Villiers and Burger expect Mo'unga 'injury' workaround as NZ Rugby holds firm
De Villiers and Burger expect a creative injury workaround to get Mo'unga into the All Blacks squad for the August-September Springbok series, with both slamming NZ Rugby's rigid eligibility stance as needlessly self-defeating.
400 games, still proving himself: Why Willie le Roux deserves his flowers
As Le Roux hits 400 first-class appearances, Brenden Nel makes the overdue case for recognising a generational career that was built the hard way — and argues the South African public still hasn't given him his proper due.
400 games and still proving doubters wrong — the Willie le Roux story deserves more respect
Nel profiles Willie le Roux on the eve of his 400th first-class game, arguing that a career built on club rugby grit, self-funded academy fees, and a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality deserves far greater recognition than it typically receives. Le Roux's own quotes — on still feeling like he has to prove himself at 101 caps — are the centrepiece.