As the Springboks head ever closer to the start of the 2024 season, it’s interesting to look back at which captains boast the best win record.
There are less than three months to go until the Springboks swing back into action for the first time since winning the World Cup, and a massive decision will need to be made when it comes to the team’s captaincy.
Coach Rassie Erasmus has already conceded that the preference would be to have a locally-based captain, which could mean he will need to look beyond regular skipper Siya Kolisi.
The inspirational Kolisi has led the Springbok in 53 Tests to date, winning 36 of these for a 67% win record.
So where does this place him alongside the country’s other national captains?
Interestingly, the best captaincy win record list is led by Hennie Muller and Phil Nel, but they both played during the amateur era and didn’t feature in more than 10 Tests.
Morné du Plessis, who became a famed Springbok between 1970 and 1980, is third on the list with an 86% win record.
Coming into the modern era, the late great Joost van der Westhuizen captained in 10 Tests for an 80% win record, while Gary Teichmann served as skipper in 36 Tests and returned with a 72% win record.
A captain from the fully-fledged professional era, Victor Matfield, played in 23 Tests and won 17 for a 73% win record.
Then just below Kolisi in terms of win percentage is John Smit, who captained the team in a remarkable 83 games, and ended his career with an impressive 65% win record as skipper.
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Although the Springboks do have a highly capable leadership team, it has also come to light that Erasmus wants assurances from Kolisi’s French side Racing 92 that the club won’t stop the flanker from attending Springbok training camps.
Ultimately, it does appear that the Springbok coach would prefer to stick with Kolisi as captain, having already highlighted just how he is a one-of-a-kind leader.
“Maybe not of the quality of Siya, but there are good leaders,” he said during a press conference in Cape Town last month.
“We don’t always take it to leadership, but ownership. If you get the right people on that bus for that first squad, they don’t need as much a leader as much as all players needing to take ownership of their individual positions.
“You’ll have to look far to find a leader like Siya again. That will weigh up very heavily when we make the decision.
“We will definitely have to adjust a little bit with Duane (Vermeulen) retiring and Siya maybe not captaining. But, as I say, it would be a big call not to make him captain because there are so many things going for him that he does well,” said the coach.
“We’ll definitely have to fine-tune a little bit, but that’s why we have Jaco Peyper with us in the management group helping us with small things when we coach a player, not just on the field, but also in the lecture room about referees, protocol and the language you use when speaking to him.”
