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2,956 items · Springboks
Grobbelaar signs Bulls extension through to 2030
Johan Grobbelaar has signed a contract extension keeping him at the Bulls until 2030, with the hooker having made more than 100 appearances for the franchise since his 2017 debut.
Mallett praises Feinberg-Mngomezulu for Pollard-like display against All Blacks
Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett has lauded Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu's performance in the 33-26 victory over New Zealand in Cape Town, saying the young fly-half produced a shift reminiscent of Handré Pollard. Feinberg-Mngomezulu was reinstated as starting ten after Pollard withdrew with a calf injury sustained in training.
Mallett: Feinberg-Mngomezulu silenced his critics with a Pollard-esque Cape Town display
Mallett makes the case that Feinberg-Mngomezulu's Cape Town display — measured, Pollard-like — was exactly the response his critics needed to see. Worth reading for the tactical breakdown of what changed.
Burger's verdict: Boks must fix attack or tighten defence before Soweto decider
Burger credits scoreboard pressure and Marx's impact for the Cape Town win, but warns the Boks' attacking inaccuracy and slow transition shape remain genuine vulnerabilities heading into the Soweto decider — and with New Zealand likely to score 30-plus again, something has to give.
Mallett hails SFM's Pollard-like shift as Matfield calls the maul's return
Mallett credits SFM's disciplined, Pollard-like execution for the Cape Town win, while Matfield argues the Boks' rediscovery of the midfield maul signals a return to their core DNA — and predicts it becomes a fixture going forward.
Why Erasmus backing up the same Bok XV three weeks running isn't the gamble it looks
Rich argues that the low pre-series workload carried by key Boks — through injury, rotation, and a long off-season — makes consecutive starts far less risky than they appear, while the first-test loss effectively removed Erasmus's room to experiment until Baltimore.
Third Test fatigue stakes: Do the Boks' fresher legs give them the edge at altitude?
The piece examines whether the Boks' lighter minute-load this season offsets the All Blacks' superior physical cohesion through two tough tests, with Erasmus's 60-minutes-per-man advantage the key analytical hook heading into the FNB decider.
Randell warns All Blacks and Springboks face career-defining Test in Soweto decider
Former All Blacks captain Taine Randell believes Saturday's third Greatest Rivalry Test at FNB Stadium will be the biggest match many players have featured in. With the series locked at 1-1 after New Zealand's 33-16 win in Johannesburg and South Africa's 33-26 victory in Cape Town, the decider in Soweto carries enormous stakes ahead of the final encounter in Baltimore.
Fatigue or freshness: which camp gets it right at FNB Stadium?
A breakdown of the fatigue equation ahead of the third test — the Boks' 60-minutes-per-man freshness advantage versus the All Blacks' battle-hardened cohesion — and what each camp is gambling on at altitude.
Randell: Soweto decider the biggest Test many of these players will face
Randell argues that near-zero rotation from both coaches makes Saturday's Soweto Test uniquely demanding — the same players absorbing a third week of top-tier intensity, with the series on the line.
Erasmus's team-sheet mind games light up the 'Greatest Rivalry' series
Kitson dissects Erasmus's latest team-announcement mind games — six late changes before the second Test — and what South Africa levelling the series at 1-1 means for the back half of a four-Test showdown with a resurgent All Blacks.
Randell: Soweto decider will be the biggest Test many of these players have faced
Randell argues that the refusal by both coaches to rotate — rare in modern Test rugby — means players arrive at FNB Stadium physically and mentally taxed in a way most have never experienced, making this the highest-stakes game of many of their careers.
Daan Human fires back: Bok scrum dominance is built on technique, not manipulation
Daan Human publicly addresses the scrum controversy for the first time, rejecting Rennie's 'walking around' allegations and insisting Bok set-piece dominance is built entirely on legal technique and precision — refined over six years of deliberate coaching.
Daan Human hits back at 'walking around' claims ahead of Soweto decider
Daan Human rejects the 'walking around' accusation as a personal insult to his integrity, explains why the Gardner-refereed Cape Town test frustrated the Bok front row, and signals the Boks have filed a formal complaint with World Rugby over the All Blacks' scrum feed — all with Amashukeli and the Soweto decider now looming.
Gardner, Rennie and a scrum battle that goes well beyond handbags
A scrum-by-scrum dissection of the second test argues that Angus Gardner entered the match primed by Rennie's 'walking around' narrative and refereed the contest almost exclusively against the Boks — misreading the All Blacks' marginal sideways shift as a Bok infringement. Mallett and Matfield are unequivocal: this was a referee being coached before kickoff.
Biggar: Kolisi worth 5–10 points just by being on the pitch
Biggar argues Kolisi's return was the defining factor in Cape Town, rating him worth 5–10 points through leadership alone — while also making the case that he's undervalued as an outright player.
Human hits back at walking accusations: 'I'm a farmer, I can't cheat'
Springbok scrum coach Daan Human has dismissed Dave Rennie's walking-around accusations ahead of the series decider at Soccer City, insisting his methods are built on legal, straight-forward dominance and have not changed in six years. Lock Ruan Nortje says the Boks are focused on repeating their lineout dominance from Cape Town.
Human backs referees as Boks chase FNB Stadium send-off against All Blacks
Daan Human has dismissed scrum-walking allegations and backed referee Angus Gardner's Cape Town performance, while Ruan Nortje says the squad is focused on further set-piece improvement ahead of Saturday's third Test against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium, where a crowd of up to 90,000 is expected for the Boks' last home match of 2024.
Scrum by scrum: How Angus Gardner handed the All Blacks a lifeline they didn't earn
A scrum-by-scrum deconstruction of Angus Gardner's officiating in the second test, arguing he arrived pre-briefed by Rennie's media campaign and then spent the match policing only one side of the contest — with Matfield and Mallett backing Erasmus's outrage and the technical case for why the 'walking around' accusation doesn't hold up.
The Soweto curse: Two collapses, 160 minutes of pain — and now a chance at exorcism
De Koning dissects the two Soccer City collapses — 2010 and 2012 — that created the 'Soweto curse,' tracing the identical pattern of Bok leads squandered under All Black pressure, and argues this weekend's return offers the most credible shot at exorcism since those wounds were opened.