Springboks side in a huddle in 2024 and former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar (inset).
Wales great Dan Biggar has put the current Springboks side at the top of the tree in terms of the best ever international rugby teams.
Rassie Erasmus’ men have claimed the last two Rugby World Cups, winning in Japan in 2019 and France in 2023, but they continue to develop as a side.
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South Africa have aimed to move their game on in 2024, becoming more adventurous with ball in hand while also trialling a number of players looking towards 2027.
2024 success
Although they have rotated throughout 2024, the Boks won their first Rugby Championship in five years and went through the northern hemisphere tour unbeaten for the first time since 2013.
“What they are at the minute is a complete team,” Biggar said on The Rugby Pod. “You look at the stats and the top 10s of everything and South African players are not that high individually, but you put everything collectively as a team, from that new four-man shape, their new mindset of attacking from maul, attacking kicks, speed of ball, carries off nine, and they are an unbelievable rugby team – a generational team.
“For me, they are the best team that I’ve seen and that’s having played the All Blacks team of 2015 and the previous South African team in 2019.
“I think they are the best rugby team that’s been out there and I think they’re going to take some beating come the next World Cup.”
Biggar also praised the Springboks’ ability to carry on winning while rotating, with their only defeats both coming by just one poin
“Another absolutely incredible stat in this unbelievable year from the Springboks is that Rassie has used 51 players across the board and they’ve only lost two games, against Argentina and the last-minute drop-goal against Ireland,” he said.
“You just think how incredible that is. Not one of those players that have come in look out of place, they just slot into the system, they’re well coached, they’re eager to learn, and it’s just scary how many players they’ve used and how they continue to keep winning and setting the bar.”
Half-backs
Biggar, who himself was an outstanding Test fly-half, believes that there is no better evidence of that than at half-back where Erasmus now has a number of options.
“The best place to look is nine and 10. Now they’re playing this all-court game and it’s almost like they’re playing whatever suits the opposition best,” he added.
“It’s like, if you want to play loads of attacking kicks, loads of tempo, you play your Grant Williams and Manie Libbok.
“You’ve got the Hendrikse boys who have brought so much control on this tour. You’ve got Cobus Reinach, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, you’ve got [Handre] Pollard with his experience to close out games when they are tight.
“It’s just absolutely scary the depth that they’ve created. The two go hand in hand. When you create that much depth and you’ve got three, four, five players who can slot in easily, winning just seems to come off the back of it.
“A huge round of applause for Rassie Erasmus for the way that he’s brought this coaching team together, the way that he’s developed this team and having the bravery to really go after reinventing the game, and making them different to every other team on the planet.”
